Product Review: Too Faced Shadow Insurance

What it claim it does: This is your full-coverage insurance policy against all fading, creasing, melting, blurring, oil slicked, and hard-to-blend eyeshadow accidents. Our silicone based eyeshadow primer transforms any eyeshadow into a perfectly blendable, color-drenched, intensified version of itself, then locks it down perfectly until you take it off. This soothing formula evens out the skintone on your lids and smoothes lines while securing a barrier between the oils of your skin and your makeup, so no shadow catastrophes will ever happen again.

Ingredients: Isododecane, Talc, Cyclopentasiloxane, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Glyceryl Triethylhexanoate, Polyethylene, Trihydroxystearin, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Isopropyl Lanolate, VP/Eicosene Copolymer, Propylene Carbonate, Dimethicone, PEG-40 Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopherol. May Contain (+/-): Mica, Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499). (Source: Sephora)

Price: $17


Too Faced Shadow Insurance Report Card:
Quality: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥/5
Price: ♥ ♥ ♥.5 /5
Packaging: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥/5

Overall: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥/5


What I liked about it: It actually works! It really keeps your eyelids from being an oilslick at the end of the day. I've tried L'Oreal De-Crease as a base at one point in my life only to have it end up as an epic fail! I normally opt for my MAC paint pots as a base for my eyeshadow or just a base to help my eyeliner stay put and prevent it from creasing (meaning preventing your black eyeliner to some how find its way to travel up to your crease). However, due to the sweltering heat we're experiencing in California, my usual MAC paint pots by itself are currently no good. So I opted to try for another base which can save my eye makeup from fading or creasing and has led me to try this awesome product. What's also good about the Too Faced Shadow Insurance is it dries up transparent in your eyelids and instantly. There's really no drying-time unlike the L'Oreal De-crease which took forever to sink into my skin. Another good thing about it is it lasts for a really long time (and I will prove it to you in just a moment). The product packaging is also better than UDPP and L'Oreal De-Crease since it doesn't use a wand to get the product out. It comes in a squeeze tube so nothing really goes in the product, just out keeping bacteria away. And there's also no need for you to break into the tube and then storing it in another container just to get all your money's worth.

Here are a couple of images to prove my point...

I applied my eyeliner around 7 am to get ready for work. Although I'm always in my office most of the time, I do go out and have lunch in our patio and walk to my car (which is a long walk!) in the sweltering heat. Yes, I do have lunch outside no matter how hot it is since I like to "enjoy" the sun and see the sky since I'm couped up in my office most of the time. When I did this experiment, our weather was forcasted at 100 degrees and up. My day also ended at 10:30 pm after I ran a few errands to different stores (again in the sweltering heat) and RUNNING/jogging/walking for about two hours after that! So that's a 15 hour day for me with Too Face Shadow Insurance on my lids with some activities going on.

Freshly Applied at 7 in the morning:

Around 10:30 pm: After some errands and running around the block. Notice how there is only minor creasing after I've sweat and been out and about the whole day. Usually by this time, without the Shadow Insurance, I'll have black goop on my lids from my eyeliner.

What I don't like about it: When I directly put eyeshadow on top of the Shadow Insurance, I actually had a bit of a hard time blending my eyeshadows. But that can be fixed by layering your Too Faced Shadow Insurance with your MAC paint pot (or other cream-based product you have available) for better blending. It is also more expensive than UDPP by a couple of bucks which can turn-off some people into buying it. Although the packaging seemed to be more sanitary compared to other eyeprimers, the tube can go through possible, unexpected mishaps such as squeezing the tube too hard causing too much product than you orignally intent or worse, accidently puncturing the tube with something sharp in your makeup bag. Other than that, I can't think of anything else bad about it.

Will I buy it again?: Most definitely! Although I haven't really tried UDPP, I just don't believe in using a wand to apply my eyeprimer or breaking through the packaging so I just feel that I'm not getting ripped off. Although Too Faced Shadow Insurance is a few bucks more, it is still more sanitary than other eyeprimers and it has a great staying power that keeps my lids oil-free.