Prime yo kids - Prime yo wife...but seriously, use primer


Rina brought up a very valid question: should I be using eye primer?  In short, yes...but, WAIT, it's easier and you have more options than you think.

First things first, who knows what "creasing" is?  It runs more rampant than you think.  Creasing is when all your shadow disappears from your eyelid and magically ends up dark as all hell ONLY in your crease, and it's not cute.  You see it a lot on older women and they are typically sporting blue eye shadow and tarantula lashes.

Priming your eyelids in one way or another is the easiest way to prevent this from happening.

If I had to guess, I'd say I've been wearing some sort of eye priming product for 8 years or so.  Now let me say this, if you are using bold/rich colors, a good priming product is ESSENTIAL.  However, if you are sticking to lighter/shimmery colors you can get away with some tricks I will discuss later.

My first eye primer was actually by Mary Kay (Mary Kay - Eye Primer) and it works well.  If you know someone who sells MK, this is a great option.

These days I'm using Urban Decay Primer Potion, which is available in multiple colors and deluxe sample sets from the UD website, as well as Sephora and Ulta.  This is 24 hour primer, ain't no joke when I tell you that I can go to the gym in FULL FACE and come out looking club ready...hollaaaa!  I use the original shade, which dries nude (much like myself after a shower).

In lieu of primer, especially if I want a really vibrant/rich eye color, I use MAC :: Paint Pots. For light/matte eye shadows I prime with a shade called Painterly (nude), for shimmery shadow I use Bare (champagne-ish) and for bold looks I use Blackground (black). I know it sounds weird, you prime with black!? Yep!  Black primer with a rich purple on top pops!  Alright alright I'm straying from the topic...

So that's 3 amazing priming products...BUT! and that's a BIG BUT...and I like big buts (and I cannot lie)...

Quick Tip: You can prime with any product that has a cream to powder finish


I'm talking about foundations, concealers, and face primer people!  An easy way to save money to buy universal products.  If your not fully committed to the makeup game yet, skip the eye primer, buy a good face primer and use it on your eyes as well.  If you are reeeeally not committed or just think I'm crazy, skip the primer altogether and dab your lids with a concealer or foundation (lighter than your skintone especially if you are wearing light shadow).


(Disclaimer: I am not responsible for the inevitable pink eye, I kid I kid!)


To sum things up: Yes you need to be priming!  If I had to choose between expensive shadow with no primer and cheap shadow with primer, I'd choose the latter any day of the week, because even expensive shadows don't hold up if you don't apply them properly.

p.s. I totally use Revlon Luxurious Eye Color in Vintage Lace and have for YEARS...definitely get it from CVS for like 8bucks...shhh don't tell anyone! 

Speaking of proper application, you'll want to apply your primer to your lid sparingly and cover fully.  You don't want it to be wet when you start applying your shadow (unless you use it to turn your powder shadow into a cream shadow, as I often do).  If you wear your makeup with lid, crease and under brow highlighting, prime your eye from lash line to eyebrow and if you are like me and fill in your eyebrows, go ahead and prime your brows too!

Prime example below (haha see what I did there? I got puns).  You can see how much more lush the primed eye look and you can see on the eye with no primer that the colors aren't blended, but instead start to bleed into each other.