Eye primers are GREAT investments when it comes to making up your eyes. Eye primers enhance the colour of your eyeshadow, prevent eyeshadow from creasing and make it last longer. I would never wear eyeshadow without an eye primer underneath. Because eye makeup usually takes the most time – it is not worth it without a primer underneath (in my humble opinion). There are many different types of eye primers such as invisible liquid primers, cream bases, MAC Paints, MAC Paintpots, MAC shadesticks, NYX Jumbo Pencils etcetera.

The first picture has all the eye primers and the second picture has MAC Electric Eel eyeshadow on left and MAC Shimmer Moss eyeshadow on right.

Eye primers from top to bottom:

1. Urban decay Primer Potion (can’t be seen since invisible)

2. Too faced shadow Insurance (can’t be seen since invisible)

3. MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque

4. MAC Paint in Sublime Nature

5. MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing

6. NYX Jumbo Pencil in violet

7. Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner (don’t know the name)

8. Vincent Longo Eye Shimmer Souffle in Babelon

Invisible eye primers:

Urban Decay Primer Potion: UDPP is beige coloured but goes on invisible once you blend it in. UDPP enhances the colour of the eyeshadow – makes it a lot more vibrant. Eyelids tend to get oily throughout the day and eyeshadow creases on the folds of the eyes. UDPP prevents any creasing of eyeshadow. Normally a powder eyeshadow disappears by midday. UDPP also makes eyeshadow last throughout the day. It makes the value of the eyshadow (no matter what brand or type) a lot more than what it really is. It is $17 USD/ $22 CDN for 0.34 oz product.

One disadvantage is the packaging that UDPP comes in. The tiny bottle is genie inspired and very cute looking. The straight sponge tip applicator can only go straight in the tube. Where as the tube is curvy. So a LOT of the products get stuck in the curves of the bottle. And you would think you have used all up. But if you cut the bottle open in the middle you will find one 10 g jar full of product inside. But cutting the process includes using a knife. So the hassle and danger involved to get all the product out – to make your money worth ticks me off.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance: TFSI is also beige coloured and goes on invisible on skin. It also enhances eyeshadow colour, prevents creasing and makes eye makeup last longer. TFSI is $17 USD/ $24 CDN for 0.35 oz product.

TFSI has two advantages over UDPP. The first one is that I think it is better for oily lids. But a lot of people think both products are the same. So I might be totally wrong. Second advantage is that it comes in a squeeze tube. So you don’t have to cut it open – you can all the product out just by squeezing the tube. I absolute can’t live without this.

Coloured eye primers:

MAC Paint: It is a transfer-resistant creamy base than gives a powdery finish. It comes in a squeeze tube. Be careful when you use it for the first 10 times. A lot of the product comes out with just a little bit of squeeze. It lasts for a LONG time. It is totally worth my money. Some has a satin finish (almost matte -with very slight slimmer) and some are more shimmery. These come in mostly skin tones colours and I love this product too. It is thick and pigmented- covers the eye area well evening out the skin tone. I use Sublime Nature Paint (a satin finished paint – my skin tone) almost every day over Too Faced Shadow Insurance before putting on eye makeup.

One con is that it tends to dull the eyeshadow colour a little bit. But I will always love it because it evens out my skin tone.

MAC Paint Pot: It comes in a small jar. It comes in a lot of colours including skin tones colour. It comes in matte/cream, satin and frosty finishes. They are really good to enhance the colour the eyeshadow. They are so pretty I would all of them if I could afford it. However, I don’t find myself grabbing them as much when I do my eye makeup.

MAC Shadestick: The packaging is like a mechanical eye pencil. But it is too big to be used as an eye pencil. It is a cream base that comes in a stick. But I personally don’t like it because it doesn’t blend well. It goes on flaky on my eyes.

NYX Jumbo Pencil: These are great alternative to MAC Shadesticks. These are not mechanical – so you have to sharpen them. But the Jumbo Pencils are very creamy and very pigmented and easy to use. I like using them a lot.

Benefit Creaseless cream Shadow/Liner: It’s a cream base and doesn’t crease. I like it a lot.

Vincent Longo Eye Shimmer Souffle: It is a very creamy and shimmery base. I tend to use to under colourful eyeshadows.
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Contouring and highlighting gives some dimension to the face. Contouring goes on any places that are behind from the plane of the face or are shadowed. Highlighting goes on the place that comes forward from the face. Such as the cheek bones, bridge of the nose, the brow bones, forehead and chin. I like to use a shimmery highlighter on the cheekbones and a shimmery eyeshadow on the brow bones. I avoid shimmer on the T-zone since it is already shiny. Highlighting should be done with a fluffy and less dense brush since too much shimmer looks tacky even on dry skin types. A dense brush can be used only on the cheekbones. Don’t use a dense brush on forehead, nose and chin.

My favourite highlight brush is MAC188 (right). It will pick up a little product if you brush it on the product lightly. Start from the start of the cheekbones and make a half circle bringing the colour around the eyes – up to above arch of the brows. This brush picks up and delivers just the right amount. I also live this brush as a blush brush. It can also be used to apply lightweight foundation like MAC187 brush.

This Posh brush (left) is called Blending brush. The size is such that don’t know if it is a blending brush for eye makeup or face makeup or cheek makeup. However, I found a use of this brush. I use it to highlight on the days when I want a strong highlight. It is very dense and picks up a lot of product. But I wouldn’t consider this brush a necessity.

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Contour goes on the hollow of the cheekbones and sides of the nose. Find your cheekbones with your finger. The hollow is right under it. I also like to contour my jaw line and side of my temples to give  myself a slimmer look. I personally use bronzer to contour. If you like to stay out of shimmer then use a matter brown eyeshadow or blush. Contour brushes have to be narrow so that they can go on narrow places like hollow of cheekbones and sides of the nose. They have to be dense give the affect of high cheekbones, narrow nose and a slimmer face. They also have to be a little bit fluffy so the colour can be blended.

My personal favourite contouring brush is MAC109 (right). It is a dense and narrow brush with a circular tip. It is just the right size to contour my face. I pick up my bronzer and its very easy to apply – no tricks involved. I starts from my temples and come forward towards the centre of my face.

My second favourite brush for contouring is MAC168 (left). It’s an angular dense and narrow brush. It can be used to contour holding it sideways – starting from temples and coming forward. It can also be used as a blush brush holding it normally – starting from the cheeks going towards the temples.

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Blush brushes are a great investment. The brushes that come with blushes often is of cheap quality and does not work. You should use a narrow brush if you have small face and smaller cheekbones. You might find a broad brush more useful if you have a larger face and use only one blush colour. However, I personally like to use a narrow blush brush though I have a big chubby face. The reason is that I also contour and highlight my cheeks – I apply the blush in between them so a narrow brush works great for me.

I absolutely love MAC188 as a blush brush (first from left). I swirl it on my powder brush and then swipe it couple of times on my cheeks – and that is it. I start from the apple of my cheeks (I little bit behind it actually) and finish close to my ears. It picks up small amount if you want a light coverage and it picks up more if you keep swirling it. It is the baby version of MAC187.  Which means the black hair is goat hair and the site is synthetic hair. So this brush is great for people who apply cream blushes. This brush can be used to apply foundation as well. I also highlight my cheeks with this brush sometimes.

A traditional blush brush is like MAC129 (second brush from left). You swipe it from the apple of the cheeks and finish in front of the ears. I personally don’t like it. I tend to apply too much blush while using this brush. I tend to look older since the blush makes my cheeks look like it is sagging.

Another traditional blush brush is MAC168 (third from left). It is quite dense – picks up more colour and I tend to avoid it. It is very good for contouring the cheekbones though. If you use a bronzer with this brush and apply it on the hollow under your cheekbones, it gets a nice lift and makes your face look slimmer.

Posh Angle Blush brush (last brush from the left) looks similar to MAC168. It’s dense but softer and fluffier than MAC168. So this brush is not so good for contouring but a great brush for blush. If I ever lose my MAC188 (God forbids!) I will use this brush till I get a new MAC188.
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Concealer brushes are something that I wouldn’t consider absolute necessity. I feel concealer can be applied with fingers pretty well. But I do like concealer brushes and use them all the time. They are great for precise application of concealer.

My favourite concealer for under eye area is a non name brand. It’s the first brush from the left that says conceal-18a. It is just the right size for under eye area. It’s soft and firm at the same time. I can pat on concealer with it. The tip is fine enough to get close to the corner of the eyes. I also like this brush for the 2 dark patches I have on both of my temporal bones. I also like this brush to cover the redness around my nose and on the cheeks.

My favourite brush to conceal blemishes is MAC194 (second from left). It is the right size to conceal a blemish and the area around it.

Posh makes a pack of 2 concealer brushes. They are very soft and very good buy for the price. The big Posh brush (third from left) is my alternative brush to conceal under eye circles, dark spot and redness on my face. The small Posh Brush (Last from left) is my alternative brush to conceal blemishes.

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The foundation brushes I am going to review are MAC187, MAC190 and MAC181. I don’t have the full size brushes. I only own the special edition short handled brushes that I am posting pictures of.

My favourite foundation brush is MAC187. This brush is best to use with lightweight foundation. It’s a stippling brush. It has duo fibre. The black fibres are goat hair and the white hairs on top are synthetic hair. It is best for lightweight application. It doesn’t pick up too much product so foundation application is not cakey. If you apply foundation and starts blending – you won’t benefit from this brush, you would rather use a dense brush instead.

To get the most out of this brush I stipple the foundation on my face. I use it with my Makeup For Ever HD Foundation. I pump 1 pump on the back of my hands. I dip this brush on the foundation and only get half the product on the tips of the white fibre (very lightly). Then I use a quick stipple motion on my right side of the face. I keep stippling till the foundation blends in (I don’t swirl). Then I pick up the rest for my left side of the face.  It gives a flawless application.

MAC187  has a narrow version MAC188. MAC 188 can be used the same way – the advantage is that it can be reached to places like sides of the nose, close to eyes and above the brows.

My next favourite brush is MAC190. This is a traditional foundation brush. It is great for foundations with thicker formula such as Revlon ColorStay or MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation. You pick up the foundation onto the brush from the back of your hand. Then apply it on your face with a downward stroke. It works since the tiny facial hairs also go downwards. If you move the brush upward the hairs will stand up. Keep blending the foundation in as you apply it.

Another brush that you can apply liquid foundation with is a kabuki brush like MAC181.  If is designed to apply powder foundation but it works great with liquid foundation. The only con is that it can be hard to get to narrow places like the sides of the nose.

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So not everyone can afford the best makeup and you don’t need to buy expensive makeup exclusively. Only some staple products in your makeup vanity should be enough. So the products I think are the most important and thus I would invest money in are:

1. Foundation: Foundation is the base for all your other makeup. It is totally worth it to spend some money towards it. Even if you don’t have a face primer, even if you have a cheap concealer, a great foundation will make you look fabulous nonetheless.

2. Brushes: Brushes are very important. Yes, foundation can be applied with hand, but you apply more, waste product and it goes on cakey. Yes eyeshadow can be applied with a sponge tip applicator, but colours won’t blend and won’t last long. Brushes achieve the details needed for a complete look.

3. Eye primer: Eye primer will enhance the colour of your eyeshadow, prevent eyeshadow from creasing and will make it last longer. An eye primer will increase the value of your eyeshadows even if you have budget friendly eyeshadows.

4. Waterproof eyeliner and mascara: Most women have eyeliner and mascara anyways. When you run out of them and make your next purchase, consider getting waterprood liquid and pencil eyeliner and waterproof mascara. It will prevent smudging.

5. Clear Lipliner: You don’t need to waste money getting every coloured lipliner for every lipstick that you own. Get a clear one – I recommend Revlon ColorStay Lipliner in Clear. It will go with every lipstick/lipstain/lipgloss. Line the edges of lips and then fill your lips in with it. It will prevent lipcolour form bleeding and will make it last longer.

That’s all I remember right now. I will edit this post if I find something new. You don’t have to get all these in one day. I call these investments because they are worth a bunch of money. Get one product per paycheck and you will have all the staples within a year or so. Enjoy the weekend.

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Applying makeup with hands when doing simple makeup at home for none to see is fine. It is possible to use hands to apply concealer and foundation, to use sponge tip applicators for eyeshadows, and to use lipstick directly. However special occasion makeup deserves more. Attention to details makes a look from simple to gorgeous. And brushes are the tools to get there. Brushes are so important in my opinion that I think every woman should invest in them (after foundation) – they help tremendously even if you have only low end/ drug store makeup.

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Urban decay 24/7 Glide-On eye pencils are great creamy eye pencils. They are very easily applied. They are waterproof and stay on upper and lower lash line for a long time. They come in 19 shades. Overall, it’s a great buy. Women usually love these eye pencils. But it’s not my personal favourite. Because I don’t normally wear coloured eye pencils, I almost always wear black. Urban Decay’s black eye pencil in Zero doesn’t do it for me. It is not dark enough for my medium dark skin (my skin colour is MAC NC42 foundation). I only use it for natural looks, not dramatic looks. If you have fair skin you won’t have any problem though. My favourite is the purple colour is Lust and teal colour in Covet. Something to keep in mind is that they don’t stay on waterline for even a minute.

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