If you're new to the make up world the idea of an eye shadow base may be kind of confusing. What's it for? What about the different colored bases? What kind should you buy? etc.
Here are the answers to any of the questions you may have, also putting a high end shadow base against a dollar base.
What is an eye shadow base for?
Eye shadow bases (a.k.a. eye primers) are used to prepare a base for your eye shadow. They help them last longer, look more vivid, help guard against creasing and some new bases even claim to have anti-aging benefits.
What about the different color bases?
A new big trend with primers/bases is to add different dimension or color to them and that means that your eye shadows may show up a bit differently.
Black Bases- You can achieve a black base by using any black pencil liner or gel liner, but when doing this be very careful to smudge out the liner before applying the eye shadow if not the black may over power your eye shadow. A good tip I learned in school was to first apply a light wash of a light brown shadow to the crease so that you don't smudge your liner too far.
White bases- White bases are supposed to present you with a perfectly blank canvas, making your shadow present itself as vivid as possible. It doesn't have to compete with your natural eye color or any color. Keep in mind that when speaking art terms White is the Lack of Color which is why your colors will be more vibrant.
Skin Toned bases- Skin toned bases are meant to be more natural, something to adjust the color of your eyelids. Some eye lids are more naturally red than others so by adjusting the color on your lids you make it easier for your eye shadow to be as pure a color as possible.
What kind of base should you buy?
Most people use money and reputation of a brand to decide what base they should buy. Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Urban Decays Primer Potion are two very popular eye primers that are also kind of pricey. However, there are so many types and tricks for things you might already have in your collection that you don't necessarily need to go out and buy an expensive one. So lets expand on this question with some swatches shall we?
(left to right: Color Tattoo -Barely Beige, Covergirl + Olay concealer balm, NYX Eyeshadow Base, ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer, Too Faced Perfect Eyes liner, Cherimoya liner, and Urban Decay Primer Potion)
As you can see the so called "primers" come in all different colors, textures, and some aren't even primers. Concealer is a good option for a primer and something that most of us already have in our collection. The creamier the concealer the more likely it is to crease.
Let's see how these bad boys preform now.
As you can see the different colored bases make for a different finish to the same eye shadow. A shimmer base like the Color Tattoo does add an extra amount of sparkle that shows up through the shadow. That means if you are going for a Matte look I wouldn't recommend a cream eyeshadow with shimmer as your base. So, does expensive technically mean better? No. I use ELF primer (which is $1) all the time and have no problems. But as you can tell ANY base is better than NO base.
So go out there, try a primer/base of some sort, just keep in mind that moderation should be used on whichever you pick, also for a smokey eye It's always pick a black base (smoked out and in moderation).
Hope that helped.
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