Category Archives: Jordana

Jordana Balm Stain Swatches, Review, Comparison

Happy Black Friday! Have you bought anything today? Last year, the -->Jordana website --> did a 50% off everything sale for Cyber Monday. I don’t know if they are going to do it again this year, but just in case they do I thought it would be a good time to share some swatches of the new (-ish) Jordana Twist & Shine Moisturizing Balm Stains that have been sitting on my computer for a while.

There are -->eight shades available -->, and I bought four of them: Nude Chic, Honey Love, Cranberry Crush, and Rock N Rouge. Nude Chic has silver glitter, and the other three have no shimmer or sparkle.

As you can tell from the name, these are twist-up pencils; no need to sharpen. Like the Revlon Kissable Balm Stains, they are quite pigmented with a slightly glossy finish; unlike the Revlons, they don’t leave a bright, long-lasting, somewhat artificial stain after wearing off. They do fade evenly, much like the similarly packaged Tarte Lipsurgence pencils. I’ve read that other people find the Jordana pencils very moisturizing, but I find them neither moisturizing nor drying. Continue reading →

Jordana Made To Last Liquid Eyeliner Pencil Review & Swatches

Purchased Affiliate Links

I am so behind right now – I have tons of awesome things to post about, but very little time (it turns out that planning a wedding takes a lot of energy – mine is in a week and a half!). Today, I have swatches of two of Jordana’s new 12-Hour Made To Last eyeliner pencils – a gel-type eyeliner pencil – which were released quite recently. There are six shades (black, purple, brown, aqua, charcoal, and deep green) and I purchased two: the charcoal & the green.

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Jordana Made To Last Eyeshadow Pencil Review, Swatches, Comparison

Purchased

Jordana is one of my favorite drugstore brands – very inexpensive and generally good quality – so I was excited to see that they’ve released some new products. I bought several to test out and review, and first up I have four of the new 12-Hour Made To Last Eyeshadow Pencils.

Here’s the new section of the display, where you can see the eight available colors. The four neutrals are all matte (Eternal White, Stay-On Black, Tenacious Brown and Continous Almond), and the four colors all have shimmer or glitter (Pink Evermore, Aqua Last, Prolong Purple, and Endless Emerald). As you can see, they retail for $4.49 at my Walgreens, which means they’re probably going to be about $3.99 elsewhere – the Walgreens stores around me tend to charge more than MSRP.

It’s barely visible in the display photo, but the pencils are shrinkwrapped, which I always appreciate. The pencils need to be sharpened – they are not twist-ups.

Eternal White // Continous Almond // Prolong Purple // Endless Emerald

Texturewise, the two matte pencils I bought were extremely creamy, almost to the point of being slippery. They are very, very soft, and although they are opaque in one swipe, they sheer out when blended.

Eternal White // Continuous Almond

The colored pencils are not quite as soft and slippery feeling as the mattes, but they are still softer than any other eyeshadow pencils I have tried (NYX jumbo eye pencils, Milani Shadow Eyez, Rimmel Scandaleyes, & UD 24/7). Prolong Purple was somewhat sheer when blended, and Endless Emerald is relatively opaque when blended, especially for a cream product. Both have micro glitter which becomes more visible when blended out.

Prolong Purple // Endless Emerald

The soft texture of the pencils made me concerned that they might slide around or crease, but they dry down quickly to a fairly immovable finish.

I bought the two mattes to use as bases, and I’m quite pleased with them thus far – they help eyeshadow colors pop, it’s easy to blend on top of them, and they haven’t creased on me at all. I’ve worn the purple on it’s own, and had some very faint creasing after about an hour. Since it’s hard to get it opaque enough, I’ll probably stick with using it as either a base or as an eyeliner. I’ve been wearing the green on my waterline today, and thus far it’s holding up very well – it looks almost perfect after four hours, which is a long time for me! I think the green will probably work better than the purple as an eyeshadow, since it’s more pigmented and thus fewer layers are needed.

I also have comparisons with a few similar eyeshadow pencils.

Milani Almond Cream // Jordana Continuous Almond

Milani Almond Cream and Jordana Continuous Almond are extremely similar. The colors are not identical, but very very close. The textures are noticeably different – the Jordana is much more slippery feeling. I prefer the Milani.

NYX Milk // Jordana Eternal White

NYX Milk and Jordana Eternal white are matte whites, so identical in color, but again the textures differ. The NYX is not as smooth or creamy, and I find that it’s more likely to crease on me, because it doesn’t dry down as thoroughly. I prefer the Jordana.

Rimmel Paranoid Purple // Jordana Prolong Purple // UD 24/7 Delinquent

The Rimmel (reviewed here) is the shimmery, but not glittery, so although it’s close in color to the other two, it’s not a dupe. It gets very sheer when blended out. The Jordana and UD look like dupes to me, but again the textures differ – the Jordana is a touch softer than I prefer, and the UD is a touch harder than I prefer. I don’t really have a favorite out of these three.

Overall, I really like the Jordana pencils, especially when used as eyeliner or as eyeshadow base. I’m glad to have an alternative to NYX Milk, and if you missed out on Milani’s limited-edition neutral Shadow Eyez, the matte Jordanas are a great alternative. Recommended!

*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post does not contain any affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Drugstore Makeup Quick Reviews & Swatches, Part II

Milani Lip Flash gloss pencil in Hot Flash

It’s time for Round Two of drugstore makeup mini reviews (you can find round one here)! I seem to buy a lot of inexpensive drugstore makeup items, and never get around to reviewing them. Rather than let them languish in my unreviewed drawer, I’m posting some brief thoughts and swatches.

When I bought Milani Black Cherry lipstick, all the Milani Lip Flash gloss pencils were also on clearance – though I stopped by the same Walgreen’s today, and everything was back to regular price. Perhaps it was some kind of mistake? I picked up Hot Flash, an intensely pigmented and shimmery metallic red. I rarely wear shimmer on my lips, so I’m not sure how often I personally will wear this, but I can definitely see the appeal.

Milani Hot Flash

The texture is nice – smooth, only the slightest bit sticky, and comfortable to wear. If the color appeals to you, I think this is worth buying.

I’ve reviewed (and love!) several Jordana Easyliners for Lips, so I thought it was worth trying out a couple of the Easyliners for eyes. Like the lip pencils, the eye pencils are fully retractable, soft, pigmented, and creamy. The colors are bright and pretty. However, on the eyes, I found that they faded rather quickly.

Jordana Sea Green, Blue Devine, Purple Fusion

Overall, the Jordana Easyliners for eyes are nice choice to experiment with colors you don’t normally wear for a low price, but I’d go for something longer lasting if you plan to use them frequently.

ELF Matte Lip Color in Rich Red

ELF Matte Lip Color in Rich Red is definitely one of ELF’s better products. It’s a “modern matte” – mostly matte, but with a slight sheen. In an arm swatch, this pulled a bit pink on me, but freshly applied on the lips, it’s a true red, and a lovely one.

However, I found it faded fairly quickly to a pink-red color (keep in mind that most reds pull pink on me). If that doesn’t bother you, this is probably a good choice – it’s affordable, comfortable to wear, and long lasting. But, if the fading bothers you, I’d skip this one – the drugstore is full of affordable and fabulous reds!

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Jordana Tawny and Plush Plum Easyliner for Lips Review, Swatches, Photos

Jordana Easyliner for Lips: Plush Plum, Tawny, Sedona Red

As I mentioned at the end of my review of Jordana’s Sedona Red Easyliner for lips last week, I planned to buy a few additional shades of the Easyliner lip pencil to see if they lived up to Sedona Red in quality. After buying two more shades, the natural Tawny and the deep reddened plum Plush Plum, I’m happy to report that they do! The texture does vary a bit by shade, but I’m happy with the texture of each pencil.

I didn’t mention this in my original review, but these pencils are truly retractable – they twist both up and down, which I appreciate. And as you can see, the pencils are made of colored plastic that roughly matches the shade of lip liner – not exactly elegant, but definitely convenient.

Swatches:

Jordana Tawny Easyliner

Jordana Tawny Easyliner for Lips

Tawny is a neutral. It would work especially well under any sort of my-lips-but-better type shade, and could probably be worn under most lipsticks to extend the wear without significantly altering the color of the lipstick. Tawny has the driest texture of the three, as you can tell from the lip swatch – more of a classic lip pencil texture, rather than a lipstick texture. However, it didn’t drag or pull when I applied it, and I think the dryness means that it would actually wear quite well. The dryness also made it easy to apply precisely (although it’s a light color, so precision is less important).

Jordana Plush Plum Easyliner

Plush Plum is a gorgeous deep red/plum that I will happily wear on its own as a lipstick. It has the creamiest, softest texture of the three pencils. While that made it very easy to fill in my lips, it actually made it more difficult to get precise edges. When wearing this alone, I will apply, blot, and apply again. You know a lip liner is creamy if you need to blot it!

Here are all three lip pencils swatched together:

Jordana Easyliners: Tawny, Sedona Red, Plush Plum

Now I’m intrigued by the Easyliners for eyes. Hmm . . .

Jordana Sedona Red Easyliner for Lips Review, Swatches, Photos

Jordana Easyliner for lips – Sedona Red

I am usually not a lipliner girl, but I’ve heard good things about Jordana’s Easyliners for lips, so for $2, I thought I’d give one a try! It’s nice to have a red lip pencil on hand to ensure precision and extend the wear of red lipsticks, so I bought the shade Sedona Red – a clean, bright red.

When I first swatched, and then applied, the lip pencil, I was pleasantly surprised by the texture – it is very creamy. It’s the kind of texture you might expect from a chubby “lipstick” type pencil. It doesn’t drag or tug at all; and in fact, it’s creamy enough that it has a sheen when applied. It is fully opaque in one swipe. I wore it for two hours; at the end of the two hours, it still looked almost perfect. I didn’t find it drying or moisturizing.

Here it is applied; you can see the sheen. I would (and will!) absolutely wear this alone as a lipstick!

Overall, this is a great buy and I definitely recommend it. You can find Jordana products at Walgreen’s and Kmart, or online at Cherryculture.

I will be checking out more shades of the Jordana Easyliners for Lips for sure!

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