Battle of the EYESHADOW PRIMERS!

Well hello there my hunny-bunnies! Today I'm FINALLY taking the time and writing this post. This post is so long overdue it's just... wrong (I've been talking about it and promising to write it for quite a while now). :) I've been testing a bunch of eyeshadow primers all throughout 2013 in the hopes of finding 'the one'. There are still a few I'd like to try out, but I've managed to test out a bunch of them.

I've tried all the versions of Urban Decay primer potion (except for the new anti-aging one) and they don't really do much for me. They keep my eyeshadows from creasing for a max of 4 hours. I've also tried the e.l.f. eyeshadow primer and the results were not impressive (it didn't really work for me). But... the ones that I'll be talking about in this post are the NYX HD eyeshadow base, Too Faced Shadow Insurance, theBalm Put a lid on it and Essence I love stage. I thoroughly tested all of them out and here are the results...

L to R: theBalm, Too Faced, NYX, Essence

Essence I love stage

Let's start with the worst first, shall we? I don't really know what to think of this one... I actually didn't use it a lot because it just has the most annoying orange color that I just don't get - why would you make an eyeshadow base/primer in this color? If it's supposed to neutralize redness or act as a concealer than it should be more of a yellow color, not this orange mess... It looked weird on my lids and very unnatural. The texture itself was ok and I don't mind the doe-foot applicator. Other than the fact that I basically couldn't wear it outside my home, it also didn't really work, so a big thumbs down for this product.

Price: can't remember really, a few euros?

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Since I loved every single product I've tried from Too Faced so far, I decided to give this primer a go. I had really high hopes for it since a lot of bloggers/youtubers love this product. Sadly it ended up as a bit of a disappointment. It's not like it's a really bad product or anything like that, it's just that I have really high expectations of eyeshadow primers. I have quite oily eyelids and eyeshadows crease on my pretty fast so I need a primer that can keep my eyeshadows looking great all throughout the day, not just for a couple of hours. And that's exactly what this one does - it keeps my eyeshadows from creasing for a couple of hours. I would say it's very similar to UD Primer Potion and works just about the same (at least on me). It has a lovely texture, a great applicator, but it just doesn't cut it.

Price: 15 € ($20)

NYX HD eyeshadow base

The king of kings, the primer of primers, this is the shiz I tell you! I've been using this primer for a couple of years now and it just never fails me. It doesn't matter, if it's crazy cold or insanely hot outside, it does the job, always! I've tested it on so many different occasions, in so many different weather conditions that I can safely say it's the WINNER, hands down. :) This baby will keep my eyeshadows looking the same as they were right after application for 15+ hours, I kid you not! It has a great texture, I like the doe-foot applicator and it just gets things done, period.

Price: 5 € ($7)

theBalm Put a lid on it...

Last but certainly not least is the newest addition to my eyeshadow primer family. I decided to try this one out because I've tried a few of theBalm products recently and really liked them. It seemed interesting enough and I heard some youtubers talk highly about it. I have to say that this little bugger has impressed me, a lot. It works almost as good as the NYX one. There's hardly any difference between them, yet I feel the NYX works a tiny bit better and can keep my eyeshadows looking awesome for a couple of hours more. This primer is also the most interesting as it has a different formula - it's more like a silicon based primer (more like face primers). It's thicker but spreads very easily over the skin, smoothing it out and creating a perfect canvas for the eyeshadows to come. An added bonus for me is the name... Put a lid on it, so creative (very theBalm-like). :)

Price: 13 € ($18)

So here they are... my primers. I will definitely be repurchasing the NYX primer, over and over again but I think I'm going to repurchase theBalm one as well because I really like it. The two other primers I'd like to test out are the one from Nars and the one from Lime Crime - both are supposed to be amazing, so I'll probably take my chances with them. :)

I'd love to know what's your favorite eyeshadow primer, do you even use one?

*For my Slovenian readers: I bought all of my primers (except the Essence one) on Ebay but you can get the NYX at Moja Drogerija and theBalm at Ličila.si.