Best Eye Primers, for mature eyes
There is nothing like a glamourous eye look. I’ve spent countless hours trying to perfect a cut crease, a half-cut crease, and a halo eye to name a few. These kinds of eye looks are not for my everyday life. They are really fun, especially for an event or if I am performing. A simple secret that makeup artists and influencers use is eye primer. But you don’t need to be doing an over the top, Instagram worthy eye look to use eye primer. This product is great as an everyday base to even the most basic eye looks. Why? It makes your eyeshadow color look true, and it will make it last all day. Afterall, you did put in the effort to create the look, why not make it last?
Another reason to use a primer, especially one that is tinted, is to cover eyelid discoloration and veins. These products will cancel out those colors, so you have a “clean slate” to work on.
LET’S TALK PRIMERS
Some eye primers are transparent, and others have a tint that makes them seem like a concealer. WAIT! Why not just use concealer? Here’s why: concealers aren’t made for the movable lid, and they can be either too dry or too dewy. But if you want to try a concealer, just be sure to set it with powder before applying eyeshadow. It can cover discoloration, but it probably won’t have the “grip” that purpose-made primers have. For my mature eye area, which tends to be dry, a dedicated primer works best. Here are a few in my current rotation:
MAC Prep & Prime – This was the primer I started with, and it has worked consistently on my dry eyelids. It is a light pink color, so doesn’t completely cover my pesky veins, but because it grabs on to the eyeshadow, the shadow covers any discoloration. My shadow colors show true and blend beautifully with this primer, and my shadow lasts all day.
MAC Prep and Prime 24 hour extend eye base
Moira Waterproof Peptide Eyeshadow Primer – This is my new favorite, as I only recently discovered this brand. All I can say is WOW! Everything I have tried from Moira has been great quality, including this primer. It goes on white but becomes translucent quickly. I like to let it set for a few minutes before putting on my shadow look. My shadows go on nicely and are easy to blend. Thank you to YouTube content creator Jen Phelps for turning me on to this great brand!
Moira Waterproof Peptide Eyeshadow Primer
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion – Anti-Aging:
I remember trying this one in the early aughts. I used it a few times, but it didn’t make an impression. The primer is not to blame; I didn’t have a good understanding of why I used a lot of the makeup I owned! I decided to give this another try and analyze how it performs compared to my favorites.
I applied the primer and put on an eyeshadow look with my Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Dreams palette. The primer gripped the shadow, not too surprising as this is a very pigmented palette. The real test would be how long the look lasted throughout the day. By 9 pm, after wearing for 11 hours, the shadow had not budged! I’ll give this one my seal of approval.
Urban Eyeshadow Primer Potion, Anti-Aging
Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Eye Primer – I purchased this to use on my undereye, as suggested by Lisa J, YouTube content creator. I have a lot of trouble applying concealer; it usually creases or becomes cakey. This primer has made a big difference. But, for some reason I hadn’t tried it on my upper eyelid. I had been so happy with the MAC and the Moira products, I didn’t think about this one for my lid. I made a point to use it recently on my upper eyelid. It worked well but my shadow did start to crease at about the 8-hour mark. That is an “okay” time frame, but the others keep my shadow looking like I just applied it well past 10 hours.
Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Eye Primer
In the final analysis, all of these primers work great to keep your eyeshadow in place. It has been a game changer for me, and I use it daily – in fact, sometimes with no shadow for “no makeup” days.
Do you use eye primer? Which one do you like? If not, will you consider trying one in the future?
I hope you found this helpful. Enjoy, and don’t forget to wear sunscreen every day!
Kelly 😎
