Whew! I needed days of recovery after the madness that was Lollapalooza. More to come on this soon — you can read my first review here!
Over the weekend I dealt with the extremes of Chicago weather. Rain on Friday and blistering heat Saturday and Sunday. But through it all, my eyemakeup stayed in tact. How? I’ll tell you my latest little secret.
Gel eyeliner is my new best friend.
My hands are too shaky for liquid, and eyeliner pencils are frequently too waxy and smudgy for me. So when I want to get that kapow! liquid liner cat’s eye look, I reach for the gel. It’s forgiving and easy and lasts forever. Add a little eyeshadow primer and it gets even better!
Most department store brands have a gel or powder liner amongst their stock, but these brands are my favorites!
Bobbi Brown has this here on lock. Their long wear gel eyeliner is so precise, so easy, and comes in so many gorgeous shades. Their new fall color is Forest, mossy green with a subtle gold shimmer. It’s very low key and works great for bellas who like their makeup subtle and stunning. I prefer a bit more pop, so I need to get my hands on violet — purple makes my baby brown eyes look amazing (and it’s my favorite color!) These cost $21 a piece but they’ll last you forever and a day as long as you keep the jar tightly sealed.
Are you up on Lancome’s Fall 09 collection? It’s called Declaring Indigo, and the shades are sharp, bright, and classic. This isn’t the kind of makeup you buy that loses its allure next season. Gold and navy blue aren’t going anywhere anytime soon! Their Ink Artliner longwear calligraphy gel liner in Indigo Charm is nautical, and really stands out on brown skin tones. It’s $23.50, but you already knew Lancome is on the higher end of the makeup scale, right? And in this case you really do get what you pay for.
Cream to powder liner is an alternative to gel that’s equally long lasting, and a new one I’ve had the pleasure of trying recently is by Christopher Drummond. If you’re new to his lline, sit up and take notice! Christopher Drummond is all about 100% natural, organic based, high quality cosmetics. If you’re a fiend for good ingredients in your products, definitely check him out.
His cream to powder eyeliner is meant to be used as a brow filler as well as an eyeliner, so it’s super subtle and very complimentary to a variety of skin tones. I will be gushing more about his products soon, but for now I’ll just say this — the Sateen Blush is gorgeous, and the cream to powder liner surprised me for two reasons. 1. the name of the color, soft black, led me to believe that it was in fact, black. It came out more of a deep raisin on me. But surprise #2 – I love the color! It’s rich, soft, subtle, and very very pretty. It’s $22.50, and I’m anxious to see if this product is eventually released in even more shades.
Last but not least, let’s hear it one time for my bellas on a budget! If you aren’t up on Sonia Kashuk’s line of makeup at Target, you need to get there in a hurry. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the quality of these items! Most of all, her gel liner. For some reason it isn’t on Target’s website but I know it’s available in stores. (I got this photo from Makeup Alley). Sonia Kashuk’s liner lasted me all afternoon in the blazing Lollapalooza heat, and with her equally affordable angled liner brush, application is a breeze. It costs less than $10, and the color is flawlessly dark and longlasting!
I’ve noticed a lack of available swatches for brown skinned beauties, so here’s my first attempt at swatching colors for you. From left to right, Bobbi Brown’s Forest, Lancome’s Indigo, Christopher Drummond Soft Black, and Sonia Kashuk’s black liners.
Whew! Do you prefer gel, liquid, or pencil eyeliner? Got a fave brand? Share!
I just did a post on gel eyeliner. We are in sync! I love love loooove them! Lancome’s is rocking my world right now. Good thing about gel eyeliners is that they last FOREVER! Love the swatches!
I’ve never tried gel eyeliner, I would def consider giving it a go. I’m usually a pencil girl. I would probably test this out with the low cost brand and move up from there depending on how much I fall in love with the result :).
I’ve been loving liquid eyeliner lately – soooo much easier than pencils. May stop by Target and give the Sonia K brand a try. That green from Bobbi Brown is pretty!
Thanks for the swatches! I agree with you – gel eyeliner is my new best friend as well. I love L’Oreal’s gel eyeliner. It’s creamy and it stays put! Maybe one day I’ll splurge on Bobbi Brown’s and Lancome’s eyeliner but I’ll pick up Sonia Kashuk’s gel eyeliner first!
question: so how often do you wash your brushes, ladies? don’t the bristles get gunked up?
L’Oreal HiP’s Gel liners are the best!
ooh, been looking for an eyeliner that lasts – pencils always fade after a while for me, especially in the summer. I got a gold eyeshadow from Sonia Kashuk that I LOVE, so I’m definitely up for trying the liner.
I’ve been using a gel eyeliner from Clinique for quite a while. I LOVE the way it glides on and how I can build from a sleek line to a thicker and darker one for nights out.
It has lasted FOREVER. I barely dip my brush into the pot for a good line. I don’t know how they make money off of those little pots if it takes so long to buy a new one!
In response to Lina about the brushes, I usually wipe mine off with a damp tissue after use and might wash it every third use or so depending on how stiff or cakey the brush gets.
My fav is HiP – inexpensive, great color and very long lasting.
I love the Stila gel (but it’s the only one I’ve tried) – it lasts forever (even with my oily skin, and even in hot humid and rainy weather), dries fast (make sure to close the lid tightly after each use), but is still easy to work with.
And I second Bourgie about the brush cleaning.
MAC Fluidline in blitz n glitz or blacktrack = AMAZING!
My two favs are Hip and MAC fluidline, for the exact same reasons as Bella (longlasting but way easier to apply than liquid).
Using gel eye linear is difficult for me, I always use pencil eye linear.
ooh, been looking for an eyeliner that lasts – pencils always fade after a while for me, especially in the summer. I got a gold eyeshadow from Sonia Kashuk that I LOVE, so I’m definitely up for trying the liner.
It’s one thing to use the gel liner its the next thing to take it off. I won’t pretend as if it ultra difficult to take off but what I will say is that gel liner is so much easier to go on and take off than pencil liner. I always feel as if when I used pencil eyeliner that I am creating wrinkles on my eyes because it just doesn’t go on smooth to me. For gel liner removal I used Albolene eye makeup remover. The product literally helps the eyeliner to come off like butter on a knife and you don’t have to do a full pull and pinching of the skin to get the product off. https://www.albolene.com/eye-makeup-remover/