Who doesn't love eyeliners? Yet, we have all had the most annoying encounters where our eyeliner smudges, giving us panda eyes without us knowing. I have tried numerous formulas of eyeliners (i.e. pencil/gel/liquid) with different brands (both drugstore and premium). I do not have particularly watery eyes, nor do I blink particularly hard, but somehow, nothing I have tried stays put on my waterline (other than liquid eyeliner but please do not use liquid eyeliner on your waterline!!!!)
Right now, my favourite combo must be the Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Eye Pencil and the Lancome Artliner.
First, let's talk about the Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Eye Pencil. I feel that this eyeliner is incredibly underrated. I used to use a gel formula for my waterline but no matter which brand I tried, they will still smudge at the end of the day (some more, some less) and since I have been told that gel formulas are the most long lasting, I had, for a long while, given up on a completely smudge-proof eyeliner that is safe for the waterline.
Since I have started work, I have taken to trying out different eyeliner pencils because they are just so much quicker and fuss-free on application. An extract of what Estée Lauder says about this pencil:
Wears for 12 hours. Sets in seconds. To soften line, blend before it sets.
I started off with the Double Wear Eye Pencil in Coffee (i.e. the brown one in the middle) as it is more natural for everyday wear. The formula of this pencil is very smooth, and as it contains no shimmers or glitters, it is safe to be used on your waterline. Applied properly, I do find that this eyeliner lasts for a good 10 hours, if not 12 as Estee Lauder promises. The eyeliner comes in a double end, at one end, you have the pencil and at the other, a smudger. I have found that in order for the eyeliner to be smudge-proof, you MUST use the smudger on your waterline softly in circular motion after application of the eyeliner. After around 10 hours, I do see a little bit of smudging but really nowhere close to giving me panda eyes, which is really, the best I've had since...I started applying eyeliner.
I rarely use pencil eyeliner on my upper eyeline as a liquid liner better serves that sharp look that I personally prefer. However, for the sake of this review, I have tried putting this on both my upper and bottom eyeline. The smudger works amazingly if you blend as soon as you apply the eyeline, giving you a soft shadow look without the need to apply eyeshadow. For this reason, I recently went out to buy the same pencil in Midnight Blue (swatch below), as I believe it would make a pretty nice pop of colour on top of any black liner whilst also being easier to apply than eyeshadows.
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| Smudger on one end, Pencil on the other. Color: Coffee. |
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| Midnight Blue and Onyx smudged out |
I am not particularly impressed with the packaging of this pencil, though the price was extremely reasonable seeing as it was HK$160 (they have recently increased the price to HK$170, so I bought a back up of the pencil in Coffee!) . It is, of course, much more expensive than many affordable drug store brands that does a pretty good job with eyeliners such as Majorlica Majorca (aka MJ) and Heroine Make. Those of you in Hong Kong or otherwise familiar with Japanese drugstore brands will know this - but as compared with premium brands like Giorgio Armani who are charging I believe, HK$230 for their eyeliner pencil (I have tried this formula too), this pencil is definitely worth a shot!
The Lancôme Artliner in Noir is a felt-tip liquid eyeliner that is a glossy jet black. Even though it does not come in a pen form, it is very easy to control and you can easily draw a thin or thick line according to your own preference. This is because the applicator is very soft and flexible, allowing maximum control when creating smooth, sharp lines. The foam material makes the applicator incredibly soft to touch, unlike many felt-tip eyeliners that feels rather sharp and harsh on application. The Artliner is made in France and you get 1.4ml of products for HK$210, meaning that it is rather expensive. I have found that Lancôme products tend to be around the same price or even slightly lower than other premium cosmetic brands but the amount of product included is a lot less. I find that the Artliner actually runs out pretty quickly.
Lancôme doesn't say whether the Artliner is waterproof or not, but I find that as compared to other drugstore liquid eyeliners, the colour on the corner of my eyes does not disappear or become spotty at the end of the day. The Artliner also stays put after I jump into the sea at the beach, that is - provided you don't rub your eyes right after they come into contact with any sort of water.
The finish of the Artliner is glossy so if you are not into that type of finish, you may want to stay away from this liner. Having said that, this is by far the blackest liquid liner I have ever used. It is also why I fell in love with it and it is most definitely my absolute favorite liquid liner. You can see it in action in the swatch below:
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| Upper Waterline: Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Eye Pencil in Coffee; Upper liner: Lancôme Artliner; Lower waterline: Smudged Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Eye Pencil in Coffee |
As you can see in the swatch, I don't wing out my eyeliner for a cat eye look that many girls love. This is due to my strange eye shape - an almond shape where the end of it naturally turns upwards. Chinese people calls this "phoenix eyes" and in the past, it was supposedly a sign of beauty. However, if you have an eye shape like me and do not like it (again, like me), simply slightly draw the liner downwards (not too much or you'll end up with droopy eyes!) and pull it out straight from that point in order to still be able to create an illusion of larger eyes. If you love rounder looking eyes like I do, simply draw the line so that the middle part right above your pupils is at it's thickest, thinning out the line at the end (i.e. thin from the corner of your eyes, thick in the middle and thin again towards the end) instead of drawing it from thin to thick. This method will also create an illusion of larger pupils!
On a side note, I have recently bought the 3CE (3 Concept Eyes) Super Slim Pen Eye Liner in Black (liquid eyeliner) and the 3CE Creamy Water Proof Eye Liner in #10 Mojito (eyeliner pencil), which is a very pretty matte mint green. 3CE is a Korean cosmetics brand that I've been very excited to try out as Korean style make-up are famous for their jet black liners. I am excited to find out whether the 3CE liquid liner will be even better than the Lancôme Artliner!
What are your favourite eyeliners? Will you pay the high price for these eyeliners? Hope the review was helpful (especially for girls who share the same strange eye shape like mine).
Stay tuned for Part IV: Mascara and Brows.
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V
Wonderful website. A lot of helpful info here.
ReplyDeleteI am sending it to some pals ans also sharing in delicious.
And of course, thanks for your effort!
Here is my blog post - Get rid of Wrinkles