Crazy Primer vs Starry Eyes Serum

So.... I decided to do a small experiment and see which eyeshadow primer was "better" on my eyes. The two primers I have are Virus Insanity Eyeshadow (VIE)'s Crazy Primer and Carina Dolci Mineral Cosmetics' Starry Eyes Serum. I let my husband choose my colors (so you can thank him for the strange combination! lol) and then went to work with The Crazy Primer on my right eye and the Starry Eyes Serum on my left eye. The colors I used were Carina Dolci Mineral Cosmetics Creme Brulée, H.I.P. Matte Shadow Duo in Striking, VIE Fireworks, and VIE Navy Brat. So I used different brands, too.


Virus Insanity Eyeshadow's Crazy Primer description on their facebook:
The VIE Crazy Primer is made with moisturizing butters to help improve the condition of your eyelids while keeping your eyeshadow in place. Waxes help hold your eyeshadow (and glitter!) all day and night without creasing, while making your Virus Insanity Eyeshadow crazy bright! This primer is a cloudy white color, the pigmentation is really soft and translucent.

The VIE Crazy Primer comes in a 5 gram jar full to the brim!! It also has a black lid so you can tell it apart from your eyeshadows.


Ingredients: Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Candeilla Wax, Microcrystalline Wax, Mineral Oil, Castor Oil, Vitamin E Oil, Titanium Dioxide.

picture courtesy of VIE's facebook

The label has since changed for the Crazy Primer, but it is an all-white primer in a 5g jar and I find it best to apply in a thin layer. It can be purchased for $6.50 and the jar is packed to the very top! An excess of the primer tends to result in creasing for me, but the way my eyes are shaped, my eyeshadow seems to crease rather easily (more so than most of my friends). It is not greasy or slimy feeling, and makes my skin feel less dry (which is a big problem for me where I live) even after removing my makeup. I find it very easy to blend my shadows on the Crazy Primer. Usually the primer lasts all day, except when it's exceptionally hot (I live in the desert...), but then even waterproof mascara starts to melt on me... But I'll let the pictures do the talking:

There was minimal creasing, and the color sticks beautifully, glitter and all, to the Crazy Primer. I do sometimes touch the inner corner of my eyes, no matter how hard I try not to touch my eyes, and it did not make the colors all disappear. Even with an intense red, you could not see any of the color remaining after I removed my makeup.

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Carina Dolci Mineral Cosmetics' Starry Eyes Serum description on their etsy shop is:

Whether you want your eyeshadows bright or blended for a more natural look, you WANT this primer! It helps keep your eyeshadows put ALL DAY!

Love Glitter, but not all over your face? So do we! 

Our Starry Eyes Serum has been tested all day and withstands rollercoasters, motorcycle riding, bonfires (nothing is worse than an oily face bleeding color), and micro glitter applied wet over primer (DOES NOT MOVE!)

Our Starry Eyes Serum comes in a 5.9mL lip gloss-like tube with a sponge wand applicator for easy use! You just need a very small amount to thinly coat your eyelids! We recommend you apply a small amount to the middle of your eyelid and rub in with your finger across your entire eyelid.

photo courtesy of Carina Dolci Cosmetics

The primer is a thin, clear liquid that you apply to the eyelids, then rub in across the eyelid where you plan to apply your eyeshadow. It can be purchased for $13. It beads in a curious way on my eyelid before I rub it it, but once rubbed in, it's completely impossible to tell it's there! I do find it a little more difficult to blend on. If I get the product too close to the inner corner of my eyes, I do find that it can be a tad uncomfortable, so I try to be especially careful not to get any of the serum in my eye... b/c it burns a bit.  However, I find absolute zero creasing or smudging.

I felt like I had to apply a lot more of the yellow for it to stand out (sorry the picture didn't come out as clear, this was the best of several attempts) You can see where I was having trouble with blending the red into the yellow on the corners of my eyes, tho. The red did seem to apply more intense, tho, and the purple didn't smudge at all, nor is there ANY creasing. It essentially looks exactly the same. However, upon removing my makeup, my skin had some minimal staining from the red pigments.

So overall, I find the Crazy Primer easier to work with, and very moisturizing/conditioning on the very gentle skin on my eyes, but the Starry Eyes Serum did a better job holding the colors in place with no creasing or smudging. I feel I get more bang for my buck from the Crazy Primer, but I think for exceptionally hot (or perhaps moist) situations, I'm going to need the Starry Eyes Serum, but I can't see myself wanting to use it every day since it feels drier on my eyelids and costs more. What do you think is a better buy? Do you think you'll be purchasing either of these?

-The Painted Nymph

DISCLAIMER:

All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone and I have not been compensated in any way.

Maybelline Illegal Length Mascara

Okay, so I had a FAVORITE mascara, and I always bought it in blackest black, waterproof... but then I couldn't find the waterproof and got the regular version. Well... I didn't like it as much anymore. haha So I used it for about 6 mo, and it was starting to dry up, so I tossed it and got a new one. (yay!) but I went to the store with a friend and I saw this new mascara I had never seen before, and on the package it claimed Instant lash extensions. No flakes" and "Formula with 4mm Fiber Extensions" so I asked my friend, and she said she'd seen a commercial for it and gave me a little peer pressure. Boy am I glad!

Here is Maybelline's Illegal Length

 (sorry for the flash, I'm working on a better photo-op situation)

I decided to take a before and after of my eye when I did my make-up, so I could put the pictures side-by-side and compare, and see what it REALLY did.

    Left picture: no mascara | Right picture: with mascara

The directions on the package suggested 2-3 coats without allowing the formula to dry between, so that's what I did and it went on amazing. I didn't have any clumping or goop or tarantula eyes. It went on gorgeous and I feel it lived up to it's claims. I was a bit surprised I liked it as much as I did, as it uses a more traditional spoolie brush, and I usually favor the new rubber-y bristles most mascaras switched to. It is a fiber mascara, so if I'm not careful when I apply it, I can end up feeling like I have something in my eye, which is slightly less than pleasant... but overall, I'm in LOVE. I wore this ALL day, out to the store, chasing after kids, cooking, and no smearing, smudging, or flaking occurred. My lashes are finally almost as long as my husband's and I can be a little less jealous! haha Also, it does wash off relatively easily, which is nice as well.


I'm hoping to try out the Falsies and/or Falsies Flared when I have the chance. Have you tried Illegal Length yet? What did you think? If you haven't, does this make you want to give it a try? Give me some feedback!


-The Painted Nymph

DISCLAIMER:

All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone and I have not been compensated in any way.

Anti-Virus Lipgloss in Pin-Up and Kiss Me

Okay, so I want to start with some of my favorite products. I love Virus Insanity Eyeshadow (VIE) and their Anti-Virus Lipgloss line.  What a fun company and a cute play on the name for the glosses!  Some of the colors are limited-time, and they make them in small batches, so if you see one you've GOTTA have, you've gotta grab it! All of these colors are hand-mixed by VIE, and has the ingredients on the bottom of all the full-size glosses (scent included!) so you know what is in them. However, they also listed the ingredients on their FB for fans! Here are the ingredients:
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene(and) Ethylene/Propylene/Styrene Copolymer(and) Butylene/Ethylene/Styrene Copolymer, Castor Oil, Flavor Oil, Natural Additive(as sweetender), Vitamin E OilMay Contain: Peppermint Oil, Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Carmine, Magnesium Stearate, Red#22, Red#28, Orange #5, D&C Yellow#11, Polyester -3
They also posted that they only use 0.004 glitter, so the lip glosses won't be gritty.


Here is one of the very first colors I got from her, it's called Pin-Up. They were selling fast, so I was only able to get a sample. They claim the samples contain enough product for "Five to ten applications" but I beg to differ! I have used my sample of Pin-Up at LEAST 10 times, and I've maybe used about half of the product in the clamshell.

Here is a picture of the gloss from their FB

This is the description:

Pin Up - Strawberry flavored

Pigmented hot pink sticky gloss with blue iridescence and dark purple glitter.

the clamshell sample

Now for the fun pic!!!

I love, love, love this color! It has to be one of my FAVORITE colors I own, and I wear it often! The Strawberry scent is pleasant but not overwhelming (I have to admit, I don't lick my lips when wearing glosses, so I can't say how it tastes) You can put on a super thin layer for a sheer color and shine with a touch of glitter, or layer it on thicker for a more dramatic look. However, this IS a sticky gloss, like they says, so beware if you layer it on too thick, you will feel like you're eating it. Pin-Up also is not drenched in glitter, you will have a small amount of sparkle, but you won't look like that famous vampire (ha!). All in all, a beautifully blended, medium-pigmented build-able color gloss that is great for everyday wear.






Another color I purchased, more recently, from a Limited-Edition Valentine's Day line is Kiss Me. I bought this in a full size and it comes in a 5g jar PACKED to the top! You couldn't fit any more gloss in here without making it overflow, and it was shrink-wrapped so it wouldn't open up and leak all over my package during it's travels.

Here is a picture of the gloss from their FB 

 This is the description:

Kiss Me: Passion fruit flavored

Super hot pink shimmery sticky gloss. Very pigmented.

full size jar: top

full size jar: bottom

Now for the fun pics!!

 with my phone

with my camera

This has quickly become another favorite of mine.  A beautifully pigmented hot pink that goes on smooth. The passion fruit scent reminds me of bubble gum and it's a pleasant scent, not overwhelming (again, I admittedly do not lick my lips when wearing gloss, so I haven't got a clue what it tastes like). This is a bit more pigmented than Pin-Up so a thin layer gives you a little more color, but it's still build-able for a more intense, bright color. There is no glitter in here, so it's just a shimmery shiny pink. Again, it IS a sticky gloss, so if you layer too much on your lips, you'll be eating it. All in all, a gorgeous, bright, shimmery gloss great for every day wear.

I took a couple comparison pictures, b/c I thought they looked very similar

 with my camera

with my phone

Admittedly, I need to invest in a lip brush. It is difficult enough to properly apply lip gloss with your fingers when you have full lips, but to then try to do two different colors split down the middle? Incredibly difficult! So I apologize for the messy lines. But Kiss me is on the left, Pin-Up is on the right. You can tell my phone picks up more of the pigments and makes it appear intensely bright, while my camera is much more toned down looking... I think in person, it's somewhere in the middle. Not too intense, but still a nice color. You can see the similar blue shimmer in both, but Pin-Up is definitely more of a fuschia color, compared to the bright pink of Kiss Me.

So what do you think? Are you going to give it a try? Do you own any VIE Anti-Virus Lipglosses? How did I do? Would you like to see other products I've used, with my opinions on them? Leave me comments!

DISCLAIMER:

All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone and I have not been compensated in any way.

Welcome to the Blogging World!

I'm starting this blog to post my experiences and opinions on Makeup and Beauty Products! I suppose I'll give you some information about myself so you know who you'll be reading about and growing with in this journey!

• I'm not a professional or certified MUA, although it is a dream of mine.
• I love Indie makeup companies
• I love COLOR
• I move more often than most people, and my skin has to deal with the ever-changing climates
• I am not afraid to try new things
• I often try and fail, then try again. No one gets it perfect on the first try!
• I love a good challenge!


Okay, so... Maybe thinking about things to say about myself is harder than I thought, but I am excited for some of you to follow this journey with me, get your input on some of the products I write about, and grow with me as a makeup lover! Until next time,


The Painted Nymph