The first eyeshadow primer I used was Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion. It had the community-wide reputation of being a miracle worker and a Holy Grail product. I hadn't ever used an eyeshadow primer before, and while UDPP seemed a bit costly, I did manage to score some little sampler tubes and gave it a try. It worked well, and so I bought one of the little genie-bottles on sale. I had the usual problems with getting all the product out of the bottle until I did some exacto-knife surgery, as suggested in multiple beauty forums and blogs. The product worked well for me, and so when it came out in the Professional-sized tube, I splurged and bought myself one. I wasn't 100% thrilled with the price, but - hey, my eyeshadows were actually lasting all day now and looking great, and I didn't have to use tons, so I could work with this.

Then, in late 2012, Wet n Wild released Take On The Day: For My Primas eyeshadow primer.

I bought a tube when it was on sale, and stacked some coupons, meaning that I paid USD$2.00 for my first-ever tube of Fergie's Take On the Day. The tube looked a bit small when compared to my tube of UDPP. On the plus side, the cap is flat and extends a slight distance out from the cap base, meaning that a tube of WnW Fergie eyeshadow primer can easily stand on end on a counter without falling over. When I first got some of the product out, it looked a little oily, so I closed the tube back up and squished it to mix the product up. After that, it came out clean - not as thick as UDPP, but easier to spread and not at all watery. I applied it, waited a few minutes for it to dry, applied my eyeshadow as normal, and went on with my day. My eyeshadows gave me the same workday longevity and performance when I used Wet n Wild Fergie primer, as when I used Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

Another bonus is - that little tube contains .34 fluid ounces of product, which is 10.05 milliliters. UDPP used to come in 10ml tubes, but they've recently upped it to 11. That's .37 fluid ounces. So for nearly the same amount of product, you can either pay USD$20…or you can pay USD$4.99. You're getting almost the same amount of product for - quite literally - a quarter of the price. That doesn't factor in any sale prices for UDPP, but those are less frequent (and Ulta sales almost always exclude their ‘prestige brands' anyway) plus, with Take on the Day available at drugstores and through drugstore.com you can stack their coupons, get their cash back, use Ebates (affiliate link) and get more cash back, and pay even LESS money, more frequently.

A few more points about the two products:

• Urban Decay has four varieties of its Eyeshadow Primer Potion: the original, a gold-toned shimmer, and two deeper shades
• Wet n Wild Take on the Day now has two versions, a matte finish and a shimmer finish. Both are the same "pale beige" base color, though
• Urban Decay claims to help your makeup last 24 hours, and though I haven't put that to the full test, I have worn it for 16 hours straight and gotten only the barest hint of fading
• Wet n Wild claims "lasts all day" but doesn't state a definite span of hours. When I've worn this for 16 hours, I have seen a little more noticeable fading than with UDPP. I also notice some creasing - but my lids are super-oily. When I check after 10-11 hours, (getting home from work) I don't see any creasing, and any fading is very difficult to notice.

I will continue to buy and use the occasional tube of UDPP when it's in a kit that I want, and I can use Ebates, and when I have other items I'm planning to order from either Sephora or Beauty.com. (20% off still doesn't get me anywhere near a price comparable to Take On the Day, but it's better than no discount at all.) I won't go out of my way to buy UDPP, though, because the price difference - for me - is not equal to the performance difference.

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