Review: M.A.C Prep + Prime Eye + Brush Holders?

Hey Everyone!

First off, I hope you are having a splendid Christmas Eve. If you still believe in Santa, disregard what others have to say, he’s coming. He also likes chocolate chip cookies but keep the milk low fat because he’s watching his weight.

Anyway, today I’ll be doing a review of one of my favourite products and probably one that is most misunderstood – it’s the M.A.C Prep + Prime Eye. It’s a lid concealer and one that I use daily. I might skip on the UDPP that day, but I’ll never skip on this. It’s the key to create a bare canvas upon your lids so that your eye-shadows show more true to colour and at times more vivid. Let’s explore what this baby does shall we?

Packaging:

If the UDPP could ever be re-packaged, I’d actually prefer it to be packaged this way. It’s a thin disc like cylinder that houses an adequate amount of product (I’ve had this for more than a year, and I use it every day) and I know I’m just about done but you only need a smear for each eye to do the job. I love how I just open, smear, and blend. No mess, no fuss.

After I apply my foundation, my eyes don’t match the rest of my face. The excuses are numerous but one that I’ve made up for myself is that the skin around my eye is more sensitive or the more annoying answer is that I use too dark an eye-shadow. Whatever it may be, often, I need a lid concealer to create a bare canvas. The skin is a little different. Of course you could go on and say – oh Roseanne, why don’t you just use your foundation, why don’t you just use a normal concealer? You could very well do that. You could also ditch the idea of using an eye-cream and just use your normal face moisturiser instead. It’s all a matter of preference, really.

The application is easy. Again – smear it on your fingertip and apply it your lid. Blend until the discoloration magically disappears. Be careful not to cake this stuff on as well – it might increase your chance of creasing.

Of course later in the review, I will be comparing it to the Urban Decay Primer Potion, but the most important distinction is that they do different things. The M.A.C Prep + Prime is a lid concealer (much like the Benefit’s Lemon-Aid) to create a bare canvas while the UDPP does the job of making your shadows long lasting and much more colourful. People have stated how much they hate the Prep+Prime because their shadows fade or crease later in the day but that’s not what it’s supposed to do. It’s really only supposed to match the colour to the rest of your face. You can see the difference here.

To prove my point, let’s proceed with the vivid colour test. I’ve swatched the darker brown of my NARS Cordura eye-shadow duo with nothing over top and have compared it with two things – when it is swatched overtop the UDPP (Urban Decay Primer Potion) and the MAC Prep + Prime Eye. Honestly, the UDPP does a better job in the vivid colour test as it’s more true to colour, but the Prep+Prime doesn’t do a bad job at all!

The true test though comes with a test of staying power. I took a tissue with water and rubbed my hand hard to sort of fast forward time and this is the result. As you can see the UDPP swatch survives all of them, and the Prep+Prime Eye does poorly in terms of staying power. Again, it’s a lid concealer, not really an eye-shadow primer if that makes sense.

Thus, what I often do is apply the UDPP over the Prep+Prime. I know UDPP has Eden, which is supposed to do both so that is probably the next product I’ll try out! I hope you enjoyed this review!

One more thing! I’d like to ask a favour from you. My friend and I are currently in the midst of opening an online store of brush holders. One thing that is important to us is that we have your say on what looks best. I did a sample this morning and here it is, tell me what you think of it! The colours aren’t fixed of course, and will be customisable and so will the decor. What trinkets do you all like?

We want to make sure that we have created holders that you have created along with us. It’s going to be a fun partnership and we’d love to hear what you want on your brush holder, what your favourite colours are, what patterns you like, anything really! BTW, this one smells like sweet peach thanks to some fragrance beads I was able to get a hold of as well, tell me what fruity smells you like as well ;)

Your feedback is tons appreciated – So far, we’ve gotten feedback that you like it, but you want the holder to be slightly taller and the colours to be different. Will do ;)

What do you think?

Love,

Roseanne