Darling Girl Primped and Primed Eyelid Primer Review

I'm so so thrilled to be posting this review on Darling Girl's Primped and Primed Eyelid Primer! If I had to pick my favorite indie brands, one of the ones at the top of the list has to be Darling Girl Cosmetics. I adore the company for many reasons, one of which is the variety of products that they offer. I love seeing indie companies that produce more than eyeshadow and Darling Girl fits the bill by offering lip glosses, lip balms, bath and body products, and more.

I know previously they used to have an eye primer called "Stay The Day" but it isn't offered anymore and the ingredients are quite different from Primped and Primed. I have tried a few indie eyeshadow bases but never a primer so I was really happy about trying this out.

Product Description: "The perfect prep for your eyelids, Primped and Primed will help your eye shadow wear longer and resist creasing."

Packaging: Plastic 3 gram jar with a screwtop black lid. I know that not everyone will like the potted packaging because it may not be sanitary enough for some, but you can certainly use a flat paddle brush to pick up the primer and apply it to your lid.

Price: $4.00 for 3 grams of product (I even weighed it myself!)

Where to purchase: Darling Girl Cosmetics.

Cruelty Free? They are cruelty free.

My Thoughts on the Formula/Wear Time:

Primped and Primed looks semi translucent in the pot but applies clear onto the lid. I'm used to using primers in a squeeze tube or with a wand versus in a pot so it took a few tries to figure out how much primer to actually use. Using too little means the eyeshadow won't adhere as well to your lid and it'll crease faster so using more is better. You'll know you have enough because your eyelid should feel slightly tacky and that really helps to grip the eyeshadow, giving it a near foiled look. I found that you can pick up the perfect amount by swirling your finger lightly over the surface five to six times.

I have oily hooded eyelids which usually do a number on my eyeshadow. When I used Primped and Primed underneath my eyeshadow on a hot 90+ degrees day, I got 11-12 hours of wear with minimal to no creasing, only fading of the eyeshadow.

In the gif, you can see that after 12 hours, I had the beginnings of creasing in the inner corner. This was after spending the day in 95-99 degree weather in San Diego so I really put it to the test.

(I used Darling Girl Smoking Gun eyeshadow)

I thought it'd be handy to do a comparison between Too Faced Shadow Insurance (the primer I was currently using), Primped and Primed, and Glitter Glue to show how foiled Primped and Primed can make an eyeshadow look. I used Aromaleigh Dark Matter eyeshadow to compare.

As you can see, Dark Matter looks especially foiled over Primped and Primed and Glitter Glue and less so over Too Faced Shadow Insurance (though it's just as good!)

I am honestly so impressed with this primer. If you do have glittery or super sparkle filled eyeshadows, this does a decent job at gripping the sparkle but you'll get better results using a glitter fixative (like Darling Girl's Glitter Glue or Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy!).

Right now I do like Primped and Primed more than my current Too Faced Shadow Insurance and that's because I don't have to keep shaking and squishing the tube to ensure it doesn't separate. I'm really glad to be able to find an indie eyeshadow primer that works so well! I mean for $4.00, it's one hell of a deal!

UPDATE*

When I was testing out this primer, I mainly used loose eyeshadows as opposed to pressed eyeshadows. After some further testing, I've come to the conclusion that although this primer is excellent and better than other primers for loose eyeshadows, I don't like this as much for pressed matte. The very quality that makes it perfect for loose eyeshadows, its super adhesion, makes it not so good for pressed matte eyeshadows because then the eyeshadow sticks TOO well, foiling essentially, and becomes difficult to blend out. It doesn't darken shimmery eyeshadows but does make blending a little difficult.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself well so I have a few pictures to show what I mean. The eyeshadow on the left was applied over Primped and Primed and the eyeshadow on the right was applied over Too Faced Shadow Insurance. In both eyeshadows (Sugarpill Flamepoint and a color from Physicians Formula Classic Nudes quad), the color over Too Faced Shadow Insurance is the true to pan color. If you want to keep your matte eyeshadows its true to pan color, I wouldn't suggest using Primped and Primed.

Would I repurchase? Yes! It's not an eyeshadow primer I'd use with matte eyeshadows but it is excellent especially for loose eyeshadows.

I'm curious to know, what's your current eyeshadow primer of the moment? If you don't use any, are you thinking about picking this up?

Disclaimer: I purchased this myself. All opinions are my own and there are no affiliate links in this post.

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