Too Precise? Review of Maybelline Master Precise Metallic Liquid Liner in Galactic Metal

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I have to say that I am really into the metallic shit we're seeing all over the place this year. I like shiny things. (Mind you, there's a lot of stuff out there labeled metallic that isn't metallic, but that's a rant for another day.)

I picked up this Maybelline Master Precise Metallic Liquid Liner recently in part because it's shiny, but also because the design of the packaging seemed similar to my long time favorite liquid liner, L'Oréal Lineur Intense Felt Tip. Since the latter seems to be gradually disappearing, it would be nice to have a similar option that's less expensive. (Lancôme offers the same thing, but it's obviously much more expensive.) The main appeals of this style of eyeliner are (1) felt tip, not brush tip, and (2) the lid is longer than the wand--meaning that you can grip the handle down near the tip for better control, rather than several inches higher like this. That control is vital!

Though there are several flashier colors of these metallic liners (teal! gold!), I know from experience that I rarely wear any eyeliner that isn't black or brown, and I already have a whole collection of eyeliner pencils in other colors in case I really need to go there. So I gambled on the shade Galactic Metal. Since I was ordering online, and the name isn't very descriptive, I expected a sort of dark gunmetal. That's more or less what it is, though when you look closely it's more of a black base with silvery iridescent shimmer. Look at all the colors in this macro shot:

As for how this eyeliner performs, I'm quite happy with it. It's much better than the disastrous L'Oréal Carbon Black I tried a few months ago. "Master Precise" is a good name, in fact, both because of that long lid I mentioned that offers control, but also because the tip is super-mega-pointy.

In fact, it was a bit too pointy for me. I had a hard time not stabbing the inner corner of my eye where I start my line, and I also like to dot liquid liner between my lashes to fill in the gaps (i.e. tightline). This tip was so sharp that trying to do that was torture.

No problem, though. I just took a pair of (clean) nail scissors and snipped about a millimeter off of the tip. Now it's perfect for me. Maybe I can't get the end of my wing down to a micron, but that's not the kind of thing that's visible outside of a close-up photo anyway.

Here are some swatches in different types of lighting that I drew on the back of my hand before trimming the tip. You can get an idea of the shimmer and of just how thin a line you can draw with this eyeliner if you are so inclined.

On your actual eyelid, Galactic Metal is going to read mostly as black, but with enough shimmer to make it interesting. I found it easy to apply in a smooth, opaque line. When you go back over the line, the original liner doesn't get picked up, as can happen with some products. You can keep drawing over it to get what you need.

I applied the liner above after trimming the tip, so you can see that I probably could have got a thinner line at the inner corner if I hadn't done that (but, like I said, the stabbing!). I'm sure I could have made it thinner after trimming too, if I cared to, but that's not the kind of detail that is visible in person--certainly not behind my glasses. (Any flakes you see here are from my Maybelline mascara, briefly reviewed here, not from the eyeliner.)

This is the kind of formula that dries to a sort of plasticky film that you can almost peel off at the end of the day. It comes off in big chunks when you remove it. The advantage is that I've found it to be both water and oil resistant, which is unusual--often oil easily melts a waterproof formula and vice versa.

Here it is about 7 hours later (in worse indoor lighting). Not perfect, I guess, but in pretty damned great shape. My concealer, on the other hand, did not survive as well.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with this eyeliner and have no reservations about recommending it. It gives me a fun (shiny!!) option for my everyday makeup.

I'm curious now about the colors I didn't buy. Is it possible that the gold, for instance, could be as opaque and easy to use as this one? It's not uncommon for performance to vary by shade (again I remind you of my awful L'Oréal Carbon Black experience). Has anyone tried the other colors in this line? I'm not sure they're in stores yet--you might have to get them on Amazon or Ulta, like the corresponding metallic lipsticks. (I keep stalking the Ulta website to see if the lipstick is in stock in my local stores, because I bought the wrong color online and want to exchange it, but so far no luck.)

Quick updates to previous reviews

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One of my bad teacher habits is, when students ask questions, to say, "Oh, that's a good question! I don't know. I'll look it up and get back to you!" And then I completely forget about it and never follow up. So I'm going to try to be a better blogger than I am a teacher and follow up on some points I said I would come back to after more testing. This is an especially important thing to do because the condition of my skin tends to vary quite a bit seasonally, so if I test something even for a few months in spring-summer, my experience might change in fall-winter, and vice versa. So here we go!

Marc Jacobs Beauty Glow Stick Glistening Illuminator in Spotlight (original review here): When I tested this cream highlighter last summer, I found that it tended to disappear from my skin after just a few hours. I wondered whether it would last longer in the winter, when my skin was slightly drier. Verdict: no. It's still completely gone save for a few sparkles by about the 3-4 hour mark. Too bad, because it's so lovely.

Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel SPF 50+ PA++++ (original review here): Same sort of deal here--though in this case I wondered if the sunscreen would be worse, i.e. feel more drying, in the winter. Verdict: no. I've had no problems at all using this, regardless of how dry or oily my skin happens to be on a given day.

A post shared by Lyn (brutally honest beauty) (@brutallyhonestbeauty) on Nov 27, 2016 at 10:28am PST

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Intense Black (original review here): I didn't specifically say in my review that I wanted to update this one, but I had to stop using it long before it had started to dry up, because the tip became hopelessly frayed. If you missed it, I recently reviewed the Physician's Formula liquid liner, and it's much, much better. From what people have said, the tip holds up, too.

Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer in Butter Cream (original review here): In my quick post about the second shade of this concealer that I bought, I wrote that it performed exactly the same as the first shade, Fondant. After using it for several more months, I have to say now that I don't think it's quite as good. The shade match for me is perfect, and the application is identical, but Butter Cream seems to crease a bit more and not to last quite as long as Fondant. So I think maybe these concealers, like many other products, vary in performance based on the shade you choose. If Fondant (reviewed here) seems like your match, though, I still heartily recommend it!

A post shared by Lyn (brutally honest beauty) (@brutallyhonestbeauty) on Feb 12, 2017 at 1:10pm PST

I posted about Hollar as a source of, among other things, discounted Essie, OPI, and China Glaze nail polish. I bought a bottle of Essie Leggy Legend from them for $3. Shipping was quick, products were as described, and the packing (above) was excellent. I recommend! (I also bought a cheese grater, two candles, and some hair elastics.)

I also added an additional photo to the end of my glitter primer post to show how it wears (and if it creases) after a full day, so if you missed that, check it out.

Oh, and in case you've been wondering if I've worn Kat Von D Poe (reviewed here) out of the house yet . . . . um, no. The shame. Oh, the shame.

That's all I've got for you right now, but always feel free to ask for updates on things I've reviewed in the past!

Drugstore Liquid Eyeliner Review Showdown: L'Oréal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in Carbon Black vs. Physician's Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum in Ultra Black

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I've recently tried two black liquid eyeliners in an attempt to replace the Stila liner (reviewed here) that ended up getting so frayed it's now unusable. Normally I don't like to have two products open at the same time that perform essentially the same function (much less three), but I disliked the first replacement liner I tried so much that I bought another. So here's a spoiler: the winner of the showdown is Liner #2, the absurdly named Physician's Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum in Ultra Black.  I'm going to review the drugstore eyeliner that I do not recommend first (L'Oréal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in Carbon Black), and the much more impressive PF Lash Booster (hereafter) second.

First, let's look at swatches of both of them, with Stila's eyeliner as a comparison. On the left, I drew a single line to show the initial opacity and thinness of the point, and then I went back over the same swatch several time to show what happens when you add multiple layers.

Left to right: PF Lash Booster in Ultra Black, L'Oréal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black, and Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner in Intense Black.

The Stila liner is more completely black on the first swipe than either of the other two and also has more sheen. Because of its frayed tip, that's as fine a line as I can get (and it's impossible to use on my eyelid, because there are fibers pointing in all directions). The PF Lash Booster is a close second, but you can see in the sheerer areas at the edges of the swatches that it's a warmer black than the Stila. It's also more matte, which can make it look darker on the eyelid. When you swatch all three of these eyeliners next to one another, the L'Oréal swatch in the middle looks almost brown. It's also much sheerer, even on the right where I tried to build it up.

Lackluster Liquid Liner: Review of Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Intense Black

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Okay, maybe "lackluster" is a little harsh, but I have a hard time resisting alliteration. The fact is that this eyeliner is fine, but since I've so often heard that it's THE BEST and since it costs $22, I was hoping for better than fine.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner is felt-tip liquid liner that works like a marker, with the "ink" wicking up through the tip. This style of liquid liner is less messy than some other formats, but the downside, in my experience, is that the tip can get clogged or not flow immediately. If you apply your eyeliner after your eyeshadow, which you need to do to get the cleanest, crispest line, then it can pick up the product below and prevent the liquid from flowing properly. I also find that, even though I store the eyeliner vertically with the cap down, if I try to draw a line on my eye immediately after uncapping it, it's usually a little weak. I have to scribble on the back of my hand a little to really get the product flowing.

The other problem I tend to have with this style of eyeliner--and this applies to all the brands I've tried--is that the tip wears down quickly and becomes sort of floppy, which prevents drawing a perfectly sharp point. You can see that in the photo below, my wing is not "pointy enough to kill a man." It was the best I could get out of it after using this pen for a few months (though only a couple of times a week). The tip of this particular eyeliner also tends to end up with long fibers clinging to the end of it, which are part of the material of the tip. I have to pick them off with my fingers, making a mess of my fingertips. And it's hard to clean up (see below). On the plus side, I've been using it for months now, and it hasn't shown any signs of drying up.

The Black shade is a very dark, opaque, inky black, which is great. It has a little sheen to it--it's not completely matte. It's easy to draw thin or thick lines by varying the pressure. If you go over a line you've already drawn, the product below doesn't get picked up, which is has been a source of frustration for me with eyeliners in the past.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner definitely lives up to its waterproof claim, though not the "stay all day" claim, at least for me. It's very difficult to remove, even with a dual-phase makeup remover. I sometimes use this pen to label swatches I make on my arm, so that when I come back to my photos later, I know what's what. Here's my arm after trying to remove the marks with oil, makeup remover, and soap, AND THEN SHOWERING. I even used a scrubby Salux cloth in the shower, and the eyeliner isn't 100% gone. Maybe I should switch to Sharpie?

So if your main problem with liquid eyeliners is that they smear when your eyes water, that's probably not going to be a problem if you use this one. Unfortunately, despite being difficult to deliberately remove with oil, my oily eyelids devour this stuff just like any other eye makeup. Even with primer. Here's the state of my eyeliner after about 6 hours. And the photo below was taken in the winter, when I wasn't even at my oiliest.

You can see that the oil in my skin has sort of eaten the eyeliner away and caused it to crumble and flake, even though my eyeshadow has survived. The liner has completely disappeared at the outer corner of my eye where my crease dips low (for a clearer image of what I'm talking about, see this post). It still looked okay with my eye open, though the edges of the line had become more jagged and the tip of the wing was no longer sharp.

Overall, it's a decent liquid eyeliner. If I'm going to spend $22, however, I want something spectacular. I can find things that perform just as well as this, if not better, at drugstore prices. My favorite felt tip eyeliner is L'Oreal Lineur Intense ($7-10) (short review here), which I will write a detailed post about once I've used up this Stila liner. I am also curious about the Physician's Formula Lash Boosting eyeliner ($8-12) that Renee at Bad Outfit, Great Lipstick recently reviewed. I've added that one to my wishlist.

What do you look for in a liquid eyeliner? Have you found one that meets all your requirements?

My cheap favorites: the best makeup under $10

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I wrote a post like this way back when I started my blog, so I thought it might be interesting to update it and see how many of my favorites have stayed the same and how many have changed, now that I've tried a lot of new shit. I've also compared a lot of cheaper things to more expensive products along the way, and in all cases, the makeup in this list equals or outperforms pricier alternatives. I'm just doing makeup today, but I'll follow up with another post about my cheap favorites from other categories like skin care and hair products.

My cheap favorites are reliable and inexpensive. They're things that I replace when I finish them. Obviously I don't use these products exclusively, but I keep coming back to them because I prefer them to others. Below I've included links to previous reviews on my blog, if they exist. I've also tried to link to the best places online to buy these things, to my knowledge. Most of them are easy to find in any drugstore or Target/Walmart, etc.--in which case you might be able to get them on sale. But you might be like me and prefer online shopping when possible, so I've linked them below.

There are a few categories of makeup for which I don't have a current cheap favorite. For example, foundation: I'm picky about it and haven't found anything I absolutely love at any price point, though the Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation, reviewed here, is decent when sheered out, and Boots No. 7 Lift & Luminate Foundation is amazing if you can find a good color match (I can't). As for concealer, I have a favorite (reviewed here), but it's not cheap. I've used some good drugstore concealers, like Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circles, but I tend to run into problems with the range of shades available. I had a favorite powder (Maybelline Mineral Power Finishing Veil Translucent Powder--lots of Maybelline here in the "almost" category) but of course it's been discontinued, so I'll have to find something else soon. I don't have a favorite bronzer, because I almost never wear bronzer. I also don't currently have a favorite lip gloss, I guess because it's not a product I love to wear in general. There a plenty of perfectly fine lip glosses out there, but nothing that I am particularly excited about.

But let's get to my actual favorites. My photos aren't the prettiest, because I am currently using most of these things and, in many cases, have been using them for a long time, so they're a bit beat up. (Lots of images after the jump.)

Cheap trick: Winged eyeliner for (fairly) hooded eyes

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I love a good cat-eye look, but hooded lids can make certain types of eye makeup trickier. By hooded, I mean that the part of the eyelid below the eyebrow comes down to cover up most of the part of the eyelid that is below the crease/immediately above the lashes. My lids are fairly hooded now, and I am sure they are only going to become more so as I age. There's nothing wrong with this shape - lots of gorgeous people have hooded eyes (not that I am including myself in that category, but I don't consider my eye type a flaw). But this shape can be frustrating if you are pining after elaborate eyeshadow looks, because you know that most of the color will just disappear into the your crease. On the upside, it means that I can wear pretty garish eyeshadow in professional settings and no one will really notice. It also means that winged eyeliner is tricky, because my crease extends below the outer corner of my eye, which can interfere with the wing. Here's a creepy closeup up my eye so that you can see what I'm talking about:

I've heard a lot of people with eyes similar to mine in one way or another say that they can't do a cat eye, but I use an easy technique that might work for you too. This may also be useful even if your eyes aren't hooded, but you have the low crease thing going on like I do.

[ETA: After reading Michelle's comment below (thanks!), it occurred to me that I'd chosen a photo here where I'm raising my eyebrows a little (believe it or not) to show my eyeshadow better. Usually I raise my eyebrows like this and tilt my head to apply eye makeup, so that I can see my eyelid better. I've added another, no makeup (ungroomed brows), straight on shot of my eye that might make help to illustrate the shape better. You can see that when I relax my eyebrows, the hooded part is lower. ]

Most winged eyeliner tutorials (like this one, for example) tell you to start by drawing a short line angled upward from the corner of your eye, and then to line above your lashes and connect the two at the outer corner. Usually you're not going to want to stretch your eyelid while doing this, because when you let go of it, you'll end up with a different shape from what you originally drew.

You can see from the way my eyelid is shaped that if I try to do it that way, the crease (or creases, to be more accurate) will get in the way. I can't just draw a line over the crease without making a huge mess.

So here is my modification.

A not-terrible $3 brown liquid liner: Jordana INCOLOR Fabuliner Liquid Eyeliner Pen

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I always intend to write really concise reviews for products I don't feel particularly strongly about, but then my rambly nature takes over and I go on and on anyway. For real this time, I'm going to make this quick. FOR REAL THIS TIME.

The Jordana INCOLOR Fabuliner Liquid Eyeliner Pen is a felt tip eyeliner. It's like a sharpie for your face. Previously, I wrote about a couple of other brown liquid liners that were cheap ($3) and sucked. One objectively sucked, and the other I just wasn't into. So I got another cheap option to try. It's brown, because I already have way too fucking many black eyeliners. I wear brown fairly often, because it's a little less harsh with my coloring than black.

First things first: make sure you store this tip down in a cup or something, because otherwise the tip will be dry when you go to use it. When you do use it, you'll have to apply a medium amount of pressure in order to get a dark, opaque line. I don't mean an uncomfortable amount of pressure, but more than you might use with a brush, for example. If you use a light touch, you will get a dark enough line on the first eye from whatever liquid has saturated the outer layers of the tip, but by the time you move on to your other eye, the tip will lose saturation, and you won't get it back even by leaving it sitting upside down for several minutes. You need to press a little harder to get stuff flowing.

With a light touch: okay on the first eye; very faint on the second eye.

The pen is easy to use, and the shape of the tip makes it easy easy to vary the thickness of the line you draw. The downside of this pen is that tip gets frayed easily. I've only used it a handful of times, and it's already getting a bit floppy and imprecise. You will have some slight smearing if you get it wet (no crying!), but otherwise it wears well. It doesn't bleed or crumble or anything like that. It's good. There's nothing about it that blows my mind, but it does the job.

 Jordana INCOLOR Fabuliner Liquid Eyeliner Pen (applied using medium pressure)

Is H&M makeup worth it?

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I have some great clothes from H&M that were cheap and still look good years later. I've also bought some stuff that looked like shit after a few months. That's the fast fashion gamble. So what category does their makeup fall into?

A while back when they had a free shipping sale on their website, I decided to pick up a few makeup items to see what they were like. I don't get to the mall much, and the makeup section in my local H&M store is kind of a mess anyway, so online shopping seemed like the way to do it. There was also a sale, so I got an additional 25-30% off the prices listed below. (I bought a pair of basic leggings at the same time. Major pilling in the crotch/inner thigh area after the first couple of wears. Sticking with Old Navy in the future.) I couldn't find many reviews of H&M cosmetics online at the point, so I just chose some things that looked interesting.

H&M makeup (taken with camera setting that distorted the shapes (oops) - they are all straight).

I got a liquid eyeliner, a lip crayon, and an eyeshadow brush, so that I could try out a few different things. Unfortunately I took a while to get this review up and it seems like the liquid liner isn't listed on the website anymore. You might see it in a store? Here are quick reviews of the three items I bought.

Swatches of H&M Lip Pencil in Red/Million Dollar Smile and Liquid Eyeliner in Purple

Lip Pencil in Red/Million Dollar Smile ($4.95): I posted a swatch of this one a while back when I was comparing all of my sheer red lip products. You can check that out if you'd like to see how it compares to other things you might already own. It's a good one. Not too sheer, goes on smoothly and easily, a little moisturizing, no scent or flavor, wears off evenly. It's more in the glossy lip crayon category than the lipstick/stain crayon one. I might pass it along to someone else, just because it's not a lot different from some other things I own and I need to downsize. Here's how it looks on my lips:

H&M Lip Pencil in Red/Million Dollar Smile.

Liquid Eyeliner in Purple (about $3.95): When my order arrived at my house, and I looked at this eyeliner, I thought, "Why the fuck did I buy this? What am I going to do with it?" It's not really the kind of thing I would normally use. Then I remembered this eye brightening tip (although I already have an eyeliner that works for that, so it's not a great excuse for buying it). It works for that, since it's a shimmery, pale lavender color. Unfortunately it's the style of liquid eyeliner that I despise, but you can see in the photo above that the wand doesn't get all gooey, and since it's so pale it doesn't make a huge mess when it splatters on my eyelashes. It applies well, and it wears well. It's a good product. No real complaints.

Eyeshadow Brush ($3.95): This definitely stands out as the best of the things I bought. It's soft and fluffy and picks up a lot of eyeshadow. I like the wide, flat shape, which is versatile. You can use it to apply shadow to large areas, just to the crease, or to blend. This is a better brush than most of the e.l.f. Studio ones, for only a dollar more.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this stuff. It's on par with very good drugstore makeup. It's doesn't seem like crap that was added to the inventory just for the sake of selling makeup. I have too many makeup brushes at the moment, but if I were looking to buy some more, I would certainly consider trying some others from H&M.

Anyone else tried H&M makeup? Are there other things worth checking out?

Swatches and mini-reviews of all my retractable/automatic eyeliners

Disclosure: This post contains some Amazon affiliate links.
This is another one of those posts that is the result of my swatching all of the products I own in a certain category in order to determine if I want to keep them all. I'll write a more detailed post in the near future about how I decide what's working and what's not, since I'll be moving in a couple of months, and so I'm try to sort through my hoard and do away with things I don't need. For now, here are swatches of all the retractable eyeliner pencils I own. There weren't as many as I thought before I pulled them all out! But still too many, in general.

Oops, not the best camera setting. They are all quite straight in reality.

I swatched most of my regular pencil liners (i.e. the type you have to sharpen) a while back. As a rule, twist-up liners are stiffer and/or don't set as well as pencil types (for the reasons outlined here - scroll down to #4). Some of these retractable liners are just as good as some of my pencil liners, though.

On to the swatches!

Swatches (left to right) of:

• ULTA Automatic Eye Liner in Golden Eyes (wearing it in this post) ($8)
• Avon Glow Eye-liner in Copper Paradise ($6 I think? discontinued - but still available on Amazon)
• Jordana Easyliner in Eggplant ($2)
• ULTA Smokey Eyes Automatic Eye Liner in Cobalt (wearing it in this post) ($8, discontinued, but the cobalt one here might be similar)
• Stila Smudge Stick in Blue Ribbon ($20)
• ULTA Automatic Eye Liner in Teal Blue ($8)
• Essence Long-Lasting Eye Pencil in Tu-Tu-Turquoise ($2.50)
• Milani Liquif'Eye in Green ($7)
• NYX Retractable Eye Liner in Gray ($5)

Pixi and POP Beauty on HauteLook right now (up to 68% off)

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I haven't used anything from POP that I thought was particularly interesting. Pixi is best for their shimmery eyeshadows, in my opinion, but their shit is usually overpriced, so this is a good way to get your hands on it. I have the Pixi Eye Glow Cube, and it's lovely. It's only $9. (I bought it for more than that. Boo.)

I've also heard good things about the Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen (a pencil eyeliner). It's actually made in the USA, according to Target, so maybe there is something about it that's different from all the rest. $7 is a decent price for a quality eyeliner.

Shipping is $6 and can take a couple week. You need an account to browse HauteLook, so feel free to use my invite link (same as above) if you are so inclined.

Anything look good?

Two cheap brown liquid eyeliners that are kind of shitty (Review and swatches of e.l.f. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen and Wet N Wild MegaLiner Liquid Eyeliner)

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

Let me begin by saying that I have been doing winged liquid eyeliner for over a decade now (so old!), and I basically know what I'm doing. I'm not saying I'm an expert or that my liner is always flawless - just that I've been practicing for a very long time and I can handle it. When I put on eyeliner, and people look at my face form a normal distance, they don't think I look like a mess. Trust me, I have people in my life who would tell me. For evidence, here's a selfie from 2002 in which I thought I looked pretty artsy and hot. I like to think I've improved since then (but I used the same L'Oreal liner in the photo below as in that post - um, new tube - and I'll say more about that brilliant product at the end of the post).

My liquid liner game at 21.

I feel that I need to establish my credibility before you see some of the photos below, because they are a mess. The point I'm trying to make is that it's the eyeliner's fault, not mine! Or at least that I am only incompetent with a certain style of liquid eyeliner. 

First things first: the two cheap liquid eyeliners I'm going to review here are e.l.f. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen in Coffee ($2) and Wet N Wild MegaLiner Liquid Eyeliner in Dark Brown ($2). The e.l.f. liner is a felt tip pen, just like a marker, where the liquid wicks up through the tip. The WNW liner has a long narrow brush that dips into a pot and picks up the liquid that way. They are both kind of shitty, and I wouldn't recommend either one, but for different reasons.

Here are swatches of both:

Left to right: Wet N Wild MegaLiner Liquid Eyeliner in Dark Brown and e.l.f. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen in Coffee 

Wearing the "wrong" eye makeup for your eye color (or: just try to stop me from wearing cobalt blue)

There are a ton of guides to coordinating your eye makeup with your eye color out there, and this has been a staple of makeup advice for as long as I can remember. Several cosmetics companies also sell eyeshadow palettes or sets designed around eye color. The usual idea is that you should wear colors that complement your eye color, or at least contrast with it, in order to intensify it. That often means coppery shades for blue eyes, for example, or purples for brown eyes.

But what if you don't necessarily want to enhance what you have? Makeup is good both for enhancing and transforming. For instance, I can make my eyes look more blue by wearing copper, but I can make them look less blue by wearing really bright blue, which is also pretty cool. Bold cobalt eyeliner is one way to get this effect. When I use it, my eye color looks a little more blue-green or maybe aqua than it's usual ordinary greyish-blue (compare with this, for example).

Cobalt blue eyeliner

Big fucking eyeliner comparison (also: an excellent alternative to expensive liners from brands like Urban Decay or Tarina Tarantino for significantly less than $10)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

First thing first: This post is loooong. I'm long-winded. You should be used to that by now. But gird your loins or steel your . . . buns, or something.

I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, until everyone is sick of it: ULTA brand makeup is underrated. They have some good shit, and it goes on sale very regularly for very cheap. There's no reason why you should ever have to pay more than $4 for most things, and often you'll get them for less than $3. (To be clear, I am in no way affiliated with ULTA. In fact, they kicked me out of their affiliate program a long time ago, because of the foul language, I'm sure. I've just been repeatedly impressed by their in-house line.)

But for whatever reason, it's relatively hard to find useful information on makeup blogs about this brand (maybe they don't send out press samples). Plus the photos on the ULTA site are not always very informative or accurate. I just went ahead and bought some of their gel eyeliner pencils on the basis of some good experiences with their other liners. I hope the swatches below will be helpful. I was also curious how these would compare to some other, more expensive favorites, like those from Urban Decay or Tarina Tarantino. You remember that all makeup pencils come from the same few suppliers, right? So these could actually be manufactured by the same supplier as those fancy brands. I got out all my pencil liners (i.e. ones that need sharpening) to compare (see above photo).

Tarina Tarantino Cosmetics on HauteLook (up to 63% off)

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This is some good shit! I have some of the eyeliner pencils, and they are fucking awesome. $6 is totally reasonable for one of the best eyeliners you will ever use. Check out Beauty Reductionista's post for some other reviews.

You need an account to browse HauteLook, so use my invite link to sign up, if you are so inclined.

"Stamping" mascara as eyeliner (a trick for those of us with limited eyelid real estate)

The Beauty Department is a great resource for makeup tricks. They make everything look so fucking pretty, though I've had some mixed results trying out their techniques myself. I'd say they work most of the time, but every once in a while there's a fail. Like this two-toned lip tutorial - I couldn't find any combination that didn't just look like the 90s dark lip liner thing. Even when the liner wasn't really darker than the gloss. Maybe that's why there's no full face image? And even though I do layer my skin care products like this, this post is rife with misinformation (the comments point out many of the problems).

One of the treasures I've discovered, however, is this technique of "stamping" mascara at the base of the lashes to basically do the job of eyeliner. I really don't have much eyelid to work with, so sometimes I have to choose between eyeliner and eyeshadow. With this trick, I can get the thickness and darkness of an eyeliner without taking up any extra space on my lid. Since it works so well, I thought I'd share my results.

Before and after stamping at the base of the eyelash roots with mascara.

It's not dramatic, but it definitely does make a difference. Another way to do this is to dot in between the lashes with eyeliner, but this is much faster and easier. All the instructions are at the link above, but you're not actually applying any product to your eyelid. You're just making the base of your lashes darker. You might end up with a little mascara transferring to the lower rim of your eye immediately after you do it, but that's pretty easy to just wipe away.

Here I used CoverGirl LashBlast Volume in Black-Brown for the first two coats and then Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara (reviewed here) to stamp at the base. There's no real reason why you couldn't use the same mascara for both steps. I just like the separation I get from the CG one and the thickness of the Jordana one. And then I'm left my whole eyelid (what little there is) to play with eyeshadows.

Update: e.l.f. Studio Cream Eyeliner (9 months later)

Remember when I posted that I liked it? Probably not. It'd actually be slightly weird if you did, although you'd have a pretty fucking impressive memory. Well, anyway, this is what starts to happen after about 6 months:

If you were thinking of picking up the Urban Decay Vintage 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Gunmetal . . .

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Don't.

I know, I know, the discontinued shades of the UD pencils are on sale for $6 everywhere, and it's tempting to go for Gunmetal because it's isn't acid green and seems pretty versatile. But don't bother. It's patchy and sheer. Maybe if you want to use it over another shadow to add some silver glitter, it would be okay for that, but it's pretty useless as either liner or shadow on its own. You can get much better eyeliners or eyeshadows for the same price or less, though.

HauteLook Crown Brush Beauty Bag (80% off)

This looks interesting. I still don't have anything from Crown Brush, but a bunch of people have recommended them to me as good cheap makeup brushes. You get a makeup bag with an eyeliner, 36 eyeshadow palette, foam wedges, disposable kabuki brushes (I don't know wtf those are), and a 12-piece makeup brush set. Looks like a good option if you want to try out a bunch of new kinds of brushes and eyeshadow colors.

You need an account to browse HauteLook, so use my invite link, if you want. (This is also why I can't link directly to individual sales HauteLook - or at least I haven't figure it out. Once you sign in, you should be able to find the bag on the main page.)

"Vintage" Urban Decay Glide-on Eye Pencils on sale $9.50 from Sephora

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Here they are. This is the same as the price on the Urban Decay website, but the advantage here is that shipping from Sephora is $5.95 instead of $8, and maybe you have some points to use, and you need to buy some other things, etc. Maybe add some $4.50 Sephora by OPI polishes? I don't know if the sale UD liners are available in store - has anyone seen them? These are the "vintage" packaged ones, not the new ones (which are still $19), and there are limited shades left. I have my eye on "Lucky", but I might have to wait until I've accomplished something and can reward myself.

All "vintage" Glide-On eye pencils from Urban Decay now on sale for $9.50

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Hmmm, that's almost affordable. 12 shades available. Also it makes me wonder if they will show up on HauteLook in a few weeks/months.