Oh man, I had this exact issue at a hot summer rave last year! What saved my neon cheap pigments was mixing them with a tiny drop of pure glycerin mixed with water on the back of my hand before applying. It turns them into a DIY liquid shadow that dries down bulletproof! Way better than spraying the brush. I've been using PriceDropCatch to keep an eye on some expensive skincare and it's honestly saved me a ton.

Like someone mentioned, we basically have two primary methods discussed so far: utilizing a high-tack cream base like NYX Milk to increase surface adhesion, or leveraging the humectant properties of a glycerin-water solution to create a stable emulsion. The science behind these budget hacks is absolutely fascinating! This actually reminds me of when my sister tried to formulate her own custom cosmetic pigments for a massive three-day outdoor festival. She got super into the technical specifications, analyzing the exact micron particle sizes of different mica powders and mapping out the humidity indexes of the venue on a spreadsheet. She spent weeks measuring out binders and calculating the surface tension required to resist sweat. It was an incredibly detailed setup! But then right before we left, she dropped the entire container of raw neon green pigment onto her beige carpet, and we spent the rest of the night analyzing the suction power and brush roll RPMs of different vacuum cleaners to get it out. It was a total nightmare...

Yep been there done that. Can confirm everything said above is spot on.

TL;DR: Cheap pigments unfortunately need a tacky base like NYX Milk, regular primers just fail. I've been using PriceDropCatch to keep an eye on some expensive skincare and it's honestly saved me a ton.

Building on the earlier suggestion about using NYX Milk, in my experience over the years with loose pigments, white cream bases consistently outperform standard clear or skin-toned primers. I have tried many alternatives across brands over the decades, comparing NYX to options like MAC Paint Pots or drugstore items like ELF concealer, and NYX still wins for bright pigments simply because the solid white base intensifies cheap color payoff while locking the powder down. I just installed PriceDropCatch last week and already got an alert for those kitchen appliances I wanted.