eyeliner

Since my last Collection 2000 foray, Glam Crystal Liner, turned out to be so damn good, I decided that I'd buy another one. As I chose my new colour I noticed another liner product in some lovely looking colours. Glam Metallics Coloured Liquid Eyeliner purports to be a metallic, water resistant liquid liner, and comes in 6 jewel toned shades. I picked up Ripped, a metallic purple.

Unfortunately I was disappointed by the product itself; while the glitter liner gives opaque coverage after two coats, this one definitely doesn't - the liner itself is slightly watery and after two coats the colour was still too sheer for my liking. It did have a slight metallic sheen, but without the depth of colour behind it, the overall effect was a bit meh.

If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can find the Collection 2000 range at Boots, Tesco, or Superdrug. Mine was £2.63 from Boots. You can also learn more at Collection 2000's website.

Once in a while, Urban Decay break with their tradition of excellence and put out a massive howler of a mistake of a product. Loyal fans like me are lulled into a false sense of security by seemingly endless runs of awesome releases, and then get caught out when they blithely put money on the counter for something that, to put it bluntly, sucks.

I'm remembering the time I bought Urban Decay's Smoke Out eyeliner. A pencil with the consistency of charcoal, which was meant to impart a smudgy chiaroscuro smoky eye. Only there was one glaring error in the design - people's eyelids, unlike paper or canvas, produce oil, and oil turns the tip of the Smoke Out pencil into a shiny hard unusable point. Hopeless.

Anyway, I digress. Back to now. The Ink liners were released a couple of months ago, and there are six in the set - Binge (midnight blue), Empire (royal purple), Loaded (green), Zero (black) Pyrotechnics (sheer glitter) and Demolition (brown).

The format is quite adorable - a long thin coffin-like box hinged at the short end, with a mirror set in the lid. Inside is a long thin strip of colour and a well beside it in which a double ended angle brush/smudger lies. The cover is faux-metallic with an engraving-effect peacock design and swirling script.

But think about the logistics for a moment - this is a cream liner, and it's poured in such a way that the surface area exposed to the drying air is maximised. It's also in a box with no airtight seal. Think about your little MAC Fluidline inkwell with its airtight screw lid. That's well-designed packaging right there. Ink liner, on the other hand - well, it's going to dry up, isn't it.

That's my worry for the future. But it's not my only qualm. Application reveals a new set of problems - with the formula. It is incredibly sheer, it's slippy, it drags and pills and smears off again when you try to layer it. It doesn't dry down properly. It gives less coverage than a cling-film bikini. You have to work your clumsy little angle brush right into the strip to pick up any product, which means you're going to use it up rather quickly (and as detailed above, that's probably a good thing because it's going to dry out pronto), and once you have it's far too draggy and cloggy to draw a nice thin line. After painstaking labours, I ended up with two panda eyes that smudged all over the place within about half an hour.

With a product called "Ink" I was expecting intense, opaque, creamy one-application liner that dries down and lasts. They would have done better to call this "cheap primary school poster paint", or better yet "damp wax crayon".

I bought "Binge" and "Loaded", and sorry Urban Decay, but my verdict is: Give them both a swerve.

I never fully understood the appeal of cake eyeliners until I got acquainted with Laura Mercier's. I noticed its quality every time I had my makeup done by a Laura Mercier rep, but didn't quite get it until I bought my own and started experimenting.

Laura Mercier Eye Liner in Black Ebony looks deceivingly simple. It's a pressed black powder with a matte finish- not exactly the stuff dreams are made for, right? But as soon as I had my brushes in it and played with various amounts of water (you need very little, by the way. I find that results are best with a damp+ brush) I could see why it has so many fans. Liquid black eyeliner is not exactly revolutionary, but this one gives you a lot of control over the finished look. You can draw it as thin or as thick as you like, manipulate the level of pigment and use it with various brushes.

I've found that it takes very little practice to get the hang of this eyeliner. Beginners would probably like to keep it a little more dry and use thinner and short bristled brushes, but Laura Mercier has created a very versatile product here which works with just about any brush or method you favor. The official recommendation is to apply with a flat brush, but my current favorite is actually a thin angled eyeliner brush by Eco Tools, of all things.

There's something about the velvety finish that is incredibly flattering. It's not glossy so it's never as harsh or retro as some black liquid liners can be. But it's also not too muted or boring. It's just right. Most surprising, though is the staying power. Applied over a lid primer but without using a sealing gel/waterproofing solution, this eyeliner stays put all day with no smudging or fading.

Bottom Line: I'm going to buy the blue one, too.

Laura Mercier Eye Liner ($22) is available from Sephora and most department stores.

Photos by me.

Disclosure:  Both the Le Metier and Eyeko liners were supplied as PR samples.

Ladies and gentlemen, roll up roll up!  Today we're pitting two felt tip style eyeliners together: in the high end corner, Le Metier de Beaute's luxe Precision Liquid Eyeliner in Noir, weighing in at £20, and in the low end corner, Eyeko's Graffiti Eyeliner Pen in brown, weighing in at £5.  Let the battle commence!

Packaging


Here are two products whose packaging definitely reflects their price points.  The Le Metier offering is black, smooth, glossy, with simply the brand name stamped upon its sexy exterior.  Eyeko's eyeliner has a silver toned plastic barrel with graffiti like scribbles printed on it.  The Eyeko pen also has a useful coloured end to it, much like you'd get with an actual felt tip pen, which helps you identify the colour the product inside, while the Le Metier pen leaves you to guess (or draw on your hand).  Being a bit of a snob, I prefer the slick black of the Le Metier product, as I find the Eyeko packaging a little childish - but that's personal preference, others might feel the opposite way!

Application 


Functionally, both eyeliners have fine felt tips which taper to a similarly narrow point, allowing you to control the thickness of the line you wish to draw.  At a Le Metier event a while ago, I was told that the design of the eyeliner was aided by a Very High End pen manufacturer.  By the same standards, one might imagine Eyeko were assisted by Bic - as both eyeliners, much like both high end and low end pens, have tips that allow you to draw a decent, precise fine line.  There's no real difference between the two in terms of weight in the hand, balancing etc (these are EYELINERS, of course, not knives).  In short, no difference between them here.

Formula & Wear


The Le Metier eyeliner dispenses a thin, deeply black ink which dries down quickly and applies smoothly.  I've found that when I apply with a flick, I can get a bit of patchiness in the thickest parts of the flick, but nothing that can't be remedied with a further dab of product.  The Eyeko product drags a tiny bit on the eyelid, but I'm being really picky in saying so - it's marginally less smooth than the Le Metier product.  I didn't notice any patchiness in my flicks with the Eyeko product either, although I'd say that the ink was a little less pigmented and opaque than the Le Metier.   Wear wise, both products were still firmly stuck to my eyelids after a full 13 hour day.  Which is rather excellent indeed.

Shade Range


Eyeko make their Graffiti liner in four shades; brown (as shown here), black, navy blue, and purple.  Le Metier de Beaute make their Precision liner in three shades; noir (shown here), bleu, and aqua.  While Le Metier obviously win points for naming things in French, which immediately make them more desirable, Eyeko ultimately wins out with their slightly wider shade range.

Value for Money


Oooh, now we're talking.  Effectively, what we have here are two products which do the same thing in a pretty similar way.  It's very difficult to choose one over the other.  However, for the price of one single Le Metier liner, you could have all four Eyeko liners.  In my mind, the difference in price is entirely down to the brand positioning here - Eyeko are cheap and cheerful, aimed at the younger market, and Le Metier are high end and luxe, aimed at those who will pay for style.

And the winner is...


For the price and performance, it has to be the Eyeko Graffiti liner.  BUT.  I'm not saying that the Le Metier is an inferior product - it very definitely isn't.  In fact, it's one of the best felt tip liners I've ever tried.  Unfortunately, the Eyeko liner is also one of the best I've ever tried - and given the massive difference in price, the Graffiti liner wins.  If you want a high performance eyeliner, buy the Eyeko.  If you want a high performance eyeliner, with a bit of that high end tingle, and you've got some cash to flash, buy the Le Metier.  There's virtually nothing but price between them.

Eyeko Graffiti Liner can be bought from the Eyeko website for £5, and in selected branches of Superdrug.  Le Metier de Beaute Precision Liquid Eyeliner can be found exclusively at Liberty, where it will cost you £20.

Which one would you be more likely to try?

Bobbi Brown has fully redeemed herself from a year of blah with her fall 2010 Denim & Rose Collection. Tomorrow I'll show you the gorgeous face palette and next week I'll discuss the Denim mascara. Today is about the new Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner color, Denim Ink (no. 28).

Bobbi Brown's Gel Eyeliners are among my favorite products. They are ridiculously easy to apply, stay on all day without budging or smearing and the colors are always beautiful and never look garish even in the bolder shades. The new Denim Ink color is right up my alley- it's a very dark navy, a bit on the gray side (at least on my skin- if you're pale and very pink the blue might stand out a little more). The color is darker on skin than it's in the pan  and has a little shimmer. I was surprised the name the gave this color doesn't indicate the shimmer, but I don't really mind. Bobbi Brown knows how to keep things elegant even when she goes to the frosty side.

I apply it with either Bobbi Brown's Ultra Fine eyeliner brush or even with thinner brushes when I want to really keep it close to the lashes. Both work well with the gel's wonderful texture.

Bobbi Brown Denim Ink (28) Gel Eyeliner ($21) is available from most department stores and bobbibrowncosmetics.com

All photos are mine.

Disclosure - PR sample



A reliable eyeliner is one of life's true comforts. Call me shallow, but I stand by that statement. Knowing that there's something that will make you look and feel good and won't smudge, run or otherwise let you down is important. I'll be honest - I wouldn't expect to find such a product within a range where most things cost a fiver. But this felt-tip liner from Eyeko has thoroughly surprised and pleased me.


It's a fairly standard felt tip liner in appearance - a round barrel about the size and shape of a standard pen, with a snap-on lid and a tapered, flexible fibre tip with a fine point.

The silver barrel is decorated with text and simple graphics. I really liked the way the text had been written specially for the purple shade, and wasn't just a generic description across all the liners in the range (there are four - brown, purple, navy and black).


It applies very smoothly and is liquid without being watery or running into the creases of the lid. A couple of strokes gives a bright, even line. And look at these amazingly intact cateye wings after 14 hours of wear!


You might feel less impressed when I tell you that I applied it over UDPP - that generally improves performance of any eye product dramatically and can turn a dud eyeshadow into a gem. But today was such a swelteringly hot and muggy day that I actually creased my way through that layer of UDPP, while the Graffiti liner held firm. See:


Nice work Eyeko! We are impressed.

You can pick this up for just £5 from Eyeko

Sometimes it's hard to find your way through the distribution maze of Tarte Cosmetics. The products are sold at Sephora, Henri Bendel, QVC and the company's own website (by the way, there's a 30% discount code on their front page that's valid until July 5th). Each venue seems to have a bunch of products that are not available anywhere else and following what to buy where takes more mental energy than I'm willing to spare for one brand. It's too bad, really, because Tarte offers some great items. My sister is a devoted fan of the Park Avenue Princess bronzer and I just sent her the Kabuki brush which she loves.

As an eyeliner addict, I've been very curious about Tarte's various formats and formulas. Once again, each venue seems to carry different items. The inner rim pencils come directly from Tarte's website, Sephora has the emphasEYES aqua-gel pencils, QVC mostly sells trios of colors and who knows what's available at Bendel- they don't have e-commerce. Seriously.

This arte emphasEYES Liquid Eyeliner is sold at Bendel and was part of a recent GWP there (QVC has this in a trio of colors- black, brown and navy). The color you see here is Brown Bronze and I like it a lot- it's perfect on a summer morning but still dark enough to provide good definition. The pen is small but easy to control and the tip is precise. Staying power is great- morning to night without smudging or flaking even in humid weather (I always use a primer).

Bottom Line: Next time I'm in Henri Bendel I'll probably get this in Navy.

Tarte emphasEYES Liquid Eyeliner ($21 for a single full size or $32.76 for a trio) can be found on QVC or in store at Henri Bendel.

Photos by me.

The limited edition Ocean Summer collection is the most exciting release we had from Shiseido in quite some time. Makeup Artistic Director Dick Page has put together a line of deceivingly low-key colors that create an almost sheer summery look that accentuate lips and eyes with just the right amount of drama. While I passed on the gold eye shadow (I already have enough of them) and the bronzer (ditto), I had to have Black Sand (BK 904), the limited edition eyeliner pencil and also the lip products that I'll show you tomorrow.

A quick rummage through my makeup drawers revealed I don't own any other Shiseido eyeliner, and that's going to change soon because I'm very happy and impressed with the Smoothing Eyeliner Pencil's performance. It's soft enough to glide easily without pulling the lid, which is a major consideration for me. The line can be drawn thin or thick and smudged with the sponge tip on the other end of the pencil. Smudging doesn't dilute or fade the rich pigment which stays in place over a lid primer for as long as you need it. I've worn the eyeliner throughout a couple of hot and humid days with several outdoor forays and it didn't budge until I removed it at night. An accidental eye rubbing didn't do much damage, either.

Black Sand is a gorgeous almost black color with a hint of dark olive green and fine gold shimmer. It can be the focus of a dramatic evening look if applied heavily and smudged into a smoky look, but the mellow not-quite black is also very daytime appropriate because it lacks the harshness of a true black. I can't think of anyone who can't pull it off, it's really that easy and flattering.

Bottom line: I wish Black Sand would become part of the regular line.

Shiseido Smoothing Eyeliner Pencil ($20) and the rest of the 2010 Ocean Summer Collection is available from Sephora and most decent department stores, including online.

All photos are mine.

Look what we found in our local newsagent! Benefit have sold their souls to Glamour magazine (or vice versa) resulting in a cover gift of one of three full size eye pencils. If you see this issue (which has Lily Allen on the front, looking like she's overdone it with the Bad Gal), pick it up quicksmart.

You get either Bad Gal, It Stick or Eye Bright with each issue. Glamour are encouraging you to collect all 3, and with a cover price of £2, I see no reason why you wouldn't provided you can find enough copies of the magazine. It will definitely sell out very quickly.


The products, then;



Bad Gal - it's a black eyeliner. If you don't have one, or you want one that looks a bit funky, pick this. It doesn't have any special powers besides being awesomely chunky. It will smudge and fade like any standard black pencil.

Eye Bright - a bit more sophisticated and definitely my pick of the bunch. A pink pencil with subtle shimmer to cheer up the inner corners and brow bone. This is a good one to keep in your handbag as it definitely does perk up the look of the eyes when quickly applied in the ladies' loos.

It Stick - a creamy concealer pencil with high coverage. Great to have, but only if you have pale or light-medium yellow toned skin. It is VERY yellow-toned, so if your skin has a neutral tone, blend very well. If you're cool-toned, approach this one with caution.

If there was one thing to learn from the celebrities' makeup at the Costume Institute Gala last week, it was that heavy eyeliner is the hottest look for evening. Most of us don't walk the red carpet too often and should probably avoid any exaggerated look, but going a little bolder with our eyeliner is quite flattering. Especially if we keep it sophisticated and use colors other than black.

Guerlain Terracotta Kohl, a loose powder eyeliner/eye shadow, is considered by many to be one of the scariest makeup products around. It's the wand, you see. We tend to have that fear of stabbing ourselves in the eye. But once you get acquainted with this kohl it can become a true love very quickly, thanks to beautiful pigments and the soft texture of the powdered pigment.

There are several schools of thoughts regarding wand usage. I've heard about swiping, closing your eyes over the wand while holding it on the water line, applying only to the upper lid/lash line and allowing the fallout to reach the bottom lashes and there are probably more ideas out there. Then there's the question of inside (the water line) vs. all around the eye. According to Pamela Morgan, Guerlain's national makeup artist, no matter what you choose, the only thing not to do with the kohl and its wand is holding it like a pencil. It simply doesn't work this way. The secret is to swipe it quickly and lightly, which is a lot easier than you think. I'm a royal klutz and still find it very easy to do, despite my mortal fear of getting anything inside my eyes. Pamela also suggest you try using a regular eyeliner brush, flat or pointed, for a more traditional application, above and under the lash line. This is a great technique for a dramatic smoky or goth-inspired look.

The powder is richly pigmented and has a light iridescence. Bleu (03) is a tad shinier while Mirage (06, the newest color in the series) is muted. Bleu is not glittery at all, despite the appearance in the packaging. The texture is very soft and pliable, so with little practice you can create many looks. While black can appear a bit harsh on many of us, the neutral taupish brown of Mirage is very flattering and versatile. Bleu is a gorgeous teal. I love it combined with sand and bronze- it's summer perfection.

The one big issue with Terracotta Kohl is the fallout. I haven't found a way to avoid this, and there's quite  bit of it even when Pamela did my makeup. My advice would be to apply the kohl before you do anything else, including face primer and foundation. Cleanup is easy enough- a fluffy brush and a makeup removing wipe is all you need. The latter also works on cat paws, as I discovered (not before I got blue paw prints all over my dressing room. See Giselle in the last photo). A minor annoyance is the shape of the bottle/tube. It's beautiful, of course, but obviously can't stand on its own, so I either hold it in my left hand while applying or leave it lying on its side and hope it doesn't roll away (with or without feline help).

The thing I like best about Guerlain's kohl is the formula- it manages to be very gentle and never irritates my eyes, even when I use quite a bit on the water line. Still, the color remains vibrant and doesn't fade for 6-8 hours. When used on the lid over a good eye primer it stays put like any liner or shadow and Bleu maintains the soft glow. Any regular eye makeup remover works fine with it, so no rubbing needed.

Bottom line: Love. A great choice for a summer night.

Guerlain Terracotta Kohl Liner ($35 each) is available from most decent department stores and Sephora (Mirage is an online exclusive, for some reason). I received mine from the company's PR department.

All photos are mine (and Giselle's).

Here's an EOTD with my newest "adventurous" makeup purchase - Eyeliner Gel from Inglot in shade 79 - aka bright, pillarbox red.

I fell in love with this pretty much on sight. I didn't know if I'd be able to wear it but it didn't matter - the idea of a red gel liner had me sold straight away.

As it turns out, this stuff is great. It has a smooth, creamy formula and is no fuss to apply. It also dries down to an unbudgeable finish. The box describes it as "matte" but I actually found that it had a slightly shiny finish once dry.

I've DIY'd red liner in the past using red eyeshadow and various mixing media, but I feel that the itch is now well and truly scratched with this product.

One small complaint - the product seems to have dried out and cracked a bit in storage, as the picture above shows. I understand that these probably don't sell very often so the stock won't move very quickly. But Inglot, how about designing some decent air-tight packaging for your gel products?

Price was £8, bought from the Inglot store, Westfield, London. I don't have details of an online stockist for this brand, but I'll update this information if I discover any.

More pics below the cut.

Chantecaille Eye Define Palette looks like an eye shadow set. However, if you try using it the way you'd normally approach a Bobbi Brown or a Lancome  palette you will soon realize that these mostly dark colors with their intense pigment don't really work for a traditional highlighter-crease-liner look. Even the shimmery gold is too dark to highlight your brow bone, and using two or three of the palette's colors together is more likely to turn one into a reject goth.

So what's the story here? It's all in the name. This Chantecaille palette is really all about defining and contouring. The colors are dark gold with a very warm undertone, milk chocolate, an intense tealish blue, a very cool toned dark inky purple (no red in there, so it will not make one look bruised) and a dusty charcoal. Each one of them can work as an eyeliner, even the gold. You can use them dry as I did in the first swatch or apply with a damp brush for even more color intensity. Each color works perfectly on its own, and while you can always experiment  with layering and mixing, this is not the best palette for it- it's an opposite approach to Le Metier de Beaute's kits and kaleidoscopes and the final result is decidedly different, but no less fetching.

The textures are near perfect, as you'd expect from a Chantecaille product. The charcoal is the only color that had minor crumbling, but the debris is easy to clean and doesn't affect application or the finished look. The shadows/liners stay firmly in place and maintain the color integrity even when you blend and rub them for a softer look (see third swatch). The palette is sleek and elegant and the included eyeliner brush is of good quality and quite useful.

The one thing missing is either a real highlighter or a light neutral base color to make the look more polished. Some people actually prefer to only wear a strong eyeliner and leave the lids otherwise naked, but my opinion is that it works better on the very young, while the rest of us need a little more than that. Thus, I always have to use an extra eye shadow or two with my chosen color from this palette, making it less than ideal for travel and quick fixes.

Chantecaille Eye Define Palette ($68) is available from top department stores, online and in store. I bought mine from Neiman Marcus.

All photos by me. Finding them on other sites with no credit makes me cranky and also creative in finding ways to hunt and haunt content thieves. Don't say I didn't warn you.