The three products I trialed over this week were:
- EyeStudio Master Liner 24 hour cream in brown $12.50
- Unstoppable eyeliner in cinnabar $17.25
- Line Express eyeliner in brownish black $8.50.
Wouldn’t you know it, the one that worked the best for me was actually the cheapest of the three, Line Express. I’ll preface my observations below with what I was looking for in an eyeliner:
- softness and ease of smudging (okay I’ll call it blurring for the purpos of this post)
- lasting power through the day
- how well the liner came off with my standard makeup remover – the green Shu Uemura cleansing oil
- how well it wore with my preferred method of lining – just inside the top lash line, I think this is referred to as tight lining by the professionals. For some reason, lining above the lash line or trying to create flicks and the like just doesn’t work for me. Especially when I’m in a rush first thing in the morning.
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| www.thebeautyjunkee.blogspot.com |
EyeStudio Master Liner 24 hour cream in brown $12.50
- solid plastic barrel and lid, no smudge tip
- wind up pencil
- deep brown black shade
- didn’t irritate my eyes (contact lens wearer)
- easily removed with cleansing oil
- felt a bit ‘waxy’ to me
- took a few attempts to get a decent line
- wore away during the day.
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| www.maybelline.com.au |
Unstoppable eyeliner in cinnabar $17.25
- wind up pencil in a plastic barrel, again the packaging is sturdy
- no smudge tip.
- perfectly serviceable shade of brown, no shimmer nut not as matte as the Eye Studio shade of brown
- easily comes off with cleansing oil
- lasted well through the day
- I found this to be waxy like the previous eyeliner and also quite difficult to apply smoothly
- couldn’t blend it easily
- I thought this was a bit expensive for what it was.
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| www.maybelline.com.au |
Line Express eyeliner in brownish black $8.50
My favourite of the bunch and at a very nice price too. It’s going to give my regular eyeliner (Model’s Prefer at Priceline, $8.95) a run for its money. There’s a lot to be said for the humble eye liner pencil. So you do have to sharpen them once in a while but they mostly come with a handy smudge tip. They’re also cheap enough to enable you to buy a few spares for work or travel.
Presentation
- wooden pencil that requires sharpening (sharpener not included)
- smudge tip at other end of pencil.
Pros
- soft textured pencil that applied smoothly
- easy to blend but at the same time eyeliner stayed where I wanted it to be without leaving unintentional smudge marks everywhere
- I like that this particular shade of brownish black wasn’t too harsh but also not too wishy washy either. Looks ‘done’ even without any fancy tricks with eyeshadows and highlighters.
- only a minor point but I thought the clear plastic lid and cover for the smudge tip looked a bit flimsy.