Good Day Everyone,
Last weekend I made a quick stop of at the MAC counter whilst at
the airport and made a couple of purchases. I had gone with the intention of
buying just the one product and whilst paying something else caught my eye, and
I thought to myself, ‘Oooh I’ll try a bit of that too.’ Does that ever happen
to you, where something catches your eye at the last minute and you just end up
buying it? Be honest ;o)
I had gone to MAC to buy one of their paint pots because my
dark circles don’t just limit themselves to under my eyes, they also extend
onto and around my eyelids. I get orangey brown discolouration on my eyelids as
well as some very fine red veins showing through my skin. I wanted something
that would neutralise / cover up the darkness and minimise the red veins... a
concealer for the eyelids, if you will. As you know eyeshadows are my thing and the dark circles on my eyelids were interfering with my
lighter eyeshadows, preventing the colours from showing up as well as they could.
At the MAC counter I played around with the Painterly and
Soft Ochre pain pots but I found the texture to be quite thick and a bit dry and
difficult to work with. I also wanted a colour that was as close to my own skin
as possible and I couldn't find one in the paint pot collection. Whilst I
was going to be using eyeshadows on top of this product and therefore you may
think that getting a close skin match is not really an issue, I nevertheless
felt it would useful for days when I don’t wear any eyeshadow, but still
want to neutralise and cover up my dark circles and red veins.
I got chatting with the MAC sales assistant and she
recommended that I try the MAC Prep+Prime eye base. I did and walked away
with my first ever MAC eye product. I will typically read online reviews of most
products before I part with my money but as we were about to catch a flight I didn't have time and so I took the plunge and made my purchase. Later that day I went
online and I have to say the reviews were pretty mixed about this product
...'mmm should I have not taken the plunge', I thought to myself, but the thing
with makeup products (and most things) is that they do not work the same for
everybody, we all have different skin types and body chemistry and so I decided
not to despair but to try the product out for myself.
The product comes in three shades; light, medium and medium
dark. I purchased the medium shade and it is very similar to my natural skin
colour and tone. You get 5gr of product and mine cost me $27.10 SGD which is
about £1 more than the UK retail price of £12.50 but given that the
second MAC product I purchased cost $11 SGD (£5.50 approx) when it actually
retails for £12.50 in the UK, I felt I got a good bargain across the two
products... woohoo :o)
The product comes in a round, light weight, slim line, clear
plastic pot with a black screw on lid. I don’t mind the packaging as its light
weight and pretty secure which means I have no concerns travelling with it. I
always make sure that I screw the lid on fairly tightly so that the product doesn't dry out.
Now on to the juicy bit, the product itself. I have been
wearing this product for the last five days and I do not regret my purchase at
all... hooray :o) According to MAC this product is;
‘A light textured
cream to wear on the eyes as an undercoat to eye makeup. Primes the lids,
smooths textures, neutralises lid colour. Use under eye shadow, pigments,
paints and concealers.’
I would agree with
most of the above. I haven’t tried this product under concealer or pigments so
can’t comment on how well it works under them. For me it does the key job that I wanted
which is to neutralise the dark circles and red veins on my eyelids - yipppeeee! The product
has a very creamy yet thin (thinner than the MAC paint pots), light weight
texture. I apply this with my finger, all over my eyelid, taking it up to my
brow bone and the inner corner of my eyes by the side of my nose. I only
need the tiniest bit of product as a little goes a long way (I see this pot
lasting me for a very very long time, providing it doesn't dry out). I can
imagine this product creasing, if you put too much on and I think this might be
a factor behind some of the less positive online reviews.
The product dries very quickly so there’s no hanging around
before being able to apply my eyeshadows :o) It dries to a powder finish. I was
impressed by how well it worked to neautralise the darkness and red veins on my
eyelids. Whilst it doesn't completely eradicate the darkness 100% it does a
brilliant job, as you can see from the photo below. I have no makeup on
other than this eye base on my left eye. The product also has a mattifying
effect and absorbs any oil on my lids, leaving me with a lovely, neutral
canvass for my eyeshadows.
For me, this product works beautifully under powder
eyeshadows and it also works well under my Maybelline Color Tattoo (reviewed here). It doesn't works
as well under the crayon type eyeshadow as the colour looks a bit patchy and
bitty, if that makes any sense. For me this is no big issue as I mainly use
powder eyeshadows and use the crayon type eyeshadow as inner corner highlighters
and they seem to work fine, even on top of this eye base there, just not as a larger
wash of colour on my eyelid. When I apply this eye base on my eyelids I take
the product all the way down to my lash line. Day to day, I typically wear
pencil eyeliner on my top lash line and this eye base doesn't interfere with my
liner in any way.
I have found that my eyeshadow lasts slightly longer without
creasing when I wear this eye base versus without, but I’m not sure if it makes
the colour of my shadows ‘pop’ or more intense, or make the colour last longer
compared to not using this eye base, and versus my other eye primers like the
Urban Decay Primer Potion. I will have to try a few little experiments to do a
compare and contrast. Irrespective of these ‘primer’ qualities I love this
product for what it does to reduce the dark circles on my eyelids and it just
goes to show that just because a product doesn't work for others, it doesn't mean
it’s not going to work for me :o)
Have you tried this product or any others from Mac’s Prep +
Prime range? What was your experience? Are there any other products that you
would recommend for neutralising eyelid darkness?
Love Sheen xxx
My verdict: 5/5
For the
UK: MAC website
For the US: MAC website
For Singapore you can find this product at MAC counters/stores
(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)
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