Review: NYX Eyeshadow Base

Ok, I've finally finished testing NYX Eyeshadow Base in Skintone which I bought not too long ago. The colour looks nothing like that as the photo taken by NYX website (above).


The NYX Eyeshadow Base comes in a plastic jar with a white cap. The colour is a orangy beige colour that looks darker than NYX Concealer in A Jar in Beige. It is lighter when applied. It is a really creamy base which I had no problem blending but it dries fast when applied so you have to work fast.

On NC25 skin, it has an obvious orange tinge in swatches. As the base can be blended, you can just apply a thinner layer to make it less obvious. When applied on my eyes, the orange tinge wasn't that obvious for me. As I have dark shadows on my eyelids (due to thinner skin ), this eyeshadow base really helps in concealing and correcting all the darkness on the eyelids that I want to be gone. It glides on really smoothly and smoothes the creases on the eyes for me. I find it easy to blend out. The base goes on, giving a sheer coverage.

As a eyeshadow base, I really do not find that it intensifies eyeshadows as stated. You do get colour payoff compared to not using any base or primer but I find it to be average. You might get better payoff working with a good eyeshadow primer instead. There was something I did not like about how the eyeshadows turned out after applying over this base. I couldn't put a finger to it and so I did several swatch tests of this with E.L.F Mineral Primer, L'Oreal De-Crease Primer, Urban Decay Primer Potion, NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk (yes, I have that many. Too bad I have no pictures for this because my camera has broken down). So in short, although colour payoff for eyeshadow applied over this NYX eyeshadow base was decent, there were some colours that didn't turn out the way they should. I had problems with colours that were reddish copper or burgundy purple that turned up darker or more brownish. I believed it's due to the orange tinge in the base affecting it. Somehow the base darkens some of the colours instead of intensifying it.

Overall, I'm not really liking this product as an eyeshadow base to apply eyeshadows over. It is kind of dark. It works fine for me but probably wouldn't work for someone who's fairer than NC25. If you have perfectly fine eyelids (no dark shadows), using it will leave your eyelids looking orange which is pointless. However, I really like how it corrects all the darkness on my eyelids. I would probably use it on days when I don't feel like wearing eyeshadow, just to make the area around my eyelids look less dark. Another use I've found for it is probably as an undereye concealer. Even though coverage for this is sheer, it does help to conceal a little bit of dark eye circles. I suppose it works well as a "orange" corrector and since its consistency is really smooth, it doesn't make the undereye area look dry.

As most cream bases crease on me, usually i would use eyeshadow primer (to prevent creasing) before applying any cream base over to make eyeshadows stick. As this product doesn't work magic for my eyeshadows, it's really pointless for me to do it this way. You can give it a go with this method if it creases for you or the eyeshadow base in another colour (White and Pearl) works for you.

Item retails for USD $6.00 on Cherryculture.com

Comparision between NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk and NYX Eyeshadow Base in Skintone

If you can't decide between the two, maybe this would help. The NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk has a slightly creamy and sticky consistency. It is opaque white. You can apply on a thick layer to get a white canvas on the lids or blend it out sheer for a sheer wash of base to let eyeshadows stick on. Colours go on vibrantly and it's really good to have as a cream base to work with. The NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil definitely creases if applied on its own. Due to its sticky consistency, it can be hard to blend. Once you pat your eyeshadows on, they wouldn't budge as freely as it normally would (when done without any base).

The NYX Eyeshadow Base in Skintone has a creamy and slightly greasy feel and dries to a clean finish without any stickness. I find it to be easier to blend on top of it as compared to using the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil as a cream base. In terms of colour payoff, it was a little disappointing since it did not intensify colours as much compared to the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil.

Review: L'Oreal De-Crease Eye Shadow Base

I have been using L'Oreal De-Crease Eye Shadow Base for quite a long while. It's my first eyeshadow primer.

L'Oreal De-Crease Eye Shadow Base comes with a doe-foot wand applicator. It comes in only one shade which is said to be suitable for all skin tones. It retails for about US$8.48 (price taken from drugstore.com).

This primer looks similiar to L'oreal True Match Concealer, which I also own (in picture below).



L'oreal True Match Concealer has a liquid consistency while L'oreal De-crease has a slightly thicker consistency. The colour of L'oreal De-crease primer is a light beige shade. When applied, it blends out into a light beige colour over your eyelids making your eyes appear more awake since all the darkness on the lids is concealed. I like to just use this alone on the eyelids when I'm running out of time. I don't think it would work as well for darker skintones as the light beige appears really obvious on the lids so wouldn't really advise darker skintone ladies to just use this primer alone.

I'm really not a fan of this primer. It works really well for me initially and I totally adore how it makes me look so awake when used alone. However, gradually I realised the consistency of it just isn't perfect. There are times when it goes on smoothly and blends to a smooth finish. On unlucky days, it blends out to a blotchy finish, the kind of finish you get when you keep rubbing your concealer and it starts to flake. The primer dries fast and just doesn't blend to an even finish so you get patches of super obvious light beige here and there on the lids.

I hated it. But then of course, being me, I would give it another try again and again. So this review is written after I tried it for maybe 100+ times and still, it's the same. -gives face-

In terms of function, this works all right. It's just.....average. It works in making your eyeshadows appear on your eyelids. However, the colour doesn't intensify. You don't get your shadows as bright as they look in the pans. It lasted a couple of hours for me but I wouldn't recommend it for long wearing or heavy eye makeup.

(I think I'm losing touch with blogging. Just can't seem to find the right words or passion to blog. Or maybe I just hate this product. -lol-)

I'm still using it though. It actually works well for me with brands like Silky Girl (also known as Wet N Wild) eyeshadows, which have pretty and vibrant colours but for some reason, they don't appear all that pigmented for me. Else I'll just use it in the following way:

Primer -> Cream base (thin layer) -> Eyeshadow

You have to use the cream base after a primer else it will just crease like crazy. This works the best for all eyeshadows. At least for me so how the primer works doesn't really matter to me anymore.

I would advise you to save your money and invest in a better eye primer like Urban Decay Primer Potion or Two Faced Shadow Insurance (both retailing for about US$22) if your requirements in a primer is to make the eyeshadows pop, minimize creasing and make it last all day. L'oreal De-crease is really average to me and would be only a good alternative for short durations.

An even cheaper alternative worth considering is E.L.F Mineral Eye Primer (US$3). :)