Maybe this is a beauty blog. Hey, it gives me something to write about.

Today’s story begins with me buying an e.l.f. Studio Contour Brush. I’m so insanely impressed with this brush that I run back to Target to pick up the C Eyeshadow Brush and eyelid primer. Plus an order from the e.l.f. website for more brushes, among other things. I’ll save my impressions of the brushes for when the rest of my haul arrives.  For now, though, let’s take a look at their primer, shall we?

I was curious about this because it’s only $1 USD on the website and at Target stores.  The key to these kinds of purchases is to start with no expectations.  It doesn’t matter how much people rave about it, rant about it, or display total indifference towards it.  Standards of excellence (or the lack thereof) varies from person to person.  Furthermore, don’t expect it to be the best thing on earth, because the poor thing is only a buck, after all.  However, just so that doesn’t sound terribly pessimistic, this kind of thinking comes with the possibility of being pleasantly surprised. See? There’s a silver lining, here!

So I get this little pretty home and immediately open it up. First impression?  It’s actually pretty thick, like a good primer should be. I don’t know why I was thinking it wouldn’t be, but it was only just a slight bit less viscous than Urban Decay Primer Potion.  As far as primers go, it is slightly “greasy” feeling, and takes about a minute to set well enough to start applying eyeshadow.  It doesn’t dry clear, which is a definite downer. Not so much for me, as I’m very fair-skinned (NC15), but I can see this being a big problem for people with darker skin tones. Luckily, it isn’t much of a problem to blend out shadows to cover any potential areas of lightness.

One point of disappointment is the lack of performance as an eyeshadow brightener. It does help shadows adhere much better than they would without primer, but it seems to distort the colour slightly. When swatched beside Urban Decay Primer Potion, it obviously does not stack up:

The swatch with no base and the one with UDPP are roughly the same colour. The same shadow over e.l.f. Eyelid Primer… not so much. This colour change is probably due to the primer not drying clear.  Still, the adherence is great, and the colour is more full, even if it is a bit different.

The big kicker for primers, though, is their lifespan.  After ten hours since application, there was absolutely no sign of creasing, all the shimmer in my eyeshadows held beautifully, and there was only a small amount of fading.

Obviously, e.l.f. Eyelid Primer is not going to be as good as high end eyeshadow primers.  I mean, come on. It’s a buck. If you’re expecting that much out of a buck, you might just have some issues.  But I’m going to call this, and say that is worth a buck. There are some people who I’d tell to pass on this particular item, such as those with dark tones or oily lids. However, if you are an ivory to beige skintone, have extremely limited funds, or just don’t like dropping a lot of coin on war paint, this primer is for you.

e.l.f. Eyelid Primer is currently priced at $1 USD, and is available for purchase at Target stores, as well as http://www.eyeslipsface.com.