Eye Shadow is probably one of the biggest-selling make up products, because adding a little colour widens up the eyes, adds shape and can make your natural eye colour really stand out. However, a long-time gripe of many women is how quickly eye shadows crease and fade on the eye lid. The problem is that the eye lid is a very fine layer of skin that creases naturally when the eye is open, and the way that it folds into itself makes the lid a potentially oily area. Primers, such as Too Faced Shadow Insurance, are designed to mattify the skin, prolonging the life of the colour, whilst preventing the chance of creasing. Also, by giving the skin a grease-free surface allows the shadow to be applied more smoothly, optimising the vibrancy of the colour. What I was Expecting from Too Faced Shadow Insurance I’d been using Urban Decay’s Primer Potion for quite some time, and that product had been an amazingly brilliant product for keeping my eye shadow exactly where I needed it (for longer than I’d ever imagined!), but the only problem that was really putting me off buying another Primer Potion was the really awkward packaging. I know that they’ve now brought out a tubed version, but at the time, they were using the uber sexy, but uber impractical genie-style bottles. Getting product out of those bottles was fine to start with, but then it was necessary to pull out the stop at the top, and finally – if you dared – pull out the really huge carving knife and butcher that bottle to get the darn stuff out! Therefore, I was looking for a product that had the amazing primer abilities of the Primer Potion, but without the painful and annoying packaging. I’d been hearing a great deal of buzz about Too Faced’s Shadow Insurance, across the blogging and You Tube Community (especially from You Tube Guru XSparkage), which many people saying that it was just as good, or even better than Urban Decay’s primer. The big selling point, for me, however was the fact that it comes in an easy-to-squeeze tube (hurrah!). So, ultimately, I guess I was expecting a product that worked its magic as incredibly as the Primer Potion, but was easier to use to its full potential. Yep, expectations had been set high and we all know what ‘normally’ results from that… What you get The tubed packaging is quite small in size, and at first it’s easy to think ‘Wow. This isn’t going to last me five minutes’, and when you’ve paid $18 for it, that’s a bit annoying. However, you honestly only need to use a tiny dot on the tip of your finger to perfectly prime your entire lid. Of the packaging, I absolutely adore the colour. It’s such a cute colour, without being a typical girlie pink or purple shade, which I found to be quite refreshing. The design is simple, and the Shadow Insurance logo has a simple Vintage feel to it, which I liked. What’s it like? As I’ve already said, application of this primer is so easy, but I have to confess that when I first used it, I wasn’t very impressed. It had been sitting around in its box for quite some time, and I don’t know if it had settled in the packaging, but I found that the product appeared to be very watery in consistency. As a result, I didn’t find that it kept my eye shadow looking as perfect as I’d gotten it with Urban Decay’s. It basically creased and faded incredibly quickly, so needless to say, I was very disappointed in the product, and I didn’t use it for a while. However, recently I brought the Shadow Insurance out again, and decided to give it a second chance. This time, I shook the tube up before applying it and instantly noticed how much thicker the product appeared to be, before I’d even applied it anywhere. I don’t know if it’s just with me, but whenever I use Primer Potion, I always find that the product applies in a opaque whitish layer which I’ve been known to show up a little around the edges of my eye shadow if I’ve applied too much primer, and have only use shadow on the socket. What I mean is that you can see it on your skin. Shadow Insurance, on the other hand, was completely different. I applied it to the back of my hand to test out some eye shadows for another review, and when I blended it into my skin, the primer was completely different to Urban Decay’s, as you can see in this picture, and trust me, a large portion of the back of my hand had some on: Unlike the Primer Potion, the Shadow Insurance seems to have completely disappeared into my skin which I was not expecting at all. When I applied different eye shadows on top of the Shadow Insurance, they did appear to be quite vibrant in colour. However, when I applied the same colours to the back of my Shadow Insurance-free hand I did notice that the colours didn’t really look any different. I’m not sure if this was because the shades were just highly pigmented. After several hours of wear, on my eye lids, I did notice that it had creased considerably more than the Primer Potion, and the colour had faded much further too, which was disappointing. Overall: I do sort of like this product, and the tube is definitely a lot more usable that Urban Decay’s alternative. However, the tube is the only real selling point, for me, with this product, because even though it turns transparent, I wasn’t convinced that it was really prolonging the life of my eye shadow. And since Urban Decay now have a tube-based Primer Potion, I’m finding the natural-pull tearing me back to my trusted friend. Recommended to: Anyone with dry skin tones, looking to create bright looks or just to get their eye shadow to stay in place for longer. Perhaps Avoid if… You have oily skin. Even if it thickens up a little when shaken, it is still at times quite watery
This article is originally from Make Up Mew - a blog with authentic makeup reviews and tips!