fantastic eyeliner on a budget: makeup revolution

double flick liquid eyeliner (not online): £3.50

i must admit, picking up new felt tip eyeliners to try has become something of second nature to me recently, so when i picked this makeup revolution offering up i wasn't really expecting to be blown away by it, but from the first use of it i realised that i couldn't have been more wrong because it was absolutely fantastic.

the liner differs from most highstreet felt tip liners in that it's double ended, offering a thick or thin side depending upon the intensity of the wing you're looking to achieve.

wearing the 'thin' side

wearing the 'thick' side

i tend to opt for the thin side when teaming up a subtle flick with eyeshadow as to not overdo it, and then opt for the thick side when i'm going for an all out, dramatic flick, but i'll not bore you any more with the obvious and instead talk about the actual product. 

the colour pay off is fantastic; a light stroke of the nib leaves a luscious, opaque black that glides on with complete ease. if i were to compare the finish to any other products i've used, i'd describe it as sitting somewhere between the soap & glory supercat liner and collection's fast stroke liner. i found that collection's fast stroke liner seemed to create a very thick, sometimes crumbly looking finish where you could almost pick it off in parts but at the same time didn't budge easily because of this, and the supercat liner left a thin finish that could be easily wiped away or smudged with your finger, and this liner sits happily in between, offering a thin covering of liner that doesn't budge with as much ease as the supercat liner, meaning you don't have to worry so much about accidentally rubbing your eyes and in turn all your liner off!

the thin end of the pen is by far the easiest, most precise liner i've ever had the pleasure of lining my lids with. i used to find with the soap & glory and collection offerings that it was really difficult to get a precise, thin line that was close to my lash line and instead always ended up cocking up and settling with thicker than intended flicks, but with this liner i'm in complete control of what i'm doing and can 9 times out of 10 get right down to the lash line to create a subtle flick for the days where i want a less dramatic look. 

in terms of lasting power, i'm more than happy to admit that i've neglected to take this off after a night out, and have woken up the morning after with absolutely minimal movement, which was a complete delight to discover after having woken up on many mornings with my eyeliner all over my lids from my hours of slumber. generally, unless you get your eyes excessively wet, the liner tends not to budge. 

after what seems like a lifetime of looking for 'the perfect eyeliner', i feel happy knowing that this liner ticks near enough all my boxes, and will only set me back £3.50 every time i need to replace it which is more than okay with me! if you ever find yourself at a makeup revolution counter, i would whole heartedly recommend picking this up to try because i've never been as impressed by an eyeliner in my life; with an opaque finish, precise application and decent staying power, it's worth every penny you'll pay for it. 

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eyeko | skinny liquid eyeliner

eyeko skinny liquid eyeliner: £12

 

it's been just over a month now since i snagged my free eyeko eyeliner from a glamour mag, so i thought i'd pop it onto my blog and talk about how i've been getting on with it; after all, i was pretty excited to try it out!

ok, so, in a nutshell? i've been pretty disappointed with this product, which really bummed me out because i wanted to love it so much. i'll start with the pigmentation of the product, which i think really is quite poor for a fairly expensive product. as you can see in the swatch above and when applied to the eyelid, it's fairly transparent in colour and requires quite a bit of working over your line to create a solid, opaque line; even then, i've found that constantly going over the line can rub away the product underneath, meaning altogether it's pretty difficult to achieve an opaque black colour, which for me is a massive negative – i like my flicks black, black! i found the product to be at its most pigmented during its first few uses, as afterwards it seems to dry out somewhat and become more wishy washy in colour. i tried to combat this and gave the eyeliner a rest for a week before picking it up again, and lo and behold it tackled the problem and the eyeliner was as pigmented as when i first used it, but this isn't really the performance you'd expect from a £12 eyeliner, is it?

another gripe i have with the product is how spongy the pen itself is, which makes it a little awkward to achieve perfect lines as you don't really have much control over the pen. i found it really hard to line along my lashline without making a bit of a mess, so most days had to go in with my supercat liner to a) perfect the line, and b) add the pigmentation that i desired. tut tut, eyeko. 

to continue in a similar fashion, the weartime of the product was also disappointing. while it doesn't run into a black mess like the supercat liner does when your eyes water a little, you can get to the end of the day with not much evidence of a flick left on your eyelid as it seems to become more transparent throughout the day, which really confuses me as i'm not one to mess around touching my eyes throughout the day. i suppose if you don't mind a more subtle black flick this may be one to try out as it tends to stay where you put it all day regardless of the loss of colour.

to finish on a positive, the liner does do what it promises in its name: you can achieve a fabulously thin, slick cat eye with very little effort. where i do prefer my supercat liner for pigmentation, i've never once been able to achieve such a defined eye with it because the nib's just that bit thicker. all that said, i'm left feeling a little underwhelmed by the product and know that i won't be forking out £12 for one of these liners in the future – i just expected so much more! perhaps i'm just being picky, but my quest for the perfect eyeliner is still well and truly on. if you know of any cruelty free options that you think may be what i'm looking for, please do feel free to leave them below!

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primark | p.s. love beauty range

 primark waterproof mascara: £2 / primark eyeliner pen: £1.50

before:

after:

first things first: please do excuse the awkward teen phase my right brow seems to be currently going through, i'm hoping it'll grow out of it sooner rather than later!

when i first heard about primark's new p.s. love beauty range last week i was really excited to make my way to my local store to have a mooch around what was on offer, however it quickly hit me that their range may not have complied with my beliefs on cruelty free cosmetics. knowing that they'd recently pulled the angora products from their clothing, i decided to get in touch with primark to ask if they upheld the same morals in regards to their new beauty range. here's the email i sent them:

"Hello,

I'm contacting you to ask about your new P.S. Love beauty range and whether you test the final products or ingredients on animals, or if you pay somebody else to do so on your behalf. I was delighted to hear at the back end of last year that you were putting an end to selling angora products, and would love to hear that you hold the same values about cruelty free products throughout your new make up range, too. If the products are indeed cruelty free, Ill be very excited to get my hands on some of them."

i had a response within 2 days of sending the question, and here's how they replied:

"Primark and our own label manufacturers do not commission animal testing on any Primark own brand products or ingredients. Our own brand cosmetics and toiletry product ranges have not been tested on animals by Primark or by our own brand manufacturers.

Primark are against animal testing"

after receiving this response, i was happy in the knowledge that primark themselves don't test any finished products or their ingredients on animals, and don't pay other companies to do so on their behalf either, so i headed to my local shop and picked up a mascara and eyeliner to try out. 

so first up, the mascara. i'm going to start by simply stating that i was blown away by the quality of this product for the £2 price tag! as you can see in the image, the brush is quite large, round and has plastic bristles, which was instantly a winner for me because i find that chunky brushes work the best for my lashes. on your first application, the brush gives your lashes length and definition with a touch of volume, however if you're like me and like a thicker lash, another coat does the job nicely and i find that this mascara definitely rivals my pixi large lash mascara which is 6x the price of this at £12! the product is also said to be waterproof, and although i can't vouch for it 100% as i've only had the product around a week, i did sleep in it one night (naughty me, i know!) and woke up with it still in place, however it had begun to flake a little bit, but at £2 you really can't complain! i'll definitely be adding this to my favourites list and perhaps repurchasing if i can't bring myself to pay £10+ for another mascara. 

onto the eyeliner, this didn't impress me as much as the mascara. it has a nice thin nib so it's easy to perfect a sharp cat flick, however the colour isn't quite as black as i like my eyeliner to be. i also find that it wears away fairly easily throughout the day so you definitely need to top up if you were wanting to go from day to night with the same makeup. i definitely won't be putting down my supercat liner for this, however i do think for £1.50 i'll throw it in my bag and use it for touch ups throughout the day/night. although it's not a fantastic product, it's definitely not bad, and i'd say it's your run of the mill felt tip liner.

all in all, big well done primark! i managed to keep myself from buying any lip products as i have too many, however i'm definitely now tempted to dip my toe in a little more and try some more of primark's beauty range! have you tried any of their new products yet? if so, i'd love to hear what you think of them!

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this or that: felt tip eyeliners

soap & glory supercat eyeliner: £6 / collection extreme 24h felt tip liner: £2.99

for months i was mad on collection's felt tip liner, until the inevitable happened and one day the tears came and i looked in the mirror to be greeted by something reminiscent of alice cooper. in other words, not good - panda eyes isn't generally what i aim for! i decided to up my budget a little and opted for soap and glory's supercat liner.

generally, the products are fairly similar; super black, easy to apply and precise, making them, in my opinion, fantastic eyeliners. as you can see in the pictures, the collection liner is slightly thicker than the soap and glory one, and over time seems to lose its shape and become a little less rigid, making it harder to achieve the perfectly defined flick. i've found that the soap and glory liner has managed to retain its shape, meaning in this department it trumps the collection option. in terms of it being waterproof, i've noticed that it's considerably better than the collection liner, however it's still not perfect. the collection liner literally smudges at any sign of moisture; cried a little from laughing? prepare to have your flick transfer onto your eyelid. the soap and glory option seems to only budge if you have yourself a proper cry, so if you can make it through the day without shedding a tear, you (and your liner) will be fine!

for the sake of an additional three quid, i think i'll be sticking to the supercat liner until i can find another cruelty free option that offers a waterproof promise. i don't want to speak badly of the collection liner because it's a fantastic product for the price tag, but being a person who sheds tears at the mere sight of puppies, i need something with a little more staying power that will see me through the day without leaving me looking dishevelled.

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