(Eye) Primer Vs Primer

Hello ladies! How are your weekends going? I was expecting some actual sunlight but over Bristol it is grey and grey with a paler grey mixed in. Bum.

I tried this little experiment last week at work and I did do it the week before but I forgot to take pictures towards the end of the day doh! I always thought until recently that with all the raves about Urban Decay I wasn’t sure what the alternatives were aside from Too Faced. With one of my No7 vouchers a few months ago I had no designs on I plumped for the Stay Perfect Smoothing and Brightening Eye Base. I thought I’d pit it against my trusty UDPP.

So here are the culprits. On the left Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Original, on the right No7 Stay Perfect Smoothing and Brightening Eye Base.

They say for UDPP Provides ‘eyeshadow that lasts, colour that stays vibrant all day and absolutely no creasing!’

They say for No7 ‘Creates an even base for a colour to float on smoothly and stay true all day.’

So pretty much the same core claims in different ways, the No7 doesn’t explicitly say no creasing I suppose but you could interpret what you want from ‘stay true all day’, first thoughts to me mean fading but I suppose it means that your eyeshadow should look the same at the end of the day as when you applied it, i.e. crease free.

UDPP has a doe foot applicator which I don’t mind, I apply it to my eyelid with this then manoeuvre it around with my fingers, No7 I apply to my eyelid with my fingers straight from the pot. I know some people don’t like this but I know where my hands have been so I’m not too fussed with pots as packaging. The less said about UDPP packaging the better, though I have heard it is changing.

Swatched on my hand you can see the No7 is peachier and does appear smoother. It is stickier than UDPP and on my arm took longer to dry or set.

Onto the eyeshadows…

Wet n Wild Fine Wine and MUA Shade 12. When looking through my collection I wanted to use those that would be accessible and people might own. The kind I have most of is Urban Decay as I have a few palettes but I didn’t want to use those as they don’t crease that much on me anyway. These shades I use most days when I want something simple and quick, Fine Wine over the lid and MUA in the crease.

Flash

No Flash

You can see Shade 12 is kinda duochrome with a greeny hint on the bottom picture. I LOVE it!

This is a comparison picture to start and it is crap I appreciate this. I was in a rush and took 6 or 7 and this was the best. My camera skills leave a lot to be desired! The No7 one looks a tiny bit creasy already, this is a combination of my eyelids and it can do this anyway, you really have to use it very sparingly for this not to happen and the majority of the time if I’m not paying attention this isn’t the case.

I went to work for a bit and pootled around the house making a conscious effort not to touch my eyes and trying to remember when to take photographs.

UDPP after 3 and a half hours

No7 after 3 and a half hours

These pictures are shite. I appreciate that. However you can still see that the UDPP has kept that eyeshadow intact but on the No7 eye creasing and migrating is already happening. After 3 and a half hours!

UDPP after 6 hours

No7 after 6 hours

This is the last set of photos I have, I did take some at 9 hours too but my phone is missing a load of pictures for some reason, either me or the rabbit leaned on the wrong button I guess, he does that all the time with my laptop!

Here you can see the UDPP has kept the eyeshadow pretty much intact, you can see some light creasing here but this was invisible in real life. However the No7 eye appears much worse in real life with hardly any eyeshadow remaining apart from on my lash line and above the crease. Bah.

In conclusion, this is the only other primer I have used apart from UDPP and I am quite happy to leave it that way for the time being at least. I got a standard sized UDPP in New York last April which is still going strong and a small size with my Naked palette so I am practically rolling in the stuff it lasts so long! When they get a bit low I might look elsewhere as I have heard good things about the ELF primer. Maybe another day.

Urban Decay Primer Potion is £12 and available from House of Fraser and Debenhams among other places, apparently it is withdrawing from Boots BOO!!! No7 Stay Perfect Smoothing & Brightening Eye Base is £7.75 from Boots though I used a £5 off voucher and they are doing the rounds again at the moment.

The Wet n Wild eyeshadow is from either Tesco or Poundland, either way it was around the £1 mark, I have used up two of these and have another two backups after this one I love it so much! The MUA shadow was £1 from Superdrug.

What do you think? What eye primer do you use? Would you recommend any?