E.l.f. Eyelid Primer Collection

I'm low on eyeshadow primer so I went on a swatching spree a couple of weeks back to decide on a new one. I LOVE the  Urban Decay Primer Potion and the  Too Faced Shadow Insurance - two cult favorites in their own right - but I still want to check out other locally available eyeshadow primers. Laura Mercier's primer looks promising, but I didn't want to spend P1,000 at that time.

I ended up buying the E.l.f. Eyelid Primer Collection (P249)

The E.l.f Eyelid Primers aren't comparable to UDPP or TFSI, but hey do the job of intensifying eyeshadows and keeping them more or less intact during the day. That's not too bad considering the friendly price tag they come with. 

The set has three shades of the primer: Champagne, Sheer, and Pearl. Champagne is a dirty, shimmery beige-brown that looks weird on my lids as a primer. It definitely doesn't look like the usual champagne shade! Sheer is, well, sheer, although it leaves a whitish cast on my medium skintone that I still need to blend out afterwards. Pearl is white with big, gritty glitters that really look off on skin. 

Champagne, Sheer, Pearl

Blended out

I only used Sheer as a primer since I got it. I like it, actually. Although you do get what you pay for. It has a chalky texture and doesn't have that "adhesiveness" that UDPP and TFSI has. My eyeshadow fades (doesn't matter if it's the expensive kind) and creases after three hours. It's nothing like the other primers I've tried, and that's fine, because the price should speak for itself. Plus, it's E.l.f. Not really a brand with groundbreaking, high-quality products.

I would recommend the Sheer primer if E.l.f. sold it here separately, but as it stands, you need to buy the P250 set to get your hands on it. The other two are useless so you'll be wasting P166 just to get this primer. That's not a good deal, if you ask me.

Besides, you wouldn't want THIS to happen to you. First time I opened the tubes, I noticed a thick caking of product on the lip. It means that they've been used REPEATEDLY before they got sold.

Talk about unsanitary

Sheer was the only one with a clean lip so I assumed it has been, er, gently used. It's really my fault for not scrutinizing the products before I bought them so yeah, major lesson learned! 

Moral lessons:

1. Save what you'll spend for half-assed drugstore products and invest in reliable brands. 

2. NEVER buy anything that you haven't swatched, no matter how cheap it is.

3. Always open boxes to make sure that what you're buying is brand new.

I'm getting that Laura Mercier primer next time I'm in Rustan's. Sigh.