bareMineral Prime Time Primer Shadow

I’ve always been a fan of bareMinerals eye shadow primers. But recently they’ve gone one better and launched a range of ‘primer shadows’. It’s basically primer with colour!

These tiny tubes so far come in six colours; Chroma Violet (purple), Racing Green (green), Burnished Twig (brown), Urban Nature (silvery violet), Gunmetal (steel grey) and Sundance (golden peach). I bought the Sundance but also tried the Racing Green, Chroma Violet and Gunmetal in store. All of them give fantastic coverage and strong vibrant colour.

Like all bareMinerals eyelid primers, the shadow primer comes in a small 3ml tube. At £16, they’re not cheap, but if you plan to wear any type of powder eye shadow all day, a primer is a must to stop the ‘creasing effect’ where after a few hours, the powder has migrated to the creases in your eye lid. The beauty of the bareMinerals primers are that you need such a teeny tiny amount on each eye, so despite the price, a tube will last you a long time.

The fabulous thing about the primer shadows is that with the addition of

colour, you can use these on their own or underneath powder eye shadows. My Sundance tube for example looks fabulous underneath a gold powder shadow with accents of brown or dark blue in the corners. But, on the days I can’t be arsed to fancy up that much, I can just wear it on its own – either a very light covering or for a more stand out vibrant look, work it up in a few more layers. I use my little finger to apply it, but you can of course use a precision or eye shadow brush to apply it as well. Beware using too much – you really don’t need a lot of this per eye (maybe a pin head). Too much will end up looking like the Grand Canyon by the end of the day (ie, lots of cracks).

Rating out of 10: 9

The Good:
Quick and easy to apply
Small handy tube, easy to take with you
Stays put all day
Use alone or with powder shadows

The Bad:
Expensive
Small range of colours so far

The Ugly: £16.00 is the RRP, but you can find bareMinerals Primer Shadows for around £13 online at places such as Feel Unique (http://www.feelunique.com/p/Bare-Escentuals-bareMinerals-Prime-Time-Primer-Shadow-3ml) If you live in London and regularly buy bareMinerals products, I’d always make the effort to get to the boutique in Covent Garden as they do a loyalty card scheme. It’s worth remembering as well that though costly, these little tubes do last a looooong time.