The eyelid primer is still a very unexplored arena in terms of drugstore/high street make up with only a few being readily available. So, with this new release from Rimmel now in stores, does it work and how does it compare to the Daddy of them all; Urban Decay’s Primer Potion?
First off, the packaging bores me. It’s plain, unimaginative and doesn’t scream ‘BUY ME!’. The name is good and ties in nicely with their other Exaggerate products.
Now, the Urban Decay classic has long been a favorite of mine; it intensifies any eyeshadow I put over the top of it and it makes it last all day long. It’s a sure thing basically.
The Rimmel one, in short, is not as good. I don’t hate it but I find that it doesn’t intensifies the color of powder eye shadow at all and after rigorous testing it only seems to prolong the life of higher end/ better quality eyeshadows. Odd considering it is a budget product.
For example; when used under shadows from MUA, GOSH and even Rimmel after 4 hours or so my eyeshadow had either creased to with an inch of it’s life or disintegrated completely. Not good. On higher end shadows from Urban Decay, Bobbi Brown and strangely Revlon, it kept them in place all day until I took my make up off.
I also don’t like the texture of it too much, it is very silicone-y on the skin. Not like their amazing face primer, which I had kinda hoped would be replicated in eyelid primer form.
So either it doesn’t do anything to the products put on top of it or something in it makes it react with cheaper products, whatever it is it doesn’t perform as well as I had hoped. I do love Rimmel and I don’t hate this product, I just don’t find that it works well enough to take Urban Decay’s place.
On a positive note, this has a good applicator and does smooth over the eye very well, not need for excessive rubbing to blend it in. It does take a little longer to dry/set than Urban Decay though.
I don’t have greasy eyelids or problems with eyeshadow lasting, so my main hope for this was to wear it under eye shadow on nights out or very long days when I need shadow to last and sadly I do no have the confidence to use it for those purposes so I will continue to use my Primer Potion.
Sorry Rimmel, Urban Decay has it. Maybe go back to the drawing board on this one…
Available from Boots, Superdrug, Supermarkets and online. Priced £4.99.
Have you tried this primer? Had different results? Tell me about it in the comments.