It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate through the years. With my moving in two weeks, I'm trimming non-essentials from my life. (hence the garage sale.) While going through my makeup, I discovered some duplicates, the first of which is liners.
There was a time I wouldn't step out of the house without eye liner. Ahhh, how that's changed. For someone who uses liner maybe twice a year, I sure do have a lot! Here are brief comparisons, one each for blacks and browns.
Black liners are great for intense definition and graphic eyes. I like using these at night or for events.
- Maybelline Eye Studio 2-in-1 Shadow Liner - My first eyeliner! I actually tried to wing it out with this. Unsuccessfully, because as with most pencil liners, it's hard to get a fine line. It smudges like no one's business, as you can see in the swatch above. It was taken 5 minutes after drawing. I suspect it would so well as a pencil shadow, or a heavy smudge eye, but you'd have to set it and I never used it as such.
- In2It Waterproof Gel Liner - I'm a BIG fan of these pencil gel liners. All the intensity and longevity of a gel liner, in pencil form! You can see opaquely black it is, and once it sets it doesn't budge. It takes a proper eye makeup remover at the end of the day, and often I can't get it all off. In this heat the "lead" gets really soft, so sometimes I actually take a liner brush to it and use that to apply it on my lids.
- L'Oreal Infallible Gel Lacquer Liner 24H - This potted gel liner has been compared to Bobbi Brown's. I can't do that myself, but I can tell you that this is pretty long-wearing and doesn't smudge too much, unless you intentionally smudge it before it sets. It's great for drawing a thin wing, as you can see in my cat costume below. (I also used it for my nose and whiskers, hrrrr.)
- K-Palette 24 Hr Real Lasting Eyeliner (not pictured) - My favorite for ease of use and really thin lines. Once the liquid sets, it doesn't budge! It does start to flake off around the 12-hour mark. Easily removed with micellar makeup remover or cleansing oil. I used mine up a long time ago because I used it every day!
Wearing L'Oreal Infallible Gel Lacquer Liner 24H
I love brown liners for day wear. They're a subtle and natural way to define the eye.
- Rimmel ScandalEyes Kohl Kajal Liner - An impulse buy. This is on the red-brown side of the spectrum and has a bit of golden shimmer for added brightness. Being a kohl liner, it's meant for smudging, as you can see in the swatch above. A good basic liner.
- In2It Waterproof Gel Liner - Everything about the black liner holds true for this dark brown liner. These gel liners comes in many more colors, like gold and navy. Love!
- Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner - A lighter brown potted gel liner that has also been compared to Bobbi Brown's. Pretty long-wearing, but takes a few strokes to make an opaque line. I like L'Oreal's formula better.
- K-Palette 24 Hr Real Lasting Eyeliner (not pictured) - Has the same properties as the black liner. I used up two of these before I found that I could define my eye faster and more easily with eyeshadow. Is of similar intensity to the Maybelline gel liner. Really great for a subtle day look!
