Kat von D High Voltage Eye Primer review

I have four beauty boxes on my desk right now, waiting to be reviewed. But I will not budge until I take a breather from subscription boxes for a couple of days. There is such a thing as overkill, and while we are all agreed that my blog has its fair share of unboxing posts, it is a beauty blog and I like to include other posts once in a while! Nor do I care at all for the "I-want-to-unbox-first" race. I know you're tired of them as well - comments have dwindled to nothing. So you will not see more than one or two unboxing posts per week, at the most (unless I run out of other posts lol).
I knew Kat von D had amazing eyeshadows and lipsticks - and zealously guard the samples of my Lock-It foundation even from my own fingers. But I had not heard of the Kat von D High Voltage Eye Primer until my friend Shivani told me about it. "You won't need a separate concealer," she had said. "And, you will like it better than Too Faced Shadow Insurance." Now that sounded too good to resist and, after finding it was Muse-Approved, I decided to give it a try.

Here is my review of the Kat von D High Voltage Eye Primer.

Packaging of the Kat von D High Voltage Eye Primer

I am a sucker for the Kat von D packaging. The stars are very tattoo-like, reminiscent of Kat von D's career as a tattoo artist. I believe this originally came in a bottle with a doe-foot applicator, like Urban Decay's Primer Potion, but last year, they introduced the tube packaging and reformulated the primer.

I prefer tubes for eye primers for hygiene reasons. I apply the primer directly on my concealer brush, so there is no question of unwashed fingers! What I do not like is that the excess product - I always get too much out and some of it transfers from the brush to the side - sticks to the sides of the tube and stays there. Ick!

Formula of the Kat von D High Voltage Eye Primer

This primer is a medium yellow-beige and quite thick and creamy, though it dries out matte. But despite drying out, the formula remains tacky on the eyelids, ready to grab onto the eyeshadow. My lids do not oil up with this primer.
The thick, sticky formula can be a little difficult to blend out, and it might take a while to get the hang of it. The trick is to use very little, just as much as a sesame seed for BOTH eyelids. And you need to use a very good, dense concealer brush with a large head. I recommend the Sephora Airbrush Pro #57 which blends in the primer superbly on me. This was recommended to me by an SA at Sephora, who said it was "perfect for all concealers sold in Sephora". The downside is that the formula adheres to the brush a bit, but I can live with that.

As a concealer, it gives heavy coverage and great pigmentation and corrects dark patches/circles/pigmentation very efficiently - I have reddish-purple dark circles since January, thanks to lack of proper sleep. I wouldn't advise using this anywhere except on the eyelid, below eyeshadow, and in the inner corner, because of how thick the formula is - you don't want blending problems, and I have no idea if something this thick can cause breakouts, although I haven't had any problems in the eye area so far. I do not use this on the under-eye area as it is a tad too drying for my liking. I need to try it over Dr Jart+ Eye Serum.
And look, ma! No parabens! Yes, there are cones, but I will take 'cones over 'bens any day.

Performance and results

The Kat von D High Voltage Eye primer does not let my eyeshadows crease. It deepens the not-so-pigmented eyeshadows and grabs them nicely and keeps them put - sort of "locks" them in, to borrow from the name of their foundation. I do not use it on the face as a concealer as I am super-scared of breakouts, so I can't speak for how it creases when used alone. I haven't got milia from this primer either.
I believe there used to be other shades when it came in a bottle; for now, this is the only shade around. Sephora says the shade is universal - I have a feeling it is too yellow for pale skintones. I have tried the shade on three people and can tell you that it blended in nicely from NC35 to NC40 just fine; you can see how it blends in below. I should think it will blend well on anyone who uses Benefit Fake Up in Medium, and/or has yellow undertones. You will have to look up other reviews to find out if it will suit other skintones.

I have swatches of Sleek, theBalm, Urban Decay and Too Faced eyeshadows, from left to right. 

On the top row are the shadows worn over bare skin. Below are shadows worn over Kat von D Primer. The Sleek eyeshadow is Propose in Prague from the Vintage Romance palette; theBalm's is Moderato from Balm Jovi; Urban Decay is Trick from N@ked 3 while Strawberry Bon Bon from Too Faced Chocolate Bar is at the extreme right. Sleek shows the biggest difference with the primer. The others deepen or change in the way they catch the light.

Bottom Line
I absolutely love this primer for the eyelids and use it as a concealer on the eyelids and in the inner corners, where it does a fabulous job. As you can see from the first photograph, I am halfway through the tube and have already put in an order for another. Kat von D High Voltage Eye Primer is a Sephora-exclusive, and you can get it for $15, but it is also sold on Amazon.. There is a generous 0.55oz, which, compared to Urban Decay Primer Potion at $20 for 0.37, or Too Faced Shadow Insurance at $20 for 0.35oz, is a very good deal.