Under Eye Primer: Do You or Don't You? Which are Best?

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For today's Ask a Beauty Blogger, I have a question from Arianna. I've been asked this a few times recently, and at first I told Arianna to check out my concealer review series. I typically just use an eye cream, and once that has sunk into the area I'll apply a well pigmented concealer. That most often means Make Up For Ever's Full Cover Concealer or It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye Concealer. I do have a very visible vessel under one eye, so some days I'll add a little FACE Stockholm Corrector in green (to correct the red) underneath. That's about it.

So, while it experimented with my primers, I asked my blogging friends in the Beauty Blog Coalition for their picks. I got a huge number of responses!


1. MAC's Prep and Prime Vibrancy Eye primer (get it here): One of my closest blogging friends, Pam from Pammy Blogs Beauty said that this MAC was her pick. "It is my HG under eye primer. Highly recommend!"

2. Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer (get it here): Another good friend, Kelly from Goldylox Reviews said this Smashbox works so well, it will make your concealer out perform your foundation! "This primer does a little bit of everything, except provide tinted coverage. This makes my concealer stay on so well that some days, when my foundation trials don't go so well, I'm left with perfect eyes and melasma-ridden cheeks. So if your foundation tends to head for zee hills, make sure you look blended throughout the day."

3. Khuraira Dark Circle Complex Primer: Christina from My Cosmetic Bag liked this primer when she met the company's owner last year at IMATS.

4. LORAC behind the scenes eye primer (get it here): Kath, The Fabzilla is my Hawaiian beauty connection, and she had a great pick, though like me she doesn't usually use a specific product. "I just use my eye primer and lately I've been loving LORAC behind the scenes. If she has oily under eyes, she should skip under- eye moisturizer in the morning, it works for me!"

5. Miracle Skin Transformer Treat & Conceal (get it here): Brooke from Blushing Noir loved this concealer since it includes so many extras.

6. glo minerals Under Eye Primer (get it here): Christa from Periously Pale only uses this primer, if she remembers to prime that area!

7. Benefit Stay Don't Stray Primer (get it here): Daria from Time4Beauty recommended this primer as well. While her blog is in Russian, if you let Google translate it for you it will work!

8. YSL Touche Eclat (get it here): Marie from I am the Makeup Junkie recommended this as a primer. (Note, she hasn't reviewed it on her site, so I've linked to my review.) I've only tried using it alone, so I thought it was a great idea to layer it!

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Quite a few women said that if they bother to prime this area (I'm not alone in not priming it!), then they just use whichever primer they're using on their face.

Meredith from RetroDiva's Beauty says, "I just use regular primer - whatever I'm using on my face, usually something to control oil. If I have bad undereye circles, I'll use a touch of Urban Decay's Eden. But honestly? I never thought about a separate product for priming under the eyes. I have a limit to how many products I'm going to fool with. One primer seems enough."

Carleen from Beauty and Fashion Tech said, "I just use the same primer on my whole, face including under the eyes. The only other primer I use is a shadow primer and I don't think I would use that under my eyes.

Also, Sarah-Jean from The Fashionable Housewife said, "I only use Urban Decay primers... nothing else I've tried works for me."

So, for the last few weeks I've been experimenting with priming my under eye area. I kept the recommendations of my friends in mind, but I only tried items I already had on hand (which was about 75% of the products above, my stash might be a bit large...) and these are the ones I had the best results with!

1. Benefit Stay Don't Stray Primer
2. MAC's Prep and Prime Vibrancy Eye primer
3. Urban Decay's Pore Perfecting Primer:


So, I want to know: Do you prime this area? If so, which products do you use and do you have any tips? I want to know!


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