Which Black Liquid Eyeliner is the best?

This is a test I've wanted to do for a long time. I ended up with 13 different kinds of black liquid/gel/creme eyeliner and I'll do a quick demonstration so you can make a decision on which one is right for you.

Here are the contenders:

The first set of 3 is from the Revlon ColorStay collection.

1. Liquid Eyeliner in Blackest Black, $7.29
2. Liquid Eye Pen in Blackest Black, $6.79
3. Liner Creme Gel Eyeliner in Black, $9.99

The next set of 4 is from E.L.F. Cosmetics.

1. Studio Precision Liquid Eyeliner in Black, $3
2. Essential liquid Eyeliner in Black, $1
3. Studio Cream Eyeliner in Midnight. (I mistakenly thought I picked up black.) $3
4. Studio Cream Eyeliner in Black, $3

The last one on the top row is from Wet n Wild.

1. H2O Proof Liquid Eyeliner in Ultra Black, $3.99

The first set on the second row is Jordana.

1. 12 Hr Made to Last Liquid Eyeliner Pencil in 01 Black Point, $2.99
2. 12 Hr Made to Eyeshadow Pencil in 02 Stay On Black, $3.99
3. Bold Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in 01 Black, $2.99

The last 2 are some random ones I had in my makeup bag, the Clinique Brush-on Cream Liner in True Black, $16.00, is very old, like almost 7 years old. I haven't thrown it away because I feel the color intensified over time and I currently didn't have anything to replace it. I spray it with rubbing alcohol when I do use it. The last one is Lorac On Screen Duo in Fame & Fortune, $14.25 - $21.99 (current price via Google Search.)

I painted them on my hand in the same order:

 Indoor Lighting

Outdoor Lighting

Next I did a water test. I doused my hand in cold water. None of the eyeliners ran. 

I then rubbed the top row up and the bottom row down.

As you can see the two Revlon Colorstay liquid liners ran but the gel stayed put. All of the E.L.F. liners stayed put. The Jordana liners survived except the felt tip pen liner. The Clinique cream liner stayed. The Lorac liner started failing miserably right from the beginning.

The final test I submerged my hand in hot water for about 10 seconds and wiped each row several times, the top row up and the bottom row down. Everything started to smear except the E.L.F. Studio Precision Liquid Eyeliner in Black and the Wet n Wild H2O Proof Liquid Eyeliner in Ultra Black. I rubbed the top row several more times to distinguish between the two last surviving liners. Then the E.L.F. Studio liner started flaking off. The answer was pretty clear:

Verdict:

The winner for Blackest Black is a tie between E.L.F. Studio Precision Liquid Eyeliner in Black and Wet n Wild H2O Proof Liquid Eyeliner in Ultra Black.

The Winner for Best Matte Black is Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eyeliner in Blackest Black by a landslide. Second place goes to Jordana's 12 Hr Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencil in 02 Stay On Black with the 12 Hr Made to Last Liquid Eyeliner Pencil in 01 Black Point a slightly less matte runner up.

The best Waterproof liner is Wet n Wild H2O Proof Liquid Eyeliner in Ultra Black. It not only survived a nice dip in cold and hot water but I rubbed it several times until all the other eyeliners were smeared to death and it didn't budge AT ALL. It might have become a tiny bit less black than when I first applied it but nothing very noticeable. I then soaked in a hot bath for 20 minutes, patted my hand dry and the color was still almost completely there. It faded in the middle of the thickest part and the thinnest edge. I had to put coconut oil on it, rub it in, wipe it off, add more coconut oil, rub it vigorously and scrub it with a tissue to get it all off! That is some AMAZING STAYING POWER. (**Don't worry about having trouble getting it off your eyes, I've worn it so many times and I don't scrub it. I apply extra virgin coconut oil and gently rub it, wipe it off, and apply more coconut oil to my eyelids and eyelashes. Whatever hasn't come off when you wash your face at night will come off with your morning face wash.**)

The Best Black Liquid/Gel/Creme Eyeliner Award goes to Wet n Wild H2O Proof Liquid Eyeliner in Ultra Black. It has amazing staying power, is waterproof, has a fair low price, great color payoff and creates a nice even application.

The Worst Liquid/Gel/Cream Eyeliner Award goes to the Lorac On Screen Duo in Fame & Fortune. It applied very sheer with hardly any color payoff, applied unevenly, stayed greasy and rubbed right off. It is also one of the most expensive!

Makeup of the Day & Black Plum Rhapsody Wig

Today I wanted to try using some temporary eyeliner tattoos I bought awhile ago. I have only tried them one other time and the results were mixed - they are fun but very hard to apply evenly and they always seem to break apart on my eye, ruining the intricate design.

I first washed my face, making sure to remove all the coconut oil from around my eyes. I'll post on that later... :)
I swiped my eyelids with rubbing alcohol, making sure to keep my eyes closed until it dried. Slightly moistening my eyelids with water, I placed the temp tattoos and pressed them down lightly with a wet washcloth, positioning and pressing down the inner corner with a wet cotton swab. The inner corner is easy to mess up and this helps line it right up with your eyelid. Even after this they were still crooked, with one wing sweeping higher than the other. It is extremely hard to get these perfect since you can't see them under the paper when you place them.

I filled in the gaps and right against my eyelids with black liquid eyeliner, drawing one side up higher to make them more uniform. I then did a smoky eye to hide the unevenness even more and used a very light hand on the rest of my face with a nude lip. I added big dramatic lashes and topped the look off with a Rhapsody wig in Black Plum from Gothic Lolita Wigs.

Here is a look at the tattoos up close. As you can see they look better from far away. As Raymond Chandler once said, “From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away.” 

The weird thing is my boyfriend kept saying how pretty I looked, and how he loved my makeup. Yes, I was baffled because he was clearly much less than 10 feet away.

I would probably avoid these eyeliner tattoos because they really don't look all that good from up close. They have a plastic look to them that extends around the edges, and makeup doesn't adhere to that part well. They are extremely hard to position properly, and often for no particular reason, like if you blink or move your eyes, you will get a break or tear in the tattoo. Also the designs with color don't show up well. This tattoo has tiny colored stars on it and they look muddy since there is no way to put white makeup under them. On the other hand, they are very cheap. Like $5 for 40 pairs of them. So that is a good reason to get them, something fun to play around with for little $$$.

E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow Review

I was very excited to try the E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow, I ordered all the colors and anxiously awaited my delivery. I've seen many mixed reviews, people seem pretty polarized about these. I wanted to do a smoky party look with Confetti (#81141), Celebration (#81142) and Party (#81147), perhaps for a big sparkly celebration like New Year's Eve. I applied nothing to one eyelid and E.L.F Mineral Eyeshadow Primer in Sheer (#6531) on the other lid, letting it dry before starting application. I wanted to see if it affected the application at all.

The first thing I noticed was it was difficult to pick up the product with a brush. I tried an eyeshadow brush and a concealer brush. Then I tried it with my finger, which worked much better. The colors were difficult to blend into one another, especially on the side with primer. The hardest part was making a crease (using Party) with my finger. It smudged all over and didn't blend well at all. The color looked very sparkly, sheer and patchy. I scraped some of it up with a small concealer brush but it would not blend well, it ended up balling up on my eyelid. I let it dry for awhile and applied another layer, which provided more coverage, but I still felt it looked too patchy and unevenly applied.

It's a little difficult to tell just how patchy these eyeshadows are in these pictures. It's not too noticeable but it was enough to bother me. I didn't notice a difference in how the shadows looked with primer vs without, but it might affect the longevity.

The verdict on E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow:

Not my favorite. 

I love the sparkliness of it but I don't like how hard it is to apply and the uneven nature of the application bothers me. It's not the worst eyeshadow I've ever tried but it's not something I'm anxious to repurchase.

I decided to try layering it over eyeshadow. I built up a smoky eye using two ELF Essential Eye Duos. I'm pretty certain the black and gray duo came from the E.L.F. Essential Beauty School 5 Piece Eyeshadow Set in Night and the lighter highlight shade came from the Day set. They aren't marked with the set name so I'm not completely sure. Here is what that looks like:

I used the same E.L.F. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer in Sheer, and left all the rest of my makeup the same. Here is the look with the E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in Confetti (#81141), Celebration (#81142) and Party (#81147) layered over the Duo eyeshadow:

Final Verdict on the E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow:

I like it much better layered over another shadow. It does seem less patchy and uneven, although I did have some difficulty getting the Lustrous eyeshadow to completely smooth out. I don't think it's too noticable, definitely not as noticeable as when you use it by itself. When you layer them they are more vibrant and the black in the crease is much more apparent, even though it might be difficult to tell in the pictures. When I used them alone the whole lid looked similar, as if I didn't use three completely different shadows. Confetti (#81141) and Celebration (#81142) look VERY SIMILAR on my eyelids. You probably don't need to buy both of these. All in all, I do think these have a use in my makeup bag, to add pizazz or sparkle for a special event, but I think E.L.F. could stand to improve the formula. I don't think I will use these that often, I can see myself using a sheer amount on the inner third of my eyelids for a sparkling highlight when I want that little extra something.

Look of the Day: Red hair, green eyes

Let me start off by saying I am not a redhead and I don't have a warm skin tone. But thanks to an order from Gothic Lolita Wigs (Farrah Summer Ed. Showstopper, in case you are wondering) I can be a redhead for one day, minus the right skin tone. Also people have told me I look good in green, which looks good with red, no? So I figure that gives me the liberty to do whatever I want. 

I am able to justify anything. ;)

The eerie thing is I looked at yesterday's picture and I had EXACTLY the same pose and facial expression! So even though I feel I look a bit silly in this picture I'm posting it, because you can actually kind of see my eye makeup. 

I've never had hair this color but I kind of like it. I'm not sure if it likes my skin tone though as I am cool.

So here goes: Green eye makeup. Does that scare you? The memory of blue eyeshadow from the 80's has always made me a little weary of bold, dramatic eyeshadows, but I also LOVE surrounding myself with bright & pretty things, they make me happy. As we all know, when you do a bright or dramatic eye thou shalt not wear a bold lip. Bla bla bla... I kind of follow that. But I'm also of the opinion that you should have fun in any aspect of your life, and if makeup is one of those things, do what you want. If people don't like you for it then they have some real First World Problems.

Here's everything I used today, shown here in ridiculously bad lighting:

No fancy lighting or studio, I threw everything on my bed and used my iPad camera. I'm not proud.

I used my E.L.F. Studio brush set, as well as one Essential brush and a few of my cutie pie pinky brushes. (Did I mention I got those on amazon, $10.83 for 22 brushes?)...But do they work well, you might ask. "They have friggin' pink tips, who cares if they work well???" But yes, they work nicely with some limitations.

The rest of the stuff:

• E.L.F. Studio Mineral Infused Face Primer
• MAC Fix+ Sprayed on ELF Studio powder brush to blend & seal foundation.
• Revlon Colorstay foundation for combo/oily skin, mixed with Lancome Color Ideal Foundation, applied with ELF Studio powder brush.
• E.L.F. Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter in Light/Glow, concealer only applied underneath eyes.
• E.L.F. Studio HD Powder to set makeup, applied with Too Faced powder brush. 
• E.L.F. Studio Cool Bronzer, used for contouring & sculpting.
• E.L.F. Studio Blush in Pink Passion. I should have used a coral or peach shade but I didn't know which wig I wanted to wear when I put my makeup on. :)
• E.L.F. Studio Shimmer Palette, applied pink color to top of cheekbones as a highlight.
• E.L.F. Studio Eye Primer and Liner Sealer, primer only.
• E.L.F. Studio 141 Piece Master Makeup Collection, black palette, used for the eyeshadows and the green concealer around my nose redness. It kind of wore off quickly. I'm waiting on my green corrective concealer...
• Italia Eyeliners in Avocado and White.
• Revlon Colorstay creme gel eyeliner in black, applied with a flat eyeliner brush and winged out, Lightly smoked into bottom lashes.
• Wet n Wild H2O Proof liquid eyeliner in brown, used to fill in and define eyebrows. I love using this but I wish I had a lighter color as it is a little too dark for me. Painted on, lightly blended and smudged out with small angled brush.
• Lancome Super-Enhancing Mascara Base. Wow, that stuff works!
• Urban Decay Skyscraper multi-benefit mascara.
• Andrea Lash Accents, 318 Black. LOVE these for natural-but-better eyelashes!
• Darkness eyelash adhesive in clear.
• E.L.F. Essential Lipstick in Captivating.

Look of the Day: "Naked" Brigitte Bardot

I wanted to try out some of the new E.L.F. cosmetics I bought during their 50% off Cyber Monday sale. I did an everyday neutral look, topped off with a wig from Gothic Lolita Wigs, the Farrah Summer Edition in color Femme Fatale. Here is the finished look: 

These are the brushes and makeup I used:

E.L.F. Studio brushes & Essential brushes, Real Techniques Pointed foundation brush, some pink eyeshadow brushes I got on Amazon (LOVE these for the price I paid!) Yes I used so many different things today but I was dying to try this new stuff out.

Just beware, this is mostly ELF makeup. My new obsession.

• E.L.F. Studio Mineral Infused Face Primer
• Revlon Colorstay foundation for combo/oily skin, applied with Real Techniques pointed foundation brush.
• Make Up Forever HD Powder to set makeup, lightly applied and pressed in with ELF Studio powder brush.
• E.L.F. Studio Eye Primer and Liner Sealer, primer only.
• Wet n Wild Idol Eyes creme stick in Pixie, applied as eyeshadow base
• Jordana 7" eyeliner pencil in white, highlighting brow bone and inner corners of eyes.
• E.L.F. Studio Prism eyeshadow in Naked, highlighting inner corners, as a base (on top of WnW Pixie since that was too creamy for me and most likely would have creased.) And in the crease.
• Revlon Colorstay creme gel eyeliner in black, applied with a flat eyeliner brush and winged out, Lightly smoked into bottom lashes.
• False lashes from Amazon, they come from Taiwan but I have no idea what company makes these. They are about $3 for 10 pairs, and I adhere them with Darkness eyelash adhesive in clear. I use that strange metal tool to place them and clamp them onto my lashes right against my lash line. It works so well.
• Urban Decay Skyscraper multi-benefit mascara, applied to blend my lashes into falsies and on the bottom lashes. I forgot to put it in the lineup, sorry.
• E.L.F. Studio Maximun Coverage Concealer - Oil Free in Porcelain, applied to blemishes only.
• E.L.F. Studio HD Lifting Concealer in Brightening, applied underneath eyes.
• E.L.F. Studio Creme Blush in Flirt applied with a stipple brush, which I forgot to put in the lineup.
• E.L.F. Studio Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder in Turks & Caicos, used for contouring & sculpting. 
• E.L.F. Studio Shimmer Palette, applied lightest color to top of cheekbones as a highlight.
• E.L.F. Studio Eyebrow Kit in Medium
• E.L.F. Essential Wet Gloss Lash & Brow Clear Mascara, used to tame eyebrows and set the color.
• E.L.F. Studio Lip Definer and Shaper, used to line lips and highlight cupid's bow.
• E.L.F. Studio Conditioning Lip Balm in Nice & Natural applied to lips, bottom lip highlighted with Romantic Rouge in the center. It gives your nude lips a more alive look. :)

Massive E.L.F. haul & brush set comparisons

The purpose of this blog is to share the Good, the Bad and the Ugly cosmetics, wigs, etc., to compare different brands, review, rate & perhaps show some swatches, share some tips and have some fun.

What makes me a beauty critic? Nothing. I have no training or expertise, I just really love to look good, or interesting, or express myself. I'd like to put a few things out there that I would have liked to know.

I'll be writing up some E.L.F. cosmetics I recently got during the big 50% off sale, and comparing a few brush sets that have been majorly hyped.