Review: e.l.f. Essential Liquid Eyeliner

Last week I took out some time to try out e.l.f.'s liquid eyeliners and I am quite happy with the results. When I first got the liquid eyeliners and I did the swatches, I had a decent idea of what to expect (based on the fine tip brush alone) but I have to say, the staying power surprised me. Unfortunately I did not take the "8 Hours Later" picture because I got busy but here are the morning shots along with some comments.

In this picture I am wearing the black liquid eyeliner from e.l.f. (and I have on Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara) and that's it. The eyeliner held it's own and didn't need much touching up. Given the fine point of the brush that comes with it, it was very easy to control and overall made me quite happy.

At the end of the day it didn't quite have the same sheen however it held up very nicely, retaining the colour and definition. I'm almost tempted to buy a few more and keep them in my random makeup bags because I've been that impressed by the black liquid eyeliner.

In comparison to the teal, the formula wasn't as watery and therefore not as runny. I can reiterate here that yes, this means better control, better lines, better overall except what worries me is that how do I know when the brush is going to be thick or fine? See for the teal and plum eyeliner, the brushes were much thicker than the black's fine tip which lends itself to brand uncertainty as there isn't consistency. Aside from my own worry about this, the e.l.f. eyeliner is great but it just needs to be this great every single time.

In this picture this is not just the plum liquid liner. If you refer back to my posts about the swatches, you'll note that given the brush it doesn't distribute the liquid evenly creating a parallel line on my lids. Which is not a look I was going for. In order to close the gap, I used the pencil eyeliner in electric purple, which is a tad bit brighter than the plum.

The pencil eyeliner really made the eyeliner pop giving a vibrant appearance. But the liquid eyeliner cannot hold it's own so you will probably have to get a pencil or something that will fill in the gaps.

Together they lasted the entire day. Since the pencil eyeliner lent a smudgy appearance, I can't really say that this combination's definition held up but at the very least the colour did. Even if it was all on the Electric Purple. There was much more control with the plum eyeliner but still a bit lacking.

---

Product: Essential Liquid Eyeliner in Black
Price: $1
Would Recommend? Yes, with caution though.
Takeaway: Great eyeliner overall as it is long lasting, easy to apply, easy to take off, and the colour is long lasting. The caution is just the fact that the tip of the brush may be a gamble and if you get the right one then you're good; if you don't then you may have issues applying it.

Product: Essential Liquid Eyeliner in Plum
Price: $1
Would Recommend? No.
Takeaway: Doesn't hold up on it's own; problems with the brush means that it ends up creating parallel lines. It heavily depends on complementary liners to fill it out.

No SOPA

A few days ago I decided to install the No SOPA Chrome extension because I figured that I should be paying more attention to who I support or not. I hadn't really seen it action so I thought that perhaps it wasn't working, especially since I was working to update some links on this blog. I was updating a L'Oréal eyeshadow link and everything was working fine till I realized I couldn't find the exact product I was looking for. So rather than going to the L'Oréal Paris USA site, I went to the L'Oréal direct site. The No SOPA warning popped up on loreal.com and I was a bit annoyed. But this has definitely effected how I shop -- this has effected how I look at products. Earlier today I was in Target and while I love perusing the aisles of makeup, I was mentally telling myself to skip both L'Oréal and Revlon given their stance on SOPA.

I'm not going to apologize for my stance and I'm not going to go on a tirade about boycotting these products, because let's face it, there's a lot of companies that are all for this SOPA/PIPA nonsense. You can't boycott them all, but you can call them up and you can make some decisions that let them know that you are not okay with their stance.

• Short list SOPA Supporters
• List of SOPA Supporters
• /r/sopa

So what does this mean for the blog? It means I need to stop browsing CVS and Walgreens for cheap makeup to test and get back into the habit of taking up space at Sephora. Why? Because below are just some of the very few companies that support SOPA. So I'll use what I have but until they get their act in order, I'll kindly avoid them. I'll continue reviewing any older products I have from these places but that's about. 

• Coty Inc
• CVS Caremark
• L'Oréal USA (List of the brands)
• Revlon (List of the brands)
• Rite Aid
• The Estee Lauder Companies (List of the brands)

The most sad part of this though is that the Disney Company also supports SOPA. That is a hard one to break away from. :(

But. No SOPA and no PIPA means a lot more.

The Black Eyeliner

You might have noticed that I'm a bit addicted to eyeliner (and possibly mascara, but I might just be too discerning about it for it to be an addiction). In particular, I love black eyeliner and this obsession goes back into my teenage years when I mostly dabbled in what is now referred to as "raccoon eyes" which was then known as "being goth." Over time I've grown to love the natural look and once in a while I'll toss in a cat eye. Consider it a nod to my past.

Or maybe it was a nod to Bollywood. See my fascination trully lies in the use of kohl (kajal) however the supplies around here are quite limited. How often do you see a real stick of kajal around? There's two that I know of and that's the Guerlain Terracotta Khôl Kajal and Givenchy Magic Kajal Eye Pencil. I'm not really interested in the latter but I really want the former. I've been trying to curb myself and not get it, but with the sadness induced by L'Oreal Voluminous Smoldering Eyeliner not working, I may just be tempted. But this wasn't the point of this post.

See a few years ago I went to Egypt with my family and we had the chance to purchase kohl. Yep, they are still wrapped and I have never used them. Sure, I think about it but then I just leave them alone and attack the black eyeliners that I have on hand. Because the quest isn't over seeing that I have procured kohl.

It's all about getting the right blend.

Sure I can pretty much hold a mirror in my left hand and proceed to put on eyeliner with my right (basically, I have the routine down that I can easily apply eyeliner with one hand). But can it last all day? Will the pigmentation hold? Will my exotic looking eyes remain exotic?! I jest about that last part. Later on I'm hoping to try out a few different cat eye techniques but for now, I leave you with what I deem to be the best so far when it comes to black eyeliners.

Pencil Eyeliners:

1. Lancôme Le Crayon Khôl ($24.50) -- Since I was allowed to start wearing makeup, this has always been in my collection. It was perhaps the first and only pencil eyeliner my mom ever gave me and it has been the best. 
2. Sephora Nano Eyeliner ($5)
3. Stila Convertible Eye Color ($22)

Cream Eyeliners:

1. L'Oreal HiP Studio Secrets Professional Color Truth Cream Eyeliner (Retail: $10.19)

Liquid Eyeliners:

1. tokidoki Perfetto Eyeliner ($16)
2. e.l.f. Essentials Liquid Eyeliner ($1 in black)

Eyeshadow:

1. Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette - Beethoven: ($34) Lucifer (matte charcoal black)
2. L'Oréal Studio Secrets Professional Eye Shadow Singles (Retail: $4.48) Lush Raven

For the pencil, cream, and liquid eyeliners, they are not waterproof so keep that in mind if you're looking to do your waterline; that has been part of my everlasting quest. All of them hold up well over a long day and are great as far as control and pigmentation. I can happily say that for all of the eyeliners, these are my staples and I adore them. 

I put the eyeshadow there in case you were looking for something that strengthens the black a bit. I wish that Kat Von D's Lucifer was sold separately because I love it however a long time ago it broke off my palette so I depotted it elsewhere. I use the L'Oreal eyeshadow when the Lucifer isn't readily available and it works well. Sometimes after I put on the pencil eyeliner I will go over it with a bit of eyeshadow to darken it especially since it usually isn't as fine of a line if were to use the liquid eyeliner.

Cream eyeliners, as usual, require a good brush in order to get either a fine line or to make it a bit more thicker, which is essence tends to give it a smudgier look.

Usually I am trying to go for a clean look so I'll use the liquid or cream eyeliner and then fill in with pencils. Either way, I've noticed that no liner stands alone and it's nice to have them accentuate one another. 

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips

Admittedly every time I have seen these in the store I glanced over them and wished that the yellow undertones of my skin wouldn't just devour all the colour, thus rendering the palette useless. This has been one of the things that always gets to me. See I know that talk has been that the PF Nude Eyes Shimmer Strips is a decent dupe of the Urban Decay Naked palette, so long as you use a primer. I also always figured that neither of them would work out well for me, but I figured (after a refreshingly long day) that I would try anyway. But before I could work my way up to the actual Naked palette, I should probably try out a dupe. Because eyeshadows and I have never gotten along very well. 

Well, no swatches here needed mostly because with or without a primer, the majority of the palette disappeared on me.

Let's start with the Nude palette. That's the one on the bottom, adorned in black lace with a pink bow (and says "Nude" along the top but I do want to mention that the packaging is quite cute).

If you're not familiar with the packaging then here's the way to look at it, 9 colours, divided into groups of 3. Each 3 represent a certain look that you could be aiming for. So taking the Nude palette the first is trio #3 which is dramatic, the second being playful, and the third being natural.

Natural (the three on the right of the Nude palette) vanished on me. When I tried to do swatches on my hands and wrists, the colour vanished leaving a bit of shimmer. Next up was Playful which was the group in the center which also vanished on me. The last trio was dramatic and that actually did show up on me! Problem being that I already know that black will show up on my skin, even a nice accentuating dark brown will show up. So, I'm not disappointed, nor am I surprised. It verified what I already knew; my skin hates these colours.

Next up was the Eye Candy Collection for Brown Eyes (top palette) and the trios break down in the same manner. The results were a little bit different but not by much. Natural and Dramatic didn't really show up, however the Playful trio did but that was because of the purple shade. Once again, I was not surprised nor disappointed however... and this is important... the box does recommend that you try it out as either wet or dry so my lack of disappointment was further held off.

Everything above was written for the dry application as well as over a primer. I did, in one last ditch attempt, try out the eyeshadows while they were wet. Judging by how they went on dry, I decided to experiment with the Eye Candy collection because the shades were darker and if there were any difference to be seen between dry and wet eyeshadows, the Eye Candy collection would show it.

I played around with the Playful and Dramatic trio (so that's the 6 shades that are found on the left of the top palette) and they really did pop. They blended well and the colours just kind of came alive. But that does mean that while there was a bit more colour, there wasn't a lot (consider the shade and my skin tone). The things that worried me was longevity and what would happen after a full day of wearing it. It didn't come around to that. After 2 hours, the Dramatic trio slowly faded, leaving behind minute clumps of where the wet eyeshadow was applied. So my suspicions were confirmed; these palettes will not work for me; neither wet or dry. But at least I finally tried it!

---

Product: Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner, Universal Looks, Nude Eyes
Price: $11.79 at CVS
Would Recommend? No
Takeaway: Although I have read reviews about how this is decent dupe for Naked, the colours just don't do anything for me.

Product: Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner, Eye Candy Collection
Price: $10.99 at CVS
Would Recommend? No
Takeaway: While using them wet will get the colours to really come out, after an hour it turns out to be a bit cakey. When they are dry, the colours of this palette also has nothing to offer.

Major Players: Brushes

I admit that I definitely have a lot of brushes. But I promise that there's sound reasoning behind this.

If you haven't noticed, I am quite the sucker for EcoTools. Lately I've been feeling a bit experimental so I just got the Sonia Kashuk Highlighting Brush as well as the Spoolie so I won't be able to offer much information about them.  

Skipping the brushes on the left, let's take a look at the brushes in the center. These are my blush brushes and the three of them have been fantastic. There are two EcoTools blush brushes; one from the Alicia Silverstone line and the other is just the standard 6 piece set (note that all of the brushes from this set has the pink paint at the bottom of the handle). The hot pink brush (angled blush brush) is from Sephora, specifically the I.T. Collection. While this one has never shed in use, it has shed when I washed it. It is fair to note that  my EcoTools have never shed -- not even those that I've had for over two years. The three of them are equally great in use and I have yet to come across any cons -- in fact the EcoTools Blush Brush in the center (with the pink paint at the bottom is 2 years old. It hasn't stiffened, doesn't shed (none of them have actually), and overall continues to be a great performer. Why do I have three? It's the same reason I have more than one foundation brush; when it's time for them to be cleaned, I need another brush. Generally my apartment is too cold for brushes to dry overnight. So instead I will wash them once a week, if not sooner.

To the right are my current foundation brushes. Like the blush brushes, I cycle them as I use and wash them. The Sonia Kashuk Highlighting Brush (furthest right, white handle) is the one that I want to love but I seem to keep finding issues with. When I washed it, it shed and it even shed during first use. Luckily I use powder foundation so it's not bothersome, but still worth noting that it has this tendency. It does not retain as much powder as other brushes and provides weak coverage. The retractable kabuki is from Ulta and I've had it for two years and while I wish I could say it's retains it's softness, it definitely has not. And it was due to the accidental poking of the bristles that I realized that I needed to upgrade. I still do use it on occasion, but I'll probably phase that one out. As for my beloved Finish Brush (EcoTools by Alicia Silverstone) I have no complaints. I adore it.

Back to the left now, there's quite a mix going on. 

• The brush in the far left is the Sephora Retractable Lip Brush which is great when you're on the go. It's primary use for me is when I'm feeling brave enough to try a red lipstick, but not strong enough to harness it's red power. Great brush, I've had it for a year and it holds up well. It does feel flimsy at times, but it has endured the pain that is my makeup bag.
• The four of those bamboo handles are all EcoTools: Angled Eye Shadow brush (Alicia Silverstone), Eye Shading brush, Angled Eyeliner (which I use all the time), and a Concealer brush. I don't get much use out of the majority of these but the Angled Eyeliner is my favourite. It is however two years old and dealt with a lot of gel and cream eyeliners which means that it's slowly loosing form. The Angled Eyeliner is also slowly being phased out and it is being replaced by the Sephora eyeliner brush.
• That bright blue brush is the I.T. Angled Eyeliner brush from Sephora which I haven't tried just yet. >_<
• Lash and Brow Groomer from EcoTools which I never use. 
• Sonia Kashuk Spoolie (about $3 at Target) that I haven't used yet but got so that when I have issues with my mascara, I don't have to dip the brush again and run the risk of building mascara unnecessarily on my lashes.

So here's my thoughts in a nutshell (or bullet points):

1. EcoTools is fantastic. Doesn't shed, soft (I'd say it's rather plush) and stays that way even after 2 years. Overall a great set of brushes especially considering how cheap they are.
2. The Sephora I.T. (angled blush brush) is fantastic and I can even happily say that even with the light shedding that occurred when I washed it, I'm still very happy with it's performance.
3. Sonia Kashuk, maybe it's my luck with this particular brush but I am not impressed. It was a waste of my money to be honest. 
4. Ulta Retractable, well, I'd say skip it. It seems rather convenient but I'm sure there are other brushes out there that can do what this one does.

e.l.f. Eyes in Teal

I haven't attempted to wear this on an outing however I was quite excited to try it out. I so very much wanted to know how the teal since I'm used to doing darker colours rather than light. Teal was a huge step for me... but that doesn't mean I'll wear it outside. That being said, I still can't attest to the lasting power of e.l.f. but that may just be a project for this week.

Anyhow, this was done very quickly and thus not the neatest. However I present to you, e.l.f. in teal! 

Items used:

1. Studio Cream Eyeliner in Teal Tease
2. Essential Brightening Eye Liner in Teal
3. Essential Liquid Eyeliner in Teal

I started off with the use of the cream liner which was very light but I was still able to layer it in order to get the teal to show. The cream eyeliner was a bit on the dry side already but I was still able to pick up a fair amount of colour. A fair warning, the packaging for it is flimsy and it seems like it will dry out very quickly so as a precaution, I store it upside down and keep it in a ziplock bag.

Next up was Brightening Eye Liner (the pencil) which was a bit dry which means it was very hard to get it work. I got it on my upper lid and it blended very well with the cream eyeliner, offering a bit of definition to it. Overall, it works very well with the cream liner with the exception of being very dry.

 In the picture to the right, there are three strokes from the eyeliner. From the left, the first stroke is when I press down hard. The middle is with slight pressure but not much and the third is without pressure. Consider the attempt to get this eyeliner all around my eye -- I had to repeatedly go over lines and then finally just press into my eye. This was a huge pain.

The last step was to put the liquid liner over it. I do wish in retrospect that I took a picture of the first two without the liquid liner because it looked quite nice. But with the addition of the liquid liner, the teal colour really popped. But it was not without it's downfalls. The tip wasn't fine enough so the liner went on much thicker than I wanted and as a result of not having as much control as I wanted, it was a bit on the messy side. My suggestion is that if you can use another brush, do so, as it will give you much better control and not allow for a messy application.

To illustrate what I mean, to the left is the liners for the three colours I got. The top is black -- and it's perfect with the fine tip, no clumping, and when I created a swatch a few days ago there was control. The second is the plum and you can see that it's a bit thicker right away. Now take a look at the teal, please keep in mind that it arrived like this. I created a swatch a few days ago and this was the first time I actually used it. It looks old, the tip is quite thick and you might have noticed a bit of clumping. If you get a good brush then you're fine but if you end up with a problematic one like mine, use something else.

Overall, the look does seem bright and nice but it doesn't match my teal dress. >_< Seriously speaking though, this look was easy to pull off but requires a ton of patience to go over things and get the pencil eyeliner to cooperate. A bit more hassle because the cream and pencil were dry and required a lot of pressure which isn't easy for eye makeup.

I haven't tested out longevity so that is certainly forthcoming.

Reaching for that Dry Shampoo

I'm going to start by stating that I don't use "dry shampoo" at least not any of those that you can find on the shelf at a store that have purposely packaged for as such. I do however use a blend of powders to achieve the same thing.

To start with the tools that I use mostly consist of Lancôme brushes. Sorry Lancôme, I adore the company but the amount of brushes my mom had accumulated throughout the years is ridiculous. I once raided her stash and managed to get the brushes that you see in the right picture. Now I definitely don't use them all, I cycle through two at a time, alternating between washes.

As I mentioned, I use a powder so the brushes make it very easy to brush on the powder as lightly as possible. Since oiliness in my hair tends to occur in the front, it's nice know that even if I brush it on too thick, I still stand the chance of brushing it out (rather than applying the powder directly to my hair with my hands).

About that powder now (which is in an old Lush container). I use a cornstarch based baby powder -- which means that you can use either plain cornstarch, baby powder that is cornstarch, or standard baby powder that has talc. It's really your preference here, I opt for cornstarch baby powder because of the light scent. What I alter about it is it's colour which is achievable by using old powder foundation.

I couldn't quite capture the colour of it in the picture, but it's a light brown mostly because I broke down old powders into it. Prior to use Bare Escentuals, I used two different types of Physicians' Formula Mineral foundation and when I switched I wasn't sure what to do with the remaining powders, especially because they were 50% used. Well, I tossed them into my hair powder and voilà, I now have a dry shampoo that doesn't require much blending in.

Obviously if you don't happen to have older foundation powders just lying around, you can opt for just buying a cheap powder to mix in. One that immediately comes to mind is e.l.f.'s Mineral Foundation. Of course, I'm not advocating you just waste powders like that but if you find that their $5 powder doesn't work then at least you have another use for it.

Not to mention another use for large brushes that aren't quite usable and old Lush containers.