Friday, 29 November 2013

MAC Prep+Prime Eye Base

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

P.S. In case, you’re wondering what the other MAC product was that I purchased alongside this eye base, it was the travel size Strobe cream and yes there will be a review coming soon, as soon as I've played around with it a bit more :o)

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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