LORAC Behind the Scenes Eye Primer has the best record for sensitive eyes: 15 of 17 shoppers said it didn't itch, burn or water their eyes, though that rests on a small group. Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion follows at 15 of 18 and NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base at 13 of 16, close enough that the first three read as a tie, while Benefit Stay Don't Stray Eyeshadow Primer has the weakest record at 4 of 9. Each record counts just shoppers who said they have sensitive eyes.
Updated . How we count
Share of reviewers who stated an outcome for eye irritation. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.
Best record LORAC Behind the Scenes Eye Primer 15 of 17 say it didn't itch, burn or water their eyes See price & reviews on Amazon Staying power is praised across all four primers. Shoppers mention shadow lasting all day in 64% of LORAC reviews, 51% of Urban Decay reviews, 67% of NARS reviews and 30% of Benefit reviews.
Praise and complaints are the points reviewers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.
LORAC
Shoppers say it kept shadow from creasing in 18% of its 28 reviews, and 11% say it controls oily lids.
No repeated complaints yet.
Urban Decay
Best for vivid shadow color
More vibrant color comes up in 20% of its 49 reviews and easy blending in 10%. A tube that lasts a long time gets praise in 6%.
No repeated complaints yet.
NARS
Color payoff gets a mention in 10% of its 30 reviews. On the downside, 7% say shadow still creases, 7% call it too expensive and 7% find the product hard to get out.
Benefit
Its 5 misses said it stung, burned or irritated their eyes. Of its 30 reviews, 27% say getting product out is hard and 10% say shadow faded by afternoon.
The 4 products ranked here carry 30,394 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for eye irritation and read the newest matching reviews, up to 40 per product and store, posted between Mar 2010 and Aug 2026.
A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (0 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.
Ulta also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. They run much more positive than store reviews of the same products (across 19 products with both, 76% of brand-site reviewers said the product solved the problem, against 55% of Ulta shoppers), so we show them on product cards but never count them.
Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.
Skin type, skin tone and age splits use what reviewers chose on Sephora's review form (and age on Ulta's when given). We only show a split when enough reviewers fall on each side.
Amazon buttons appear only on products that most reviewers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.
An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts, never the reviews themselves.
LORAC Behind the Scenes Eye Primer has the best record (15 of 17), followed by Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (15 of 18), NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base (13 of 16) and Benefit Stay Don't Stray Eyeshadow Primer (4 of 9). The first three are close enough to treat as a tie.
The second number in each record is the group size, and every group here is small. It runs from 9 shoppers for Benefit Stay Don't Stray Eyeshadow Primer to 18 for Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. Group size is already built into the order, so a card's rank reflects both its share and how many shoppers stated a result.
LORAC Behind the Scenes Eye Primer and Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion are sold on Amazon by the brand or Amazon itself, and LORAC Behind the Scenes Eye Primer is both the leader and the best pick sold on Amazon. We could not confirm the exact Amazon listing for NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, so its button searches Amazon for it. Benefit Stay Don't Stray Eyeshadow Primer has no buy link here, because too few shoppers reported a good result for us to recommend it.
No. The counts are what shoppers with sensitive eyes said after using each primer, not a test of ingredients or of how skin reacts, so follow the label directions.
HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.