Review: Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Hello!

I have finally gotten around to reviewing Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion. I've raved about this stuff enough in previous posts (I even gave it it's own abbreviation- UDPP), but here it is, the full review.

There are four different colours for this eyeshadow base- Original (dries a light beige, pretty much clear on my skin tone); Greed (light yellowish gold- and yes, there's shimmer); Sin (champagne shimmer) and Eden (light matte beige).

Here are three of my Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potions. I have a full sized Greed (new packaging) open at the moment and I'm using two mini potions in Sin (L) and Original (R) (old packaging) that came with Urban Decay palettes.

The product is marketed as:
"This is it – THE most legendary primer in the beauty industry. Eyeshadow Primer Potion is coveted by makeup artists and makeup junkies alike because it guarantees more vibrant eyeshadow that lasts for 24 hours and NEVER CREASES! Once you experience its powers (plus how smoothly it glides on – an added bonus) you’ll never want to live without it. Original formula dries down invisibly, while Eden, Sin and Greed are shades that can also be worn as shadows or highlighters!

Now this extraordinary elixir comes in an easy-to-squeeze tube so you can control how much you apply. You also get more primer in every tube – 11 ml instead of the original 10! "

This is one of the rare cases where the product totally lives up to the hype. 

The proof? Have a look at the photos below.

Here's a re-post of my blue and purple Coastal Scents eye look, for which I used the UDPP in Greed.

What I hadn't shown you in the original post is the same eye look, 12 hours later. Note that the colours are still vibrant (only very minor fading), the colours haven't moved around or melted into one colour, but have stayed as I originally placed them and there is only some very minor creasing in the inner corner of the eye.

Tropical Blue and Purple Eye Look, 12 hours later having used
the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Greed.

Tropical Blue and Purple Eye Look, 12 hours later having used
the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Greed.

Review:

• Packaging: Urban Decay has recently changed the packaging to a squeeze tube. It used to be in these very cute potion bottles with an applicator wand. I have both versions and the product is the same. I prefer the tube because it's more hygienic and you can get all the product out of it easily. While I haven't gotten to the point where I've used so much primer that I'm at the end of the vintage bottle, I've read a fair amount of internet outrage at product being stuck in the curves of the bottle and not being able to get at all of it. Some people were even cutting open the packaging to get to it, which is a little extreme but if you're on a budget, you'd want to get all the product for which you'd paid. The easy-to-squeeze tube solves that problem.



This is the applicator wand of the mini Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin.

• Colours and Uses: Greed, Sin and Eden can be used as eyeshadows or highlights. 
• Greed: It's highly pigmented light shimmery yellow gold and if your eyeshadow isn't as pigmented, you might get Greed peeking through. Most of the time I find this happens at the 12 hour mark with matte eyeshadows- they start to have some golden shimmer to them. I don't really mind, but if you're a purist and want your mattes to remain matte, use the Original or Eden. I find Greed is too yellow for me to use as an eyeshadow, but it all depends on personal preference. 



Swatches of the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potions.

• If you want to see what I mean about Greed showing through matte looks at 12 hours, have a look at the third look in my Naked Palette series.
• Original: This dries a very light beige, which is clear on me. I also sometimes use the Original primer to minimise the veins on my eyelids when I'm going without  eyeshadow and just doing lashes+lip. 
• Sin: shimmery champagne with pink undertones. If I'm feeling very lazy, I'll just use Sin as an eyeshadow.
• Eden: light matte beige. I have it, but I haven't used it yet. I feel bad, having three primers open. I couldn't make myself open the last one, sorry, so there's no swatch of this.
• Texture: The texture feels mousse-y with the new packaging, but more liquid in the old packaging. It's very light and smooth and blends over your own eyelid easily.
• Longevity: I don't know about the 24hour claim, as I tend to, y'know, sleep. I can say that I've worn these primers (Original, Sin and Greed) for 16hours straight and my eye makeup still looked incredible. There has been no difference between the colours. I have had some eyeshadow fading at 12 hours, but all the colours remain exactly as I'd applied them (they don't blur into one colour/different blending to what I'd intended). The worst I've ever had happen (apart from the terrible creasing with the Chanel Ombres Perlees De Chanel palette, the blame for which goes 100% to the eyeshadow) was some slight creasing at the more-than-12hours mark- and when I say slight, I mean slight. Slight means you can't see your own eyelid skin, it's just that your eyeshadow is more concentrated in a line running in the crease. If that's not an amazing primer, I don't know what is!
• Cost: This retails for USD$20 for 11mL of product. It's worth every cent. I've been using one tube of Greed (and a couple of mini primer potions in Original and Sin that came with Urban Decay palettes) for 8 months now and I'm not even half way through the product.

Verdict: A+ 

Fantastic primer that keeps eyeshadow looking perfect till the 12 hour mark. Great value for money.

xo

Anna