Budget Beauty Review: MUA Pro Base Eye Primer vs ELF Essentials Eyelid Primer in Sheer

Having used up my beloved Urban Decay Primer Potion back in January, I decided it was time for me to try out some of the more affordable budget options to see how they compared.

There are a lot of eyelid primers on the market, the vast majority of which are significantly cheaper than UDPP (which retails for around the £16 mark for the 11ml full size). I picked up two of the cheapest, both of which I've seen mixed reviews for. Let's see how I got on!

MUA Pro Base Eye Primer (7.5ml, £2.50, link)

One of the most popular budget eye primers is from MUA (exclusive to Superdrug). In the past, I've found MUA products to be a bit hit and miss, but for a mere £2.50, it was worth trying out. It has a lot going for it - it's creamy, easy to apply and doesn't irritate my eyes. I didn't experience any problems with blending eyeshadow over the top of it, though it does take a little longer than the UDPP to dry. Eyeshadow shades definitely look a touch brighter and richer with this as a base but ultimately it's just not as long lasting and creaseproof as UDPP is. On my oily lids, it held up well for about 5-6 hours before those tell tale creases started to show up. With this in mind, I think it's good for an evening/night out, but I wouldn't use it for a full day unless I wanted to reapply my eye makeup.

ELF Essentials Eyelid Primer in Sheer (5ml, £1.95, link)

ELF's offering is even cheaper than the MUA, but it does contain less product at 5ml. Like MUA, I've also found ELF products to be hit and miss, and unfortunately I have to say that their Essentials Eyelid Primer is a miss for me. It comes in four different shades and I opted for Sheer. The formula is very thin and once dry, it's virtually transparent. It looked promising at first when I applied eyeshadow over it, but within less than half an hour it had already creased - not a good look! ELF also do a Mineral Eyeshadow Primer but I've tried that too and it creased on me within 2-3 hours. Very disappointing.

So the quest for a new eye primer continues! I'm tempted to splurge and pick up the NARS one - anyone use that? Failing that, I may just go back to UDPP.

Any suggestions?

Do you use an eyeshadow primer?

14 comments

Unknown11 March 2014 at 16:15
I've really been trying to go more natural with all of my makeup but I'm scared of hunting down an alternative for UDPP! I seriously doubted the stuff but it really is amazing. Bummer that these two didn't work!
Irene Blushing Loves11 March 2014 at 18:27
MUA sounds good for 5-6 hours, I want to try it! ♥♥♥
British Beauty Addict11 March 2014 at 21:52
Sounds really good. Im still yet to find anything better than MAC’s paint pot in painterly!

www.britishbeautyaddict.com
Danielle12 March 2014 at 07:53
I use MAC paint pot in painterly and LORAC Behind the scenes eye primer, free with LORAC Pro Palette, and they both last at least 10 hours crease free. Still to find a cheap alternative unfortunately.

<3Dannii
Sharlynn 12 March 2014 at 08:32
That's really too bad that both are really no where as good a replacement! I rarely use eyelid primer though since I use a maybelline color tattoo as a base! But I'm planning to do more neutral type looks and will be using my mini UD primers from kits in the mean time!
Tiffany C12 March 2014 at 08:55
I normally just use smashbox or MAC for my eyes but i found 'seventeen' which i think is a boots range?? was quite good, they have a lot of on trend products, well priced and a big variety xx.
Beauty Bird12 March 2014 at 08:58
I used to have the ELF one but quite liked it at the time! Have you tried the ARTDECO Eyeshadow Base? It's amazing! I can't remember the exact price but it's under £10 xx