I've been a bit confused about Trish McEvoy's Eye Base Essentials for a while. A fairly innocuous-looking six-strong collection of variously skin-shaded concealers - or so I thought - I didn't really get the concept. "One of Trish's most iconic products, Eye Base Essentials will instantly give you a vibrant, bright-eyed look with the added benefit of ensuring your shadow crease-proof, all-day wear," trumpets the website. Yeah right, says I, eyes rolling about the place, um, isn't it just a concealer?
Anyway, it's not, or not really. It's actually a grown-up gal's primer-cum-camouflage-cum-eye brightener, which you buy in a tone to suit your skin.
At €22.50, you get a fairly small 2.5g of product but once you try it a time or two, you appreciate exactly what it is this stuff does. I have two shades, Bare (a wee size which came with the gorgeous Blue Python Planner), and Demure, above. Bare is just that - a matte-finished thick very-nearly-almost-a-paste that you apply with the included doe-foot wand all over the eye - up to the brow if you want - to smooth out lines, even tone and give the whole area a lift.
Advertised
Demure though - oh wow. Demure is gorgeous. As richly pigmented and thick-textured as Bare, it also contains very subtle sparkle (you can't see it in the shot above, but it is there, I sincerely promise) that adds an extra shot of shine to satin-finished shades and is really nice for day worn solo with nothing but a bit of liner. You don't use this below the eye, just above and into the corner by the nose. That alone is often enough to lift the appearance of deep-set circles, by the way.
So, once you've this on the lid and have lightly blended, yes, your eyes look more even toned - much in the same way Benefit's Stay Don't Stray covers the bits you want covered, and acts as a key for shadow. And Eye Base Essentials really come into their own in this regard too. Neither Bare or Demure crease or crack and they hold whatever you've added over them really well all day - but they're particularly good with eye shadow, giving extra intensity and staying power.
I'm impressed and am using both all the time recently - but given the fairly bland nature of the shades and packaging, I would stress that these little wands really do need to be given a go to be fully appreciated.
