Vee Shows You: Prep Your Eye for Eyeshadow

Vee

Via

"Vee, what's the difference between eye primer and eyeshadow base?"

We've done a few eye primer reviews on Hot Ink (here, here, and here) but we've never talked about eyeshadow base.  I'm here to me drop some beauty knowledge on you.

Eye primers are made to create a barrier between your eyelid and the product you are wearing.  By doing so, they keep the oils on your eyelid from building up and causing eyeshadow creasing or fading.  The primer creates a smooth surface for your eyeshadow and makes blending easier.  Primers often will improve the vibrancy of your shadow.  Most primers are milky or translucent and will blend clearly on your lid, but you can now find some with pigment in them to be worn alone or to boost eyeshadow color.

Eyeshadow bases are meant to give your eyeshadow a surface to adhere and to increase color impact. Essentially any time you layer dry eyeshadow over a liquid or gel you will get higher color payoff and eye bases work off that principle.

Bases come in a variety of colors and finishes.  White eye base brightens your shadow and makes vivid colors pop, nude offers coverage on the eye area and works great for matte colors, pearl make shimmery colors shine brighter and dark bases deepen up shadows and work great for a smokey eye look.

While there are products that exist solely as eyeshadow bases (I'll be reviewing one soon), you can use a variety of things as a base: concealer, cream eyeshadow, gel eyeliner, even eye pencils.  The trick to eye bases is that a little goes a long way.  You don't want to over apply base or your eye makeup will cake-up on you or crease.  Remember, eye bases aren't meant to provide a barrier against oil so if you have oily lids you may want to use a primer first.

"Vee, that sounds confusing.  Which product do I need?"

Sometimes a primer has tint in it so it works like a base, and sometimes a base has ingredients in it that make it work like a primer.   It depends on what look you are trying to achieve and how dry your eyelids are.  If you have oily lids, I'd recommend a primer.  If you want to make your eye makeup pop, I recommend a base. If you want to see pictures of hot men, I suggest taking a look at our Hump Day Lists.

Have fun experimenting with different products and come back for a review of Nyx Eyeshadow Base in Nude!