Ace of the Base?: NYX Eye Shadow Base Review

Apparently NYX is the Goddess of the Night or something.

We have nothing but awful weather this winter. Seriously, we normally get about 6 inches total for the year and we are somewhere around the 30 inch mark with two more storms in sight. Llora thinks I'm being a weenie because she is from Canadaland and they get tons of snow like clockwork, but for little ole me it's a lot! The other day the heavens opened up and dumped 2 inches within an hour. An hour! It wasn't going to slow down, either. I made it from my office into town and decided to swing into Walgreens because I was stalling having to drive the rest of the way home in heavy snowfall with nothing plowed. I had some items on a wish list already and was messing around before I turned around and realized they now sell NYX!  I have been reading a lot about this brand forever (and have hunted down a few choice items) but here it was! Right in front of me! Not a full collection by any means, but it sure was enough to keep me busy. I settled on NYX Eyeshadow Base in Skin Tone.

That's my skin tone! Said no one ever.

First of all, I don't want to get too preachy with this, but, anyone else think the name is pretty pretentious? Skin Tone? Whose skin tone?! It doesn't come anywhere near mine, or, basically anyone else I can think of along the myriad of different tones and textures the human race has. My other two options were a matte white and a pearly white, so I thought skin tone would be my best bet in case I didn't accidentally get everything covered, but it makes me look really weird to have eyelids that area  totally different color of skin.

I applied this stuff in a thin layer and let it set for a little bit, then applied brown eye shadow on my mobile lid and a little bit of liquid liner. I then promptly forgot to take a picture because I do not have my shit together at 7:30 in the morning. The secret is out. I DID, however, take a picture of my eyes once I got home from work, approximately 8 hours later. And.....

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

It's terrifying, isn't it? Like I didn't even use the primer. Look at those greasy lids!

I didn't give up hope, though. The next morning I woke up with a new found determination. I put on some base, then I busted out Maybelline's Color Tattoo Cream Gel Shadow in Bad to the Bronze. This stuff is supposed to wear like iron! Then for good measure I set it with a bronzey looking powder shadow, THEN spritzed my whole face down with a setting spray, while letting my eyelids dry. I remembered to take a picture this time.

Though apparently I didn't have it together
 enough to get my clothes out of the shot. Oops.

And at the end of the day?

That setting spray made me feel gross and look greasy
all day. I'm thinking that's a pass from here on out.

Better, but not great. Honestly, this is what my shadow looks like without the base anyway, so I think this little guy is going to go back to the store (which is why I shop at drugstores - they have excellent cosmetic return policies).

I'm just going to throw it out there - I don't know why, but I can't seem to keep eye shadow on my lids anymore. My Too Faced Shadow Insurance has stopped being a guarantee that if I put shadow on, it isn't budging until I take it off. Heck, I used to be able to use the Color Tattoo Cream Gel Shadows without a primer, but now if I don't use a primer and set with powder they slide off by lunch. I have no clue why all of a sudden this is a problem. Have you ever dealt with this? Have a holy grail eye shadow primer or secret trick to make my eyelids less oily? I'd love to hear it.

Colleen is primed and ready on Twitter @bevilledeggs.