Loose Powder

How many of you are using eye shadow primers to extend the life of your look for the day? Here’s a look at four primers I’ve been trying, including a new one by Glory Box Cosmetics.

The testing group includes the Glory Box primer, Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy, e.l.f.’s Mineral Primer, and The All Natural Face’s Eyeshadow Primer.

Since, it’s new and I haven’t talked about it before, Glory Box Cosmetics’ TKO Eyeshadow Primer boasts all day wear without creasing. The 7ml tube of white primer applies clear and a tiny amount goes a long way. It goes on feeling slippery, like a silicone face primer, and the company advises that you wait 15-20 seconds before applying your eye shadow.

For the stripe tests, I used Glory Box Cosmetics’ Battersea aqua eye shadow and applied with a brush using the same amount for each stripe.

The first swatch is the eye shadow without primer. Next is Glory Box, then Fyrinnae, e.l.f, and finally The All Natural Face.

The Glory Box and All Natural Face primers both made the color a bit darker and bolder. Glory Box also seemed to bring out more of the shimmer. Fyrinnae’s Pixie epoxy was the next in terms of bringing out the color in the eye shadow, while e.l.f.’s primer didn’t do much but add a lighter base.

I let the swatches sit for about half an hour and then just brushed them lightly a couple times with my hand. This was the result:

Without primer, the eye shadow was mostly gone. The Glory Box primer did about as well as the All Natural Face primer. The e.l.f. primer actually did worse than no primer – it’s almost gone. The best performance came from Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy – there was a bit of shadow lost, but it’s still mostly there.

I did another quick swipe with my  hand a few minutes later:

Again, the Glory Box and All Natural Face primers performed more or less equally. The stripe without primer and he one with e.l.f. primer are both pretty much gone. The Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy performed the best, once again.

My preferred eye shadow primer for long wear is always going to be Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy. For daily use, I would either go with The All Natural Face or Glory Box – even though they didn’t do well on the rubbing test, they work find during the day if you’re not touching your eyelid all the time. I give up on e.l.f. primers.

All of these primers were easily removed with soap & water or your usual make-up remover.

Pixie Epoxy is available from Fyrinnae‘s site (lately it’s been down a lot, but orders still seem to be making it out). The All Natural Face sells their primer on their website and their Etsy shop. Glory Box Cosmetics also has an Etsy shop and the e.l.f. Mineral eye primer is available from their website.

Stila is a brand that I’ve always looked at in Sephora, but never purchased any products from. I found the price a bit high, I guess. However, there are a few products on the Stila site that are very affordable! One of these is their Charmed Eye Shadow Palette.

Description from the site: Adorned with authentic Indian bindis, this palette features four highly-pigmented new shadow shades all infused with genuine 24kt gold. Long revered for its skin revitalizing properties, this luxurious metal helps minimize the appearance of fine lines and creates a rich, shimmering effect.

There are four colors in this palette: coppery gold, warm gold, teal, and black/burgundy, all with a gold shimmer.

The palette itself is constructed of paper, but it seems rather sturdy.

I find the shadows very smooth and easily picked up with a brush. Here are some swatches:

From left: teal, black/burgundy, copper, warm gold.

The colors were easy to work with and blend, but they weren’t as pigmented as I was hoping. It might have been the e.l.f. mineral eye primer, though. I will have to try it again with Pixie Epoxie to see.

I used the warm gold all over my eyelids and above the crease first, then added the teal on my eye lid and blended it in. I used the black/burgundy on the outer corner to darken it a bit. Then I used a black gel eyeliner to finish my eyes.

To finish this look, I am wearing Fyrinnae Glow Blush in Enchant, Stainiac Lip Stain in Beauty Queen, and Korres gloss in Fuchsia.

It’s a great little palette and the four colors you get are good for every day wear or going out. Overall, I think this was a good purchase for the price.

This is a brown and teal eye look I threw on before heading out one Saturday.

Before starting, I’ve applied my primer (tarte Clean Slate) and BareMinerals matte foundation, then applied Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxie on my eyelids.

I used Fyrinnae‘s Cookie Dough on the inner corners and as a highlight and Species 8472 on my eyelid. For the outer corner and crease I used Aromaleigh‘s Rocks! Sonic shadow in moonagedaydream. I finished off the look with black gel eyeliner from The All Natural Face.

For blush, I’m using Fyrinnae’s Glow Blush in Enrapture and their lip lustre in Romantique.

Speaking of Aromaleigh… I’m sure the news has spread by now that Aromaleigh will be closing. I have no idea what the circumstances are of this, but you can read Kristen’s announcement here. They are discounted all remaining stock and you can use the coupon code ADIEU35 to get 35% off any products through August 10, 2010.

Fyrinnae (pronounced “fyeer-ih-nay”) is a company I am fairly new to, but I am loving their unique and vibrant eyeshadows and blush, both of which I’ll talk about in future posts. In this article I am reviewing their fabulous product, Pixie Epoxy.

Fyrinnae does not claim to be a mineral makeup company, but all their products are vegan: they don’t contain silk, carmine, pearl, or beeswax. Some of their ingredients are man-made or lab treated and thus aren’t technically “natural,” but they’re pretty much the same things you find in “mineral” make-up: mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, etc. Category and product pages will list all the ingredients in an item.

As stated on the site, Pixie Epoxy is not an eye primer or a base.  It’s a unique “glue,” that is “designed to hold the sparkliest, most shimmery eye shadows in place, minimize ‘fallout’, and also to easily create a foiled look without foiling.”

Ingredients: Glycerin (vegetable derived), Purified Water (Aqua), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Silica, Acrylamide/Ammonium acrylate copolymer, Polyisobutene, Polysorbate 20, Propylene Glycol, Carbomer, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Potassium Sorbate.

Personally, I use it without an eye primer because I’m usually too lazy. When I use it with a primer, though, I don’t notice any performance difference.

Prior to discovering Pixie Epoxy, I used e.l.f.’s Mineral Eye Primer. For me, it worked about as well as Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. Eyeshadow went on all right, a little bolder than without a primer but by the end of the day, it was noticeably faded. However, Pixie Epoxy sticks eyeshadow to your lids! I can go 8+ hours and my eye makeup will look almost exactly like it did before I left the house. I say almost because sometimes eyeliner or mascara will run/smudge, but that’s not Pixie Epoxy’s fault.

Now on to the demo swatches! I used several brands of eye makeup as well as both loose and pressed types. The first image below is what the Pixie Epoxy looks like when applied: it’s a bit shiny. You don’t need nearly as much as you think you do! A little dab spread over your lid is plenty and if you use too much you might get some creasing.

In the swatches below, the upper row has Pixie Epoxy, the middle is bare skin, and the lower row is with Urban Decay Primer Potion.

From left to right: Urban Decay Uzi, Urban Decay Flipside, Hard Candy Backstage Pass (gold & aqua), Orglamix Lagoon, Everyday Minerals Starry Eyed, Aromaleigh Palmetto (matte), Aromaleigh Wonderland (gothic lolita), Fyrinnae Cupcake Sprinkles, Fyrinnae We’re All Mad Here, e.l.f. e/s duo Berry Mix (mauve & plum)

As you can see from the swatches, there’s a huge difference in the shadows that were applied over Pixie Epoxy versus just bare skin. There’s also quite a difference between Pixie Epoxy and UDPP except for a couple of the colors.

Here are a couple more photos of the swatches that are a bit more in focus:

Even though Pixie Epoxy is a bit tacky (which is really helpful for glitter shadows like UD’s Uzi), I don’t find there’s any difficulty blending my colors. As I said above, I’ve been using this on my lids instead of a regular eye primer for the last couple months and haven’t had any skin problems.

At less than half the cost of UDPP, do yourself a favor and get the 10ml tube of Pixie Epoxy. While you’re there, be sure to check out their awesome eyeshadow shades!