Limecrime's Candy Eyed Eyeshadow Primer Review + A Surprise At My Doorstep

Recently a friend of mine had poor luck with Lime Crime's Candy Eyed Eyeshadow Helper. She didn't like it, but offered it to me since I just ran out of my darling Urban Decay Primer Potion  (Read my love letter to UD PP.) and for the benefit of my lovely readers.
I will be posting my personal experience with the Candy Eyed primer, as well as my friends' reasons for not enjoying it. (I am nothing if not fair and balanced!)

The Helper in action.

Now, my friend was used to the Mac primer. I have no experience with it, but I imagine it's similar to UD as I was told it has a similar foundation-like consistency. Her objections were that Lime Crime's primer was too glue-like, and it was difficult to blend. Taking her advice into consideration, I applied a very small amount to my eyelids when I tried this out. I also applied it ONLY to the area I wanted eyeshadow to adhere. I didn't seem to experience any problems using this method. I didn't try and do too much blending as I was applying only one color. The color I applied, Aromaleigh's "fragile charms" mineral eyeshadow, definitely popped in a way I hadn't seen before. The primer made the subtle purple shimmer in the shadow pop. It stayed on through an entire shift at work lifting heavy things, bending, moving, and other activities that tend to smudge eye makeup.

Primed eye

Overall, I enjoyed this product. The packaging is adorable, it lasts throughout the day, and it extends the wear of eyeshadow. If you are vigilant about overuse, and you want a product that makes eyeshadow stay PUT then I would recommend it.

Some of you may be wondering what the "surprise at my doorstep" bit was about in the title of this post. Well, I recently connected with the author of the Becoming That Woman blog. We chatted about societal beauty standards, how we like to defy them, and of course shiny pretty things that go on our faces. It turns out she was cleaning house of a few palettes that she kindly offered to me. Last night after work I came home to a HUGE FRIGGIN BOX OF MAKEUP. Palettes, brushes, the works. Thank you Gwen! I look forward to sharing my reviews of everything. This might take a while...

It's okay. I know you envy my box.

Getting Schooled: Eyeshadow Primer

There are a lot of superfluous makeup products out there; foundation primer, finishing powder, finishing spray. Eyeshadow primer, however, is not one of them. It really is something I would consider to be a necessity. There are quite a few products on the market- Too Faced's Shadow Insurance and Urban Decay's Primer Potion are the two most notorious. There are a few indie labels that have products along those lines as well. (See the bottom of this blog post for a list of helpful links.) Personally, I will swear by Urban Decay's Primer Potion. It's a daily makeup application essential. What's so magical about it, you ask? Did they bottle essence of unicorn? Maybe. What I've noticed it does for me is prolong eyeshadow color, make the color more vivid (even with less expensive drug store shadows), and help keep it in place. These are important factors to not only help you use less product, but to also help for those of us with naturally oily skin fight the battle of the crease line.

For those glamor addicts out there, I would also recommend Too Faced's Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue. It will literally glue the glitter to your face. It can also be mixed with loose glitter to make a nice glitter eyeliner. It is more difficult to wash off at the end of the night. You will have to scrub. But how else do you expect glitter to become glued to your face?

For those of you who are new to eyeshadow primers here is a helpful link list to get you started:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue

Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper