10 Hour Eye Primer Test

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

So I'm currently blogging from beautiful Cambodia where I'm spending 6 weeks working in the National Pediatric Hospital based in Phnom Penh. While I say I'm "working", I'm really only ever expected to be there for a few hours each morning, leaving my afternoons, evenings and weekends free to shop, eat and of course, see the sights. Last Saturday our group of friends (6 of us in total) decided to go out for a day trip to visit Phnom Chisor (a temple about 2.5 hrs by tuktuk south of Phnom Penh) and Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary on the way back.

What better time to try out a ALL DAY PRIMER TEST.
In 30+ degree weather, >80% humidity and an incredibly dusty/smoky/smoggy/dirty environment no less.




I was relatively late to discover Eye Primer as I had been complaining for years about how much I loved eyeshadow but always found that it collected in the crease of my eye after about half an hour due to how oily my skin is. Rose/Sabrina had been telling me about primer for quite some time (to which I merely scoffed and thought pshhh nah but MY eyes are so much more oily, nothing can stop stuff from smudging) before I finally relented and bought one for myself to try out on a more regular basis, and I'm SO GLAD I swallowed my pride (and only had to fork out $22 AUD on beautybay.com) and just went for it.

For this test I used my Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original on 1 eye (seen on the RIGHT in pictures), with a semi smokey eye using my Urban Decay Naked Palette, lined with Mac Powerpoint Eyeliner and Lancome Virtuose Mascara.

Note: apologies for the incredibly bushy eyebrows, the lighting in our hotel room is so dim that you never realise that you need to clean them up!

8am at breakfast - freshly applied makeup
L: no primer & R: Urban Decay Primer Potion

By 1pm we had spent approximately 3 hours in a tuk tuk in the most dusty environment (so much so that we bought face masks just to avoid breathing it in), walked up ~500 stairs to reach the beautiful temples and picturesque view of rural Cambodia. So you can assume I was hot, sweaty and feeling pretty grimy. Here's how the primer matched up against the harsh conditions.

1pm after climbing Phnom Chisor
L: no primer, starting to collect in the eye creases and smudge under the eye
R: primer - still smooth and well blended, no signs of obvious smudging

By 6pm we had spent a few hours at the Wildlife Sanctuary checking out all the cute and cuddly animals including the endangered Sun Bears and the very cheeky chocolate biscuit stealing monkeys. Another 2 hours home by tuktuk during peak hour in Phnom Penh (and a little kip during the ride) meant we were back at the lovely climate controlled hotel approximately 10 hours after we first left and thus a perfect end to the Extreme Primer Test. Here are the results.

6pm - 10 hours since first applied eye makeup
L: no primer - eye makeup has either smudged off completely or collected in the crease,
 eyeliner has also smudged to underneath the outer corner (hard to tell in photos but trust me)
R: with primer - perfectly intact, still looks just as good as when first applied.

So as you may or may not be able to tell from the pictures, thankfully my asian eyes mean that even without primer, when my eyes are open, you can barely tell whether or not i'm wearing eyeshadow, however the real difference comes when I blink/look down etc. By the end of the 10 hours, I felt like the eye without primer was oily and sticky and I desperately wanted to wipe it (but I resisted for you guys...HAD TO TAKE A PHOTO FIRST!!!) and it was much more obvious how much it had collected and smudged to underneath my eyes compared to the eye with primer that still felt dry, fresh and looked just as it had first thing that morning. 

For any of you who are still skeptical about eyeshadow primer but also suffer from oily eyes which cause heavy smudging, I can't urge you enough to give it a go. I have only ever tried Urban Decay Primer Potion and Too Faced Shadow Insurance but I can both attest to the fact that they really do hold your eye makeup in place and I find them an absolute godsend. 

So hopefully you guys found this interesting/enjoyable and if you haven't already jumped on the bandwagon, are considering giving it a go for yourself, you never know, you too might find your makeup saving grace! 

x Alina/Sparkle