Long-Wear Eye Base

2 Reviews

1. 

   selfishZebra3

   Reply

   I was not impressed with this product. At the end of the day my eye shadow has completely disappeared. I will go back to using Urban Decay eyeshadow primer (it works a treat & keeps eyeshadow in place until i remove it).

2. 

   emptyMallard9

   Reply

   Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Eye Base was introduced in fall 2013. I was surprised to finally see an eye primer product in the line, because as long as I remember the Bobbi Brown philosophy seemed to be that a primer is not necessary when a light colored powder shadow is applied to the lids which serves as a foundation to set the rest of the eye makeup. Although I don’t have extremely oily eye lids and otherwise dry skin I have to admit that without a primer product my powder eye shadows would usually crease after only a few hours. I have been using Paula Dorf’s Eye Primer in the light shade for many years (pls read my separate review on that if interested), which comes in a round, somewhat bulky pot, I apply it with a foundation brush, but one could also use their fingers. So while I like the performance of the Paula Dorf primer, when I spotted the BB eye base at Nordstrom I liked its sleek small package and thought it would be ideal for travel. As you can see on the stock pic, BB’s primer comes in a black opaque tube with a doe foot, similar in shape to BB’s glosses, so no extra brush required. I really like the packaging. It comes in four yellow based shades from light to dark and I went for the lightest shade called “light” and it looked fine when i sampled it on the back of my hand at the BB counter. I am light skinned with cool toned skin, BB Alabaster/Porcelain, MAC NW10/15 for reference. The product is a cream-to-powder formulation. The powder particles are slightly crumbly and need to be wiped off the lid prior to eye shadow application – which is a tiny bit annoying, but I didn’t consider it a real issue. The other reasons for my overall lukewarm rating: The application is completely sheer, so there is no evening out of the lid color whatsoever. I find that my eyes look a lot brighter when the slight redness and the veins are evened out, and this product does not do that. The silicones in this gel make the skin surface silky so eye shadows go on smoothly, but the formula is also somewhat drying which has an aging effect – my eyes look slightly crepey after application, while they are not crepey on their own. When using the BB eye base I did not experience issues with creasing so it does work in that regard. Overall I would recommend this product for very young, plump skin which may not experience the drying, aging effect. Personally, I will not rebuy and continue my search for a non-drying creamier primer that also provides some coverage. Alas, until I find a primer in more travel-convenient packaging, I will keep using Paula Dorf’s primer which does the job perfectly every time and deal with the bulky packaging and brush when traveling. Retails for $26 and I have seen it at several of the major department stores.