$10 Eyeshadow Primer VS $25 Eyeshadow Primer

I have the greasiest eyelids anyone has ever seen. Yes, it's a horribly embarrassing problem that I've dealt with my entire life. This is the reason why I never bothered to wear eyeshadow until a few months ago. Now matter what eyeshadow I used, or what I did, it would always crease. And I don't just mean a little crease... my entire lid would be bare and every particle of shadow would be bunched up in a perfect line. This would happen in a matter of two or three hours, so when you're working a full-time job and you don't have time to reapply... you just learn to go without shadow. I would get by with just using eyeliner and mascara. I think I pulled it off nicely. But I would always see makeup tutorials and be completely jealous of these women that could wear these daring looks for hours at a time and I was stuck in the no-shadow-zone. 

I did try using eyeshadow primers before. I even tried the MAC Paint Pot (Painterly, of course) or using a concealer (both Maybelline Fit Me and NARS Radiant Creamy) but it would all cause me to crease within hours. It wasn't until I found out that my girl Nicole (Young Wild & Polished) started talking about her greasy lids and what she used to combat the problem. She raved about the Smashbox 24hr Photo Finish Shadow Primer and how well it worked. I splurged (for me and my drugstore budget) and purchased it. It really was as amazing as she said. It worked so well so I started wearing eyeshadows again. The only problem was I found that I was going through it pretty quickly and I wasn't ready to shell out another $25 (CDN$). I had then started to hear a buzz about the Milani Eyeshadow Primer. Milani is now available at Canadian Wal-Mart, which is great because that used to be a brand that I would travel to Buffalo for. The primer was $10 (CDN$) and it even looked similar to the Smashbox one.

After trying this primer out for the past week I can honestly say it is a dupe for the Smashbox one. I think I might like the Milani primer better, actually. I did a compare test today to see how each would stack up. I applied each one to it's own lid, set them both with my Wet N Wild MegaGlo Contouring Palette in Dulce de Leche, and then applied the same shadows on each eye.

SIDENOTE: I absolutely love the Wet N Wild MegaGlo Contouring Palette. I use the highlighter shade to set my undereye concealer as well as my eyeshadow primer daily. It's smooth, finely milled, and it works very well. BRAVO Wet N Wild!!

I wanted to really test how these primers would work so I did a nice, dramatic look (for me at least). After about ten hours of wear, with no touching up, I have the below, untouched results.

Can you guess which side was Milani and which was Smashbox? The results might surprise you. They sure surprised me! If you look at the eye on the right, you can begin to see it start to crease, whereas the other side still looks pretty good. Better than the right side in my opinion. Of course, the creasing side is the Smashbox one! I was shocked!

When it comes down to it... which would I choose? Both are great eyeshadow primers that stood the test of time, but, because of the $15 price difference, I will continue to purchase the Milani one. It's quite impressive!

So, now that I have these new primers that work quite well on my greasy lids, I am an eyeshadow fein! I have purchased two Kat Von D palettes, 10 MAC shadow pans, the Chocolate Bon Bons palette from Too Faced and I'm planning on getting the Sweet Peach palette from Too Faced when it releases in a few days. Something about red, oranges and peaches really get my motor running. The more I play with my palettes, the more excited I get. I absolutely love working on my techniques for the eye. 

For those of you who are interested, I have inserted a photo that shows my makeup for the day. I think I love it!

As always, you can find me on Twitter @cherrytrish17 or Instagram @cherrytrish. 

Until next time, goodnight my friends!