Category Archives: Eyeliner

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.

Gosh Golden Moss Velvet Touch Eyeliner – Swatch of the Day

Purchased

Gosh Makeup is a Denmark-based brand; it’s been available in the UK for quite a while, and has recently entered the US. As far as I know, it’s currently only available in-store at select Walgreens & Duane Reade stores. It’s available online at goshcosmeticsamericas.com; I can’t tell if the website is actually associated with Gosh or a reseller. Continue reading →

NYX Cobalt Blue Gel Liner & Smudger – Swatch of the Day

Purchased Affiliate Links

NYX Cobalt Blue

NYX Gel Eyeliner & Smudger is, I believe, a fairly new release. I purchased the shade Cobalt Blue (also known as Samantha, I have no idea why). There’s also a really lovely looking teal (known as Danielle) as well as your more standard black, brown, and dark brown.

I’ve only tested this out as an eyeliner. There was no smudging or smearing, but it faded some by the end of the day. The arm swatch stained my skin, but I didn’t notice any staining on my eyelids.

*I purchased this product. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen Review & Swatches

Purchase

The always-lovely Kate from Drivel About Frivol recently(-ish) wrote about Pixi’s Endless Silky Eye Pens. As I love a good eyeliner, I went out and bought one – I loved it so much that now I have four.

As you can see, these are not actually pens – they are pencils (the kind you sharpen – not twist-ups). The texture of the Pixi pencils is unique among pencil eyeliners I have tried. They’re very soft – they actually seem to me to be very, very similar to gel eyeliner in a pot, but in pencil form. They are so soft that I find it easiest to apply them with a brush rather than directly from the pencil. They set more slowly than other liners; they take 30-45 seconds to set if I use a small amount of eyeliner, which is the perfect amount of time to smudge them out. However, if I use too much product, they can take even longer to set, which usually results in a mess. Once set, however, they last all day without moving or smudging.

Black Blue // Black Tulip // Deep Plum // Sage Gold

Above, I’ve swatched the Pixi liners two ways. Each line is a single pass of the pencil; each square is a built up swatch. There’s not much difference between them because the pencils are so opaque on a single swipe. Note the different finishes – Kate classifies each of the pencils in the line in to one of three finishes in her post. I love the different colors and finishes – I’m very tempted to collect them all!

Overall, I really love the Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pens. They join Prestige Total Intensity and Rimmel Scandal Eyes pencils as some of my favorite eyeliners. Because they are softer take longer to set than other pencil liners I use, I tend to use them differently than the other liners I own. When I’m in a hurry, I don’t reach for these. But, when I want to take my time, I can make a crisp line or smudged line with ease.

The pencils are $15 each, but Target currently has a $5 off $15 purchase coupon for Pixi Beauty here – my computer let me print it out multiple times. You can also use the coupon online.

Are these pencils something you’ll be checking out?

NYC High Definition Liquid Eyeliner Review & Swatches

I have several NYC products to review – I was looking at the new NYC display at CVS, checking out the new products, and some of the new as well as some of the older products just jumped into my shopping basket! These will be brief reviews.

First up, the NYC High Definition Liquid Eyeliner, which is a felt-tip eyeliner pen. It has a fairly fine point, though not quite as fine as the Dollywink liner (which I have not reviewed, but is swatched in this post). It applies quite smoothly, even over eyeshadow, and though it’s not waterproof, it lasted all day for me. The major downside – and it’s quite a problem for me – is that it’s not black enough for me. Instead, it’s sheer black that looks quite gray.

one swipe // built up swatch

As you can see, even going over the line multiple times doesn’t make it a dark black. Thus, unless you prefer a sheer black (and I’m not sure that anyone does), this eyeliner is miss. My favorite drugstore eyeliner pen was – by far! – Milani’s limited edition Color Play liner from last summer, but unfortunately mine is on its last legs.

What’s your favorite pen-style eyeliner?

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Shadow Stick Review & Swatches

A few days ago, I reviewed the Rimmel Scandal Eyes eyeliners. I love them so much that I decided to try another product from the Scandal Eyes line – the shadow sticks. Like most shadow sticks, you’re supposed to be able to use these multiple ways – as eyeliner, as eyeshadow base, or eyeshadown (worn alone). There are nine shades available (or at least there are nine shades on the Ulta website – which may not have all of them) and I purchased two, Bulletproof Beige and Bad Girl Bronze.

Bulletproof Beige // Bad Girl Bronze

Above, I’ve swatched each shadow stick two ways. On the left, I have a heavy swatch, and on the right is a blended out swatch. If you use the shadow stick as eyeliner you’ll get something more like the heavy swatch – if you use it as an eyeshadow base or an eyeshadow, you’ll get something more like the blended swatch. Unfortunately, even if you use multiple layers, it doesn’t seem possible to build up the color to the opaque swatch level when you’re using it as an eyeshadow.

Edit: I like these enough that I went back and bought a third, Paranoid Purple. Here’s a quick swatch.

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Paranoid Purple

In terms of texture, these are very soft and creamy. I have some of the Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencils, and the Rimmel pencils are noticeably more creamy – the UD ones are much drier and more difficult to blend. I actually rarely use the UD ones because I have difficulty blending them – I much prefer the Rimmel texture!

I’m sure these will be compared to the Milani Shadow Eyez as well, but I haven’t tried those. From looking at reviews, it appears that the Milani shadow sticks may be more opaque. I’m not sure how the texture compares. I may need to buy one to compare myself! If you’ve tried the Milani ones, how would you describe the texture?

I’m sure everyone’s main question is how the Shadow Sticks last and whether they crease, and I’m happy to report that they last all day on me (10+ hours) with no creasing at all. Do note that I have slightly dry skin, so I can’t test how these would fare on someone with oilier skin.

Overall, I really like these – they’re creamy, blendable, and last all day. They’re good for a sheer wash of color and shimmer or as a base. The major downside is that you can’t build them up be opaque.

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