Make Up For Ever Eye Prime Review, Photos, Swatches
Make Up For Ever Eye Prime
New Primer on the Block
Make Up For Ever Eye Prime ($22.00 for 0.18 oz.) is described as a “light nude” primer that “reinforces eyeshadow hold and intensifies its color.” It’s supposed to help your eyeshadows look more true-to-color and prevent them from creasing and fading. While it appears to be a pale beige if you swatch it on your skin, once blended onto the skin as a thin layer, it’s invisible against my skin tone. I would only imagine seeing the slightest lightness on darker complexions, because it pretty much blends to an invisible layer of product. For the purpose of this review, I used “pigmentation” as the metric to measure whether the primer made colors look true-to-pan or not.
As a result, this formula is most comparable to popular primers Urban Decay Primer Potion and Too Faced Shadow Insurance. Both have a similar consistency and look. The differences are negligible, and I don’t think most would notice unless you were really looking for them. Make Up For Ever Eye Prime seems a little wetter and more emollient in a way, as it slides across even dry areas well without emphasizing them. It helps lids look smoother, and it does prevent eyeshadow from creasing and fading. I tested some eyeshadows that typically crease and fade if worn alone over this, and I saw improved wear–none of the creasing/fading that would have occurred had I applied them over my bare lids. I don’t think it necessarily amped up my eyeshadow, but it didn’t subdue it, either, which some primers can do, depending on their coloring.
You might know this already, but Urban Decay’s Original Primer Potion creases on me after six hours or so–sometimes it holds up better, sometimes it doesn’t. Too Faced I haven’t had problems with, and I can use other shades of Urban Decay’s (like Eden). I would also say it compares favorably with NARS Smudgeproof, which looks white when swatched and goes on invisible once blended out. NARS has a slightly more velvety feel after it dries down.
Make Up For Ever’s is the most expensive of the bunch at $122/oz. Urban Decay is $54/oz., Too Faced is $51/oz., and NARS is $92/oz. Both Make Up For Ever and NARS come in an opaque tube with a doe-foot applicator, while Urban Decay and Too Faced come in squeeze-tubes.
Which of these primers have you tried? Does one work better than the other?
Eye Prime
PPermanent. $22.00.
Make Up For Ever Eye Prime
Make Up For Ever Eye Prime
Make Up For Ever Eye Prime
Looks very watery… And it looks like it could crease.
honestly, i saw this at sephora and was going to get it, but i looked at the price & how little product you get & decided it wasn’t worth it. i have lorac behind the scene eye primer & a mini of NARS smudgeprrof primer. BUT i will say that had this been MAC i totally would have bought it
Hi, I just wanted to say that your reviews are the best and before I buy any makeup product I check to see your opinion first, This is how much your reviews mean to me.
You’re the best Christine
They work the same on me, I just prefer the texture of NARS a little more 🙂
UD works well enough that I don’t see a need to pay double the price/oz to try something else. I will probably try Too Faced Shadow Insurance when one of my two tubes of UD primer (original and Eden) run out. I also prefer the squeeze tube applicators over doe foot.
I have tried this and I did like it! However, I can’t give up on my NARS! it’s so my favorite texture and you definitely get more bang for your buck.
Seriously, No eye primer works for me by hour 6 it creases…however, I have better luck with creaseless shadows…go figure. UD and Mac’s ochre worked for a while but my lids are just oily in the summer I guess.
Have you tried layering? Like UDPP + MAC Paint Pot?
Try the Bare Escentuals prime time eye – the original – it is the only one i have found that works. i too have extremely oily lids.
I used Urban Decay original, Eden and Sin. Eden did soemthing aweful to the texture of mu skin, I’m not sure why but my lid look crepy when using it. Sin i was a fan of as well as Eden for both also i found muted the shades i applied compared to the original. Too Faced i used for 3 years continuosly because it works. Although it didn’t really make my shadows brighter it didn’t mute them as well.
I want to try the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base but it’s $29 compare to $24 CAN for TFSI and I’ve been trying to get a tester size of the Nars one first before buying the full size.
Currently my favorite prime is from Lime Crime EYESHADOW HELPER $16US not only does the longevity of my shadows last longer then the ones I’ve tried but it also makes the colour a bit more bolder in term of opacity. My eyeshadows look the same form hour 1 to hour 16 with it even with my semi oily lids. 😉
I know this isn’t a ‘natural’ beauty website but there are some things I avoid in ingredients. Did you get a list of ingredients from MUFE?
No, sorry, I just received the tube! You could try Sephora’s website to see if they have them listed.
Darn, I knew that!. Thanks for reminding me!!
My lids are really oily: NARS is the only primer I’ve tried that simply doesn’t budge. Original UDPP creases on me after four hours or so, but UDPP Greed hold up well if (and only if) the eyeshadows I use on top are good ones. Haven’t been tempted by TFSI since I found NARS, and I don’t think I’ll give this a try either. Why change something that works?
I have only tried urban decay and too faced…Too faced is the best in my opinion..my eyeshadow doesnt fade or crease with too faced shadow insurance
I have really wickedly greasy eyes so some type of eye primer is a must for me. I’ve tried quite a few brands of primer and my biggest issues with primer are the added ‘stiffness’ and ‘crepeyness’. Primers tend to make blending much more difficult for me. Nars is a really good example of a very effective product on me for creasing, etc, but the stiffness of the product makes it a primer I only use when dealing with a simple eye look. My other primer, Too Faced Shadow Insurance, performs almost as well, but maybe falls down a little in the longevity department, but seems to make my aging eyes look even more crepey than they are. I’ve tried using a variety of application methods for both and find using a concealer brush to apply a thin film the best. Using my finger, I end up with too much product on my eye and then, yes, everything become far too budgeproof. Urban Decay primers and potions do not work on me and I too experience creasing within a short period of time. I have only tried to original and have never gone back to the brand as a result of my poor initial results.
For me, I’m finding the best form of ‘primer’ is actually not a primer at all, but a colour cream base. The MAC paint pots and cream colour bases work best for me. The paint pot being the more reliable product. The emolient base makes it easier for me to blend eye colours as well.
Sounds excellent but I’m not in the market for a new shadow primer as UDPP (original, Sin and Eden) works perfectly for me and I’ve also got TFSI (it also works perfectly) and Painterly from MAC. But if I were in the market for a new primer, I’d certainly give this one a try.
I actually bought this primer @ IMATS and I had high hopes for this primer. Unfortunately, when I apply it all over my lid up to the browbone, it dries out when I blend it out all over. My lid looks dry and cakey. However, when I swatched on the back of my hand, it looks fine. Sad to say I won’t be repurchasing this primer again.
I own this and love it. It’s not as invisible or creamy as Nars, but overall just as good. MUFE is my favorite brand so I use this and the Nars primer.
I have tried all of the eye primers listed and found that none of them work for me. The best one I have found is the Bare Esccentuals prime time eye primer. Works wonders!! I will definitely try the make up for ever primer just to see how well it works. Even though I have finally found one that does work, I still try the new products as they come out.
This looks great but I still love Nars Smudgeproof. I especially like the velvety feel that you pointed out. I considered getting this because of the price, which is slightly cheaper than the Nars one, however, once you broke it down I figured I’ll stick with Nars since in the long run I am paying less and absolutely love the product.
I think my favourite eye primer is the Laura Mercier eye basics, I use the shade flax. I find this is a very nice base for the e/s and due to its consistency evens out and brightens somewhat the eyelid (I also have the Shadow Insurance which works well too, I want to try the yellow one once I run out)
Eyeprimers literally changed my life, eyeshadows creased on me no matter what, now I get much nicer looks but I do find there is always some fading and creasing
That’s disappointing to hear many do not like the Nars primer – it’s my absolute favorite – much more than the UD primer.
That’s a shame it comes bottled in this packaging because when the product is nearing its end is so difficult to get it out that you end up losing a part of it. The same happened to UDPP in its former packaging.Anyways, thanks for the review, Chris!
Interesting. I love UDPP (old packaging – I still have a few left) but absolutely hate TFSI. TFSI is runny and separates. And it’s so oily. Yuck. I like the Smashbox eyeshadow primer too. I’d check this MUFE one out too because I really like the wand packaging.
I’ve just tried UDPP and it worked well, but I still prefer to use either MAC Paint in Bare Canvas or Painterly Paint Pot, which always work as a charm!
I have only tried Benefit’s Stay Don’t Stray, NYX’s primer and UDPP. I like the UDPP because it doesn’t crease, however you better know where exactly you are gonna put your eyeshadow after you put the primer on because it’s hard to blend or erase mistakes. NYX’s eye primer creases after about 30min, but I love Benefit’s primer because it’s easy to blend and stays all day long with no creasing.
I use UDPP exclusively. It’s always worked for me, no matter which variation, and I prefer to use Greed, which is a gold shimmer…so it’s not like finding a cheaper dupe for that specific one is something easily done. And I don’t think I need to find a similarly priced or more expensive alternative–that would be silly.
And, though I wouldn’t call my lids oily, when it comes to eye shadow, everything bare in powder tends to crease on me. So I am a person who really needs the primer!
I use UDPP Original mostly, but what I am noticing is that I have to be extra careful in where I place it as it shows a slight “ashy” look on any area that it may be and eye shadow isn’t completely covering it (say the inner eye area where a very tiny border of it may be despite me thinking I had blended it out well when applying)…of course, I only notice this when I take close-up pics for my look book but it’s starting to drive me crazy lol. Otherwise, I get great wear out of my shadows when using this…despite the fact that I appear to have oily upper eye lids (could be oiliness traveling from my face more so than my lids actually being oily). If nothing else though, my shadows tend to stay pretty much perfect…which is a lot more than I can say for my other makeup lol.
I used to have a MAC paint pot in Painterly but it started drying out…I was thinking about trying the Bare Canvas paint to see if it’s better or at least equal to UDPP. Anyone that uses it…are there certain colors that it will wash out or can you pretty much use it as your all around primer (unlike UDPP Sin or Eden although I like those too).
I have oily lids and almost everything creases on me, even MUFE Aqua Creams! UDPP didn’t work very well. TFSI only sometimes works, and it separates in the tube. I’d also tried layering multiple products together (TFSI + MAC Paint Pot, then eyeshadow to set), but despaired of finding the magic solution that worked 90%+ of the time.
Elvira at Pink Sith favorably reviewed the Lorac Behind the Scenes primer, so I thought I’d give that one a shot. So far so good, and I’ve been using it for a few weeks in the hottest Texas months. I might try this MUFE version, but for now, I’ll stick with the Lorac one!
i came to a conclusion that i prefer indie eye primers than big brand eye primers i don’t care for too faced shadow insurance or for the urban decay primer potion
Bare Escentuals eye primer ROCKS. It’s so underrated. It goes on smoothly, it’s not dry, it comes in all sorts of beautiful colors so it doubles as a cream shadow and it’s cheaper than most high-end primers.
Those looking for a primer- I highly recommend checking it out!
While I am dedicated to my UDPP (I have Original, Sin and the mini Original from NAKED 1), I did have a sample of the NARS primer. It worked nicely at keeping a shimmer eyeshadow from creasing! I just can’t spend $24 on a primer. I haven’t used anything else but the Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue will DEFINITELY hold glitter in place!!! I had a few specks of loose NYX glitter on my cheeks directly after application but that glitter stayed put for some hours.
I’ve tried UDPP, LORAC, Smashbox, BE, Benefit, MAC Paint Pots, & Kat von D, all with good results. My absolute favorite is either Max Factor, Wet N Wild, or Maybelline concealer sticks, in white, as they are very inexpensive, and yield the same results for me.
I have been using the Nars for quite a long time, but I will admit I am a little curious about this one though. But then I keep thinking, why mess with a good thing? I have absolutely NO problems with the Nars and it IS a bit cheaper per oz. Still…
I tried Stay Don’t Stray by Benefit and it was terrible. It was way too light in color for me. I bought a full sized UDPP more than a year ago and I still have the original tube. I also have the small one that came with the Naked Palette (1) as well as the tube that came with the Smoked Palette. When the day comes that I’m out of primerI was planning on trying the Nars primer. I do love MUFE, so maybe I’ll try this instead.
Hi. Is this a clear tube or colored the same as the primer?
It’s an opaque tube!
The Nars eye primer is actually the best I have tried for my oily eyelids and I have tried pretty much all of them.
I had been really interested to try the MUFE primer. It’s crazy that it’s more expensive than nars though – I always passed on nars due to price. Seeing the price comparison, I’ll be passing on MUFE too. Concealer with powder actually works perfectly well for me, so primer has never been an essential, but I’ve gotten so many samples/minis of UDPP and Too Faced Shadow Insurance over the years that I often just reach for them. I find they both work very well. The one thing I would pick them over concealer/powder for is glitter or very shimmery shadows. For me, they do require a lighter hand when blending than concealer/powder, though – they can look kind of dry and texture-y if you don’t blend lightly enough.
I’ve only ever used LORAC primer. I’ve never had any issues with it – and didn’t realize what I was missing by not using it. May try some others mentioned here when that runs out, but then again, maybe not.
bareMinerals Prime Time is the best eyelid primer I’ve ever used. Lasts me at least 15hrs. It’s $18.00/0.01 fl.oz. at Sephora which isn’t cheap but 1 tube lasts me over a year.