Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base

Since I started running low on my beloved Urban Decay Primer Potion I need to purchase a new one. While I wanted to purchase the same I thought I would try one or two from drugstore first so I bought the Essence I Love Stage eyeshadow base. I wanted to find a cheaper primer which I could easily buy at stores since E.L.F. primers are good and cheap but only available for online purchase.

The packaging is medium sized, hard plastic tube with doe-foot applicator. While I like the look of it and I find it pretty, it's definitely not the kind of packaging I would choose for such product simply before it will really hard to get every ounce of the product. I also expected for it to have more in because it is kinda bulky but it contains 0.13 fl oz/ 4 ml which is a bit less than the e.l.f primer and far less than Primer Potion which have 0.85 fl oz. The doe-foot applicator is not tiny nor huge in size and will definitely help you to get the very last ounce of product when you'll be running low on this. 

For me the most important thing about an eyeshadow primer is it's performance and not so much the packing. I mean, what I'm going to do with one which has amazing packing but poor performance? But a nice packing is definitely a bonus. So does this Essence eyeshadow base do it's job? The quick answer is yes but it's definitely not on UDPP level. 

There are two things that I want from eyeshadow primer, the first and most important is to prolong the longevity and second intensify the color payoff. While the are other ways to boost the payoff, like using another base such as NYX Jumbo pencils, there are no other ways to prolong the staying power. So in color boosting it does a fairly good job and I definitely see a difference when applying eyeshadow on top of this primer.  

While I have pretty oily eyelids, my main problem area is the inner part of the crease because that is where the eyeshadow starts creasing and fading first. This base does pretty well in helping the eyeshadow to stay in place for much longer than they would on their own but unfortunately I start noticing slight fading and creasing on that problem area that I mentioned before after around 6 hours or so. Though on someone with not so oily eyelids the base would work much better.

What I really love about Essence I Love Stage base is the super creamy texture. The consistency reminds of concealer, it is super blendable and it leaves a natural matte finish. Also is gives a bit of coverage, just enough to slightly even out the skin tone on the lids and doesn't leave that ugly white-ish color that some primer do.

All in all Essence I Love Stage is a very decent eyeshadow base and if you want something affordable for day to day use this is the primer to go. I don't remember exactly the price but it couldn't be more than 4+ euros. Have you tried this primer? Which is your current favorite eyeshadow primer?

e.l.f. Eyelid Primer vs e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer

Hello my lovely readers. I've been wanting to do this review for a while now. I have already reviewed the e.l.f. Mineral eyeshadow primer,you can see it here, and today I will compare that one to the e.l.f eyelid primer. I have bought quite a few things from e.l.f. and the mineral eyeshadow primer that I have now is my second. But I wanted to try the e.l.f. eyelid primer and was wondering if there are any differences between the two primers.

So packaging wise you can see that they are different, the e.l.f. eyelid primer is kinda narrow on the bottom and wider on the top. Both have the same color combination, warm beige with black.
I think both, eyelid and mineral eyeshadow primer, have the same amount of product and they are paraben free.
What e.l.f. says about them:

eyelid primer: "Preps your eyelid for smoother, longer-lasting and crease-proof eyeshadow. The ultra sheer nude color works to increase eye colour longevity. The lightweight liquid formula quickly absorbs into the skin for comfortable wear."

mineral eyeshadow primer: "This gentle and completely sheer Eyeshadow Primer has key vitamins A, C and E to help prevent aging and moisturizes the skin. The formula glides on easily and disappears instantly to create longer-lasting, crease-proof eyeshadow. The Mineral Eyeshadow Primer is designed to be used with your favorite mineral eyeshadow to provide ultimate staying power for beautiful and vibrant color that lasts. 100% mineral based with no parabens, no preservatives and no chemical dyes." 

The applicators are the standard for eyeshadow primers, the mineral primer's applicator is slightly bigger than the eyelid primer's.

I got both primers in sheer. The e.l.f. eyelid primer comes in another 3 colors whereas the mineral eyeshadow primer only in sheer.

As you can see from the swatches they look the same and they both blend easily. They dry to matte finish but the eyelid primer has kinda off-white color when it drys which isn't noticeable pretty much at all. Texture wise the are almost the same with mineral primer being slightly smoother.

One difference you will notice when you open them is that the e.l.f. mineral eyeshadow primer has a really nice buttery smell and the other almost hasn't any smell. Personally I prefer the buttery smell :P.

I should probably choose another eyeshadow, less pigmented but anyways. As you can see there is a noticeable difference been the swatches without primers and with them. I would say that the e.l.f. mineral eyeshadow primer is a bit better with helping the eyeshadow payoff. Although they don't do tremendous work with boosting the eyeshadow payoff,  they do help a lot with staying power of eyeshadows. I have noticed big difference when I'm wearing either of the e.l.f. primers.

That's how the eyeshadow looks after about 7-8 hours. I didn't use the same eyeshadow for the eye makeup and swatches!. 

I must say that the color pretty much didn't fade at all so thumbs up for the primers.

Overall I would say that they preform almost identically with e.l.f. mineral eyeshadow primer being slightly better, at the end is up to you if want to pay £1.5 or £3. To be honest next time I will need a new primer I don't know how I will decide which one I will buy :P.

You can buy the e.l.f. eyelid primer here for £1.5 and the mineral eyeshadow primer here for £3

Have you tried any of these? Which eyeshadow primer are you using? Let me know in the comments below.