Bare Escentuals Round the Clock Waterproof Eyeliner - Review

I am truly a sucker for Bare Escentuals on QVC. It's like they know I have money, and they want me to give it to them, so they bring out only stuff that I would love, like brown sparkly eyeliners. And, despite my efforts to remind myself how much brown eyeliner I have, and how infrequently I use Bare Escentuals' products, my debit card comes out and I end up buying whatever the Today's Special Value is (which reminds me - they have one coming up soon! End of March, I think).

I was drawn to this liner because it promised to rival UD's 24/7 eyeliners, which are fabulous (except the color selection is somewhat weak, in my opinion). They claim to be long wearing, waterproof, creamy, and pigmented.

The color I ended up with is called 10 PM. It's a sparkly dark brown, and looks beautiful when swatched. The pencil barrel is black, with the product information printed in a soft silver tone. The end of the pencil is color coded for the eyeliner's color, much like MAC's Powerpoint pencils. The barrel is made of the same soft-ish plastic as Powerpoints and the 24/7 liners.

The color and formula of this liner is great, sort of. When first applied, it's beautiful - a deep, rich brown with shimmer. After a regular day of wear, though, the color morphed. Badly. It became a weird, antique green on my lids. This can mean one of two things: either the liner faded, or reacted with the oil on my lids or my eyeshadow/eyeshadow base. Either way, it doesn't bode well for a long wearing liner that is supposed to last "round the clock."

I wanted to like this liner, because it's so pretty, but if it can't last all day like other brands (Maybelline, MAC, UD, etc), then what's the point? I can't recommend this liner at all, based on my experience.

Smashbox Soft Effects Powder Eyeliner - Review

I'm a girl who loves her brown liner. Really. I wear brown liner every. single. day. Being pale, black often looks way to harsh, and most the shadows I wear look better with brown liner. I like deep brown liners, because they provide better definition than lighter browns. I don't mine matte liners, but I tend to like some sparkle.

After spending years ignoring Smashbox, I finally gave the line a try about 2 years ago, and I'm fairly impressed with the products they offer. Now that they're part of Estee Lauder's cosmetics empire, I'll be curious to see what changes will be made to their formulas. Anyway, I've been lusting after their Soft Effects Powder Eyeliners since they debuted in Smashbox's Spring 2011 collection, and finally had the $22 to plunk down (and got a nice Let's do Lunch freebie). After some hemming, I decided on the shade named "Brown." Smashbox's description of this product is:

The prettiest eyes nowadays are defined by diffused, never-harsh lines of color. Our unique powder formula makes application easy by mimicking the effect of a soft-focus lens.

This liner comes in a long, cone-shaped package. The applicator is similar to that of Guerlain's Kohl Liners, except it's a sponge tip, not plastic. It's... uhh.. interesting. The sponge-tipped proboscis is stored in a super tiny jar of liner powder. The problem that comes with this product is this: it's fallout prone. I really struggled with applying this liner without getting liner on the tops of my cheeks, and it think it was because I found it sort of hard to shake off enough powder before taking this product to my lid. I did find, however, the length of the applicator made it easy-peasy to make a winged-out liner look.

That'd almost be a saving grace for the Soft Effects liner, except I also noted this product isn't extremely pigmented, nor is it long-lasting on my lids (after the fallout issues, I didn't feel wearing this on my lower lashline was an option. I tried it. Once. I learned very quick it wouldn't work for me). About half way through my day, this liner had faded substantially. By the end of my day, it was gone.

Overall, I really wanted to like this product. It just didn't work, and it extremely expensive for something that doesn't last all day.

Ingredients:

Boron Nitride, Silica, Dimethicone, Polyethylene, Pentylene Glycol, Pumice, Kaolin, Dimethiconol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Phenoxyethanol, Dehydroacetic Acid. May Contain: Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Mica (CI 77019).