Follow Up Review: Cover Girl Intesify Me! Liquid Liner

Item received from Cover Girl

I tweeted about this yesterday, but I know not everyone follows me, though if you want to, I'm under the same name Jeweled Thumb. In any case, yesterday I had a much better means for testing the eyeliner. I walked approximately 5 miles yesterday in 90 degree weather and about 3/4 of the way through had to take a photograph that looked semi-presentable. I was sweating, but since I have dry skin (broken record) my foundation was more or less in place (Missha BB Cream actually with some Physicians Formula concealer and a tiny bit of powder to set), but I definitely wanted to give you an update on the eyeliner in more severe testing conditions. In and out of air conditioning, lengthy walking in hot weather, sweating... PS it was so hot yesterday in DC.

I applied the eyeliner at around 7am and while it didn't look perfect by any means, I had a better handle on the nib (though I'd still prefer something slimmer).

Here it is around 3pm after walking around in the heat:

So I had some spotting on my upper lid (but I'm not sure if that was the mascara or the eyeliner (for the record I was used a gasp non waterproof mascara also by Cover Girl that I bought myself - the one in the green tube since it tends to last really well, but still not great on holding a curl) and my standard business-y eye, Chanel Coquin (I need to find a dupe of this, I'm nearing pan) and Jemma Kidd Vanity Fair (likewise, but I think that dupe will be easier to find and I have a dip but don't think I need to worry about hitting pan anytime soon). I was eating lunch so lips had worn off. Cheeks were Tarte Air Blush in Shimmering Poppy which either wore off or was less evident because of the lighting. In any case, there you have it!

Proper testing conditions and I'll admit, impressive, but I still have dry skin so your mileage will vary!

* Cover Girl eyeliner received for review.

Review: Cover Girl Intesify Me! Liquid Liner

Cover Girl items were received for review purposes.

Before I start this review, I want to note a few things; first, I am horrible at applying liquid liner and I specifically stay away from it so if you're a pro at applying and think this looks interesting, don't let my review of it sway you from trying it out (you can always return it if you don't like it); and two, my husband and I had planned to see movies and then go out for dinner this past Saturday which would have been the perfect place to put non-waterproof items that claim longevity to the test (let's just say I easily get emotional during movies), but the theater would up changing the times so we walked around an air conditioned mall, sat in an air conditioned car and then ate dinner in an air conditioned restaurant, no crying involved.

The Cover Girl Intensify Me! liquid liner is super black and dries matte. It has an unusual shape. First of all, it's not quite a felt tip or a brush tip. It has no give and kind of reminds me of a marker in a way. And one part of the tip is perfectly flat and the other is a slim rectangle. This allows you to draw a very thin line or a thick line but you also have to be very careful to not bend the liner midway through so it doesn't tip to the other side.

 Thick side, and then when you turn it 90 degrees, you get the thin side below.

This is great if you have perfect eyesight and are perfect at applying liner. I, on the other hand, can barely see my eyes, even up close with a mirror without my glasses and kept on dotting the thick side on my eyelid. I was already running late according to our previous plans and wound up having to do a wing.

Yes I know it looks bad. It looks a bit better from far away, thank goodness and I was able to fix it a tiny bit before going out in public. What I did discover during applying this is although it hurts like a !@#$% to poke your eye with the marker, it is perfect for tight lining your upper lashline as you just gently tap the wide edge across. I would have stopped at that if not for the fact that I wanted to test whether it transferred to the lid and other important bits that I try to cover in a liner review. I didn't use an eye primer or shadow for that very reason.

From far away, it doesn't look awful, though my glasses cover up much of the problem areas!

 

This photo was taken about 9 hours after the initial application. No transfer to the upper lid. You can still see my horrible application, but it didn't seem to shift around and even though it took some effort to get the liner and mascara (review upcoming!) off my eyes, the liner itself washed off my hand with just soap and water.

I do want to mention as I tend to do that my skin is dry and things like foundation and eyeshadow tend to stick around longer than on some oily folks, but as far as first impressions go, I would buy this if I could just buy a pointy thin non rectangular felt tip, but since I can't and I have it, it'll be what I use to fill in the gaps on my upper lashline using the wide end and I won't even attempt this for properly lining the upper lashline or doing a wing, I prefer shorter thinner brush-like applicators for that. 

* Cover Girl products sent for review; lips were Butter London Ladybird which was also sent for review (review forthcoming) but I wanted to briefly mention how I freaking love this color - usually I can't do orange-red lips. Husband approved. Mission accomplished. Bad lining aside, he still liked the look so I can't complain too much but I wouldn't buy this.

Black Eye Liner Comparison

Socialite Dreams asked if I knew of any shiny black liners on my Laura Geller Inkwell Review. I keep on hearing how exasperated sigh it is (like) so hard to find matte gel/liquid liners. Totally.

Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of non-pencil type liners. I'm usually in a rush so my hand is usually shaky and that does not work well with liquid or gels! I was at Sephora doing "blog research". Thanks for giving me an excuse to go in there, Socialite Dreams!

Seriously, I don't know how Karla Sugar does it cause doing this gave me the weirdest looks in Sephora. Also, ignore the "gel pencil" liner on the far right. That was the Tarte one and it kept on breaking while I swatched/wrote. Ok, that aside, the swatches in the order of shininess are...

1. Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner - You might not be able to see this from the swatch but this is the most opaque and the shiniest (you can kind of see it compared to the one next to it, the MUFE liner - which looks much more flat/matte).
2. Sephora Long Lasting Eye Liner - This is not the true black shade but it is 2nd in shininess compared to the Stila.
3. & 4. Make Up Forever Aqua Liner and the Hourglass Calligraphy Liquid Eye Liner - These two aren't a flat black but again not as shiny as the Stila.

With Flash.

I hope this was helpful!

Review: Laura Geller Inkwell Waterproof Gel Liner Duo

I was recently sent a new product from the Laura Geller line to try out as part of the Beauty Stat Blogger program. The Inkwell Waterproof Gel Line Duo is a new launch in the line for 2012 and priced at $33 for 2 gel liners.

The cool thing about this product is that there is a liner brush housed with each gel liner. One of the reasons I don't use gel liners is that I need to go digging for a brush and it's not very travel friendly. This solves that particular issue (it should be noted that other lines are coming out with similar products, Revlon just launched one that is ~$10 at drugstores). The $33 covers a basic black liner as well as a slightly more out there color (the purple in this case though I hope she comes out with more color combinations).

Each little pot comes with 2.5 grams of product and comes in a sturdy plastic jar.

The basic black cream isn't very special but it is more of a matte or satin which is a nice departure from some of the more shiny black liners out there. The purple is really nice, it definitely has a shimmer to it which sometimes looks a bit blue. It stays fairly neutral and I think it will look good with most skin and eye colors.

The brush itself can be short if you remove the top part or longer depending on your preference. Personally, I like a shorter brush as I feel it allows me more control when I'm drawing my line. This isn't a great picture to show the brush as it looks like a thin liner brush. It kind of looks like a very small lip brush which is great for thin liner (as you can turn it on its side) or a slightly thicker liner if applying liner with the brush flat.

As far as pigmentation is concerned, the purple liner is lacking but it can be built up. In this case, I did run into a little transferring on my upper lid while I waited for it to dry. The black did a bit better in that regard. The texture of these is very soft which makes application easy but I did feel I needed to wipe some of the product on the side of the jar so I didn't wind up with a big goopy brush. Application with the included brush was very easy once coated evenly with product; I was able to do a wing with ease. I found these wore evenly throughout the day with minimal flaking.

Feel free to ignore the colors being off in this picture. I was tired as it was the end of the day and I just wanted a clear picture. I am horrible at taking clear "face of the days" as my hands get shaky and so the photo is nearly always out of focus! You can see that the liner lasted really well though.

As you can see (as the color is a bit more true in this picture), it's just purple enough to be purple without being 'wham!' in your face purple.

I think these are a nice addition to the Laura Geller line and I'm hoping they pop up in one of her Today Special Values on QVC. I also wish she sold these separately as well. Not everyone needs another black liner. For me personally, I'm not sure if I'd go out of my way to repurchase but if they came in a TSV in the near future, I certainly wouldn't complain!


For more information on Laura Geller products, please visit http://www.LauraGeller.com




Disclosure: This product was received for review purposes as I'm part of the Beauty Stat Blogger Program.

Review: blinc Eyeliner in Black

The blinc Eyeliner in Black came in the December Birchbox and I gave it the ultimate test today. Since we're Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas, we have a long-standing tradition of going to the movies and this year we saw War Horse. Even though it's set during a world war, there is an emotional undertone and I bawled for the last 20 minutes or so (I went through 3 tissues). After the movie, on the ride over to my parent's house, I asked my husband how my makeup looked, "surprisingly good" he said. It is now 10 hours past application, and similarly to the blinc mascara which I didn't care for, this has the tendency of flaking a bit and there's some black specks underneath my eye (though I'd say this held up pretty well considering all of the crying) This picture was taken about 15 minutes ago.

This is a very black eyeliner. It's fairly opaque though because the brush is very long and the sample tube allows more product on the brush than you actually need (or want) application is a bit tricky. I had to take off the excess on the side of the tube which then gets on the wand of the brush and can spot your lids if you're not careful. The brush is very thin and allows you to make a nice wing.

At $24, it's quite pricey. I'm not the biggest liquid liner fan. I prefer pencils and gels. This is a pretty decent one, although I hope the stopper on the full size works better than on the sample. It does last a long time and is certainly watery-eyes (or tears) proof!

Some swatches. The farthest to the left was when the brush was fairly (if not overly) saturated with liner and the farther over you go, the less product is on the brush. It is easier to control the liner the less product is on it, so opacity may be an issue in that case. For me, I'd rather go over the line once or twice rather than risk a big blob of liner on my lid!

In closing, I'll continue to use this until it's finished but I'm not sure I'd repurchase.


Disclosure: Birchbox referral link used.

Review: Essence Long Lasting Eye Pencil in #10 Almost Famous

Whenever I go to ULTA, which I have been visiting lately more often than I should due to their awesome promos, I always pass by the Essence stand, especially if I'm looking for something cheap to get me to the dollar needed to use one of the drugstore coupons. One day I saw this and picked it up. I thought that this long lasting eye pencil in the light pink color would be perfect for the waterline and at $1.99 it's not exactly breaking the bank.

The shade Almost Famous #10 comes packaged in a slim light pink twist up pencil containing .01oz of product. It's basically a pearlescent pink color, very reminiscent of the Benefit Eye Bright chubby pencil.

This is a horrible swatch as it is not a true color representation, but it took me forever to get one that showed up and focused so it's staying!

The difference from the Benefit is this one does have some glitter in it, which I discovered upon removal. Not truly an issue as the pencil isn't terribly soft and is much better suited to the upper lashline. If you like the wide eyed brightening color peeking through your lashes like I do, then you will love this pencil. And it literally stays on all day.

I applied this morning around 7am and I literally just took this picture (it's 8pm) and as you can see, the liner is still going strong! Definitely impressive for $1.99.

Don't forget that if you received an ULTA circular and live in the region where you accrue points to take dollars off a purchase, there should be a 10x multiplier coupon good till the 6th for you to use on your purchases. Spending around $30 should net you just over 1200 points which is good for $10 off your next purchase unless you save them for a larger splurge!

Review: Nuance Salma Hayek Lights, Camera, Action Eye Trio Pewter/Silver Shimmer 065

As you'll remember, I picked up the Nuance Salma Hayek Lights, Camera, Action Eye Trio Pewter/Silver Shimmer 065 (.115oz, $8.99) this past week when I did the CVS Nuance Extrabucks deal (which ends tonight). The pewter/taupey color on the end definitely piqued my interest. Well I've had a decent amount of time to play with it and see how it wore throughout the day.

From looking at the product, you can't really tell much about it, other than perhaps a general color scheme and that it contains 3 different products in a container a bit longer than a regular mascara tube. When you twist it open, you see the following:

A taupey/pewter shimmery cream eyeshadow

A shimmery white eyeshadow stick, and

A black retractable eyeliner

I think the idea of the set is quite fun, but given the general set up, I was expecting one of the ends to contain a loose eyeshadow, like the Tarte Lock & Rolls.

The white stick highlighter is not something that I would use on the brow bone; it's too stark and too metallic and shimmery looking for my tastes. I personally would have preferred a powder eyeshadow the same color as the cream.

As I mentioned, I played with this quite a lot during the week. As far as wear time is concerned, the cream eyeshadow creased pretty significantly during the day and I doubt it lasted for more than an hour on its own. I also layered it with Urban Decay Primer Potion and it lasted a bit longer. It lasted all day on me with Primer Potion and another powder eyeshadow on top. However, the eyeliner lasted all day with only minimal fading even without the Primer Potion. It's a very deep black color and goes on opaquely. It is a little harder than most of the eyeliners I prefer these days, but I didn't find that it tugged or irritated my eyes. I wish they would put out this retractable eyeliner separately as I doubt there's very much product in this particular product (I know they have regular stick gel liners but I love the ease of the twist up especially for work mornings). The white cream eyeshadow... eh - again, there's no way I would wear this on my brow bone but it's an ok inner corner highlight. Again, I would have preferred they replace this with a powder eyeshadow.

For $8.49 it's a convenient little set for traveling or to stash in your hand bag. My only complaints is I wish the cream eyeshadow was more long wearing on its own and that the metallic white stick wasn't included. I was really impressed with the eyeliner and would definitely buy that separately if it was available.

Current Faves: Chubby Pencils

Lately, I can't get enough of chubby eye pencils. The two newest additions to my ever-growing collection are the two above, which I have been reaching for everyday. They are both so easy to just swipe right at the lash line and go. I'd imagine they'd work great as bases too. I get no transfer upon application and no smudging throughout the day. Love love love.

freshly sharpened just for you!

I am loving the Sephora Waterproof Jumbo Liner 12HR in Taupe which I picked up during the Sephora hatbox promotion. At $10 it is pretty close to drugstore prices and I have found nothing like this at the drugstore. This lasts for 12+ hours (it's actually a little shocking it lives up to the claims)!

I received the Sue Devitt Eye Intensifier Pencil in Golden Triangle for participating a lot during the last Vox Box from Influenster. These pencils are significantly more expensive at $22 a pop but ULTA has sets of 2 for $35 which makes it only slightly more expensive than the Sephora liners. I find the color range for the Sue Devitt pencils much more work appropriate, their line consists of more classic colors, while the Sephora line is trying to compete with the somewhat crazier colored Urban Decay pencils. Same great lasting power. Golden Triangle is somewhere in between khaki and brown. It is beautiful yet subtle and fine for work.

 left Sephora Taupe | right Sue Devitt Golden Triangle

For some reason the green isn't showing up as much in the swatch, but it definitely has a green tinge, especially next to my brown eyes!

Both are made in Germany.

Both are awesome.

Go buy them!

Disclosure: I received the Sue Devitt because I love Influenster and talk about it a lot. I used shop sense links because I remembered this time. Once again, I make some pocket change if you click the links. Thankfully, I have a full time job and don't depend on it.

New Urban Decay Glide-On Shadow Pencils

I stopped by ULTA after work tonight for what I like to call "Blog Research". "Blog Research" always results in me purchasing stuff ""to review on the blog"". 

Anyway, I went to the Urban Decay counter area and discovered two things:
1. My ULTA had out quite a few of the new items from the Spring (?) collection (including the new Glide On Shadow Pencils) .
2. They had the Naked Palette in stock with the eyeliner duo

Of course now that the Naked Palette doesn't have the eyeliners, and instead the brush and is $4 more I desperately wanted to get my hands on one. Of course, this is long after it was  easier to find. But for some odd reason, my ULTA had not 1, but 2! So if you live near the Congressional Plaza ULTA in Rockville, MD, call to get the last Naked Palette reserved if they still have it (and yes, the price is still $44).

I stuck to swatching the products that I thought would last decently well on my hand between ULTA, Whole Foods and my house. I imagine that all the famous bloggers already have swatches of these posted, but I hope it is still useful.

Store lighting taken with my iPhone

Top Row
Barracuda - black with silver glitter
Mercury - metallic gunmetal
Rehab - medium brown with slight gray tinge
Morphine - metallic lilac/lavender
Delinquent - purple with what looks like pink glitter (it could also be light purple or silver)

Bottom Row
Clash - aqua with silver glitter (this one is super bright)
Clinic - forest green with glitter
Midnight Cowboy - peachy beige with silver glitter
Sin - metallic champagne

And two pictures when I got home.

These things have pretty good staying power and are super creamy - almost too creamy though they set and are budge proof. Too bad they are $20 - a bit steep for me. I do think Sin would be an awesome all over eyeshadow base, inner corner highlight or waterline brightener and maybe slightly more opaque than it's primer potion equivalent? I was disappointed with just how much glitter they put in these pencils. I know that's pretty common with Urban Decay but I'd be much more likely to buy if there wasn't glitter in almost all of them. Eventually, I think I'll pick up Rehab and maybe Sin.

What are your thoughts?

*Quick Edit*
After double checking my colors on the Sephora site, it looks like there are some other colors that my ULTA display didn't have and a lot of the others have no glitter so I look forward to trying those out!

Review: Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner Pen + Giveaway

Back when Eyeko was having their grab bag specials, I made some orders and let's just say I now have quite a few of these graffiti eyeliner pens. Anyhow, I figured I'd test them out as they have been quite popular all over the blog world (and give away the extras).

The Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner pens come in 3 different colors: black, navy ∓ purple and retail for $8 a piece. However, they often have special deals where you can grab their products to up to 50%. I am going to be reviewing the purple one but I gather as they are the same packaging, they will all perform about the same (other than intensity of pigment I suppose).

The pen features a pretty firm nib (only the very tip of it has a little give when applying the product). Sorry mine is dirty as it's been used!

The purple color itself is not too bright and fairly neutral as purples go. It definitely stops from being too red or plummy. You may be able to see with my swatch "art" that the pigment varies depending on the pressure put on the pen and it can sometimes go on a bit patchy. It's not horrible but it's not super opaque on the first swipe.

However, as longevity is concerned, the Eyeko Graffiti Pen excels. This was after rubbing vigorously with eye makeup remover. It didn't budge rubbing it with a slightly wet paper towel (so I didn't even bother taking a picture as it looked exactly as after I did my little drawing.

My only qualm with this product is the fact that the pen is very firm and does not allow give as you line along your eye. I find pens or eyeliners that give a little make drawing a wing a whole lot easier. The Eyeko pen did skip trying to wing out my liner and I had to fix it with some eye makeup remover. I also have an easier time applying liner with the pencil or pen at almost a horizontal and doing that with this one just applying too much product as you can't apply a thin liner at an angle (I hope that makes sense!).

Anyway, I still managed to get a nice eyeline and wing without too much hassle but if you are just starting out with winging your liner, you might want to use a slightly more flexible pen or brush. Notice that it is not super bright though admittedly I used a very thin line and drew it very close to the lashline.

Ok and now I have managed to acquire 3 more of the purple shade so I am giving them away. Please enter only once using the form below. Comments will not be counted (though they are appreciated)!

You must be a follower
You must be over 18 or have parental permission
This giveaway will end January 29th
There will be 3 winners!
The giveaway is open worldwide.

Good luck. =)


My ambassador code is E11926 and if you make a purchase over $15 you receive a free gift and I get a few dollars of commission.

I Think I Mastered The Wing

A momentous occasion indeed. I was messing around in the bathroom when I rediscovered a slightly bendy thin brushed eyeliner pen and decided to give it a shot. Now, my eyes are slightly more round so drawing wings can be tricky, I also have a little sunken in bit right at the outer V which causes liners to skip trying to go over that spot. What's weird about my mastery was that I was completely distracted. I was speaking to my father on speaker phone during one of our weekly chats and wasn't really paying attention, maybe I've been thinking too hard?

Anyway, I made a bit of a mess, cleaned it up with a makeup remover soaked cotton bud and here are the results.

Something tells me the wings aren't completely even, but I don't care! I don't (at least in my opinion) look ridiculous!

Oh and I just wanted to share one last thing (aside from Happy Halloween!). I am returning the HD camera that I bought as it only selectively turns on. However, I discovered my digital camera takes video and it's not half bad! I actually tried to film a Sephora haul today but my husband (rudely!) interrupted me and asked what in gods name I was doing (he doesn't yet know the whole youtube video making thing). He wasn't actually rude, but I quickly turned my camera off and claimed to be cleaning!

Anyway, I'm going to refilm said video after work tomorrow so the channel should be active soon.

Wet n Wild Coloricon Pencil Liners

After seeing the new Coloricon pencils or shall I say, pencil, over at Shakeup Your Makeup, I knew I had to at least look for them at my area CVS. Well, I totally lucked out. Not only did I find the majority of the line, but until tonight anyway, the Wet n Wild line is BOGO 50% at CVS, so I was able to get each pencil for only 75 cents a piece (not that the retail price at 99 cents is a lot either).

Swatches are:
white, amethyst, olive, charcoal, dark brown & deep blue

I haven't worn these out of the house yet, but something tells me they are not going to be long-wearing, as the swatches were easily taken off with a piece of paper towel. However, even with that, these are so soft and creamy, a huge improvement from the old Wet n Wild eye pencil line! I hope they do a similar formula for some lip pencils (I hate the formula of those, they hurt to apply!).

PS As much as I love that these are shrink wrapped, that stuff was insanely hard to get off!

Have you tried these yet? Are you going to try and find them now?

Update: I just read in the weekend circular that Wet n Wild is also on sale BOGO 50% this coming week!