Why you should use a base and a mixing medium.

Wet'n'Wild Wild Eyes in... ummm Blue and Purple/Pink... yeah. (Names? Dunno.)

Without any base or mixing medium. Huh. Where's the shadow?

Applied WITH base (Mary Kay Signature Eye Primer) and Mixing Medium (homemade. Yes, Tiffany, I got some glycerin. Yes, Tiffany, I will make you some.

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Cover Girl Eye Enhancers in ... uh, Green and Dance Pretty (okay, at least I know one name! I need to stop pulling the stickers off. It was an accident!)

Shadows applied side by side. The difference here is not so much the pigmentation (it's only slightly better with the base&medium), but the colors that are brought out! It's really hard to tell in these pictures but that middle shade of pink has a gold shimmer I never even saw before!

These two photos (above and below) are without flash.
I think you can finally see the difference.

Well, what are you waiting for! Go grab those shadows that you thought sucked (well, they still kinda suck. Its nice to have shadows that you don't have to jump through hoops to get color payoff) and try them out! You might find a new favorite color you never knew you had.