Sleek i-Divine Eyeshadow Primer Palette Review, Swatches and Pictures

Reader Fee asked us during the week if we'd ever tried the Sleek i-Divine Eyeshadow Primer Palette. "I came across [it] on their website and am intrigued as I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s basically 12 different shades of primer for under eyeshadow. The description on the site is minimal so I’m wondering if the idea is that the primer changes the shade of your shadow?"

Coincidentally, I'd just picked one up in London, so I was well placed to give a first hand viewpoint. Actually, I've always been a bit sceptical of this particular bit of kit myself, but because every single Sleek stand I've ever visited has been a barren wasteland of zero things I want to buy following a clear out by something akin to a plague of locusts, this was pretty much the only palette left I had a vague interest in which I didn't already own. So I bought it.

12 shades of variously coloured cream primer/bases are included in loads of colours you're probably very likely to own matching shadows for, as well as a brush.  So, how does it all work?

Generally you use primer to add longevity to eye makeup and to get extra intensity. We've reviewed tons of eye primers on Beaut.ie over the years (this particular post is a great resource that gathers together a ton of reviews) and you can get creams, pasts, liquids and gels to fix shadow and pigments into place and amp up their appearance. The point of difference with the i-Divine Eyeshadow Primer Palette is that it contains matching bases for your existing powder shadows.

Yeah, but you know - most clear/skin-tinted primers tend to work pretty well no matter what the colour you lay over the top, and therein lies my scepticism.

So, lets do a few tests with some lightly pigmented shadows, shall we?

This is an older Estee Lauder gold shade laid over the pale gold shade second from left on the bottom tier of the primer palette. Yep, a definite improvement in intensity here.

Again, when you layer this lightly-pigmented Bobbi Brown shadow over the minty green primer shade you do get a much deeper result - and interestingly, a completely different colour. It goes from a muddy green into a clear, forest shade.

And a third test - this is another Estee shadow, one of the older, pre-reformulation Purecolours. Again, a big difference when it's laid over the primer.

So, conclusions? Honestly - I still don't really think you desperately need this. Yes, it works, but my tests haven't proven (to me) that it's an essential to own a dedicated coloured primer per eyeshadow shade. I think you'd probably find you'd end up using the black and light neutral shades the most - in which case, you could just think about bagging yourself a black paint pot/black cream shadow or gel liner to layer beneath darks, and look at Catrice who have a good eye primer for about €5 to cover most shadow priming needs.

But for just €9 plus €2 shipping from Irish website BeautyEmporium.ie (who have recently started stocking Sleek and who offer far cheaper postage than Sleek's own site), this palette actually works out cheaper than most other dedicated eye primers I'd generally recommend, like Urban Decay's Primer Potion, Mac Painterly Paint Pot or Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

So on price alone, sure. For colour choice - nah, not convinced to be honest!