This is going to be a review on some dollar e.l.f. eyeliner products - three of the Brightening Eye Liners and one of the Shimmer Eyeliner Pencils. I love eyeliner, which is funny because I usually only ever wear black liner, but...I like branching out. Or, rather, pretending that I'm branching out. These liners are super cheap, but they aren't the only cheap things, as far as liners are concerned. Both Wet N Wild and N.Y.C. make liners for only a buck as well, and they're longer than these.Clicking on that picture will take you to my Eyeliner Smörgåsbord post, which is all things eyeliner. It's still a work in progress right now, but hopefully it will be done by tonight!
Let's start w/ the Brightening Eye Liners. e.l.f.'s website says:
Gel-powder formulation infused with skin soothers instantly brightens and glides on smoothly without tugging the delicate eye area."
This liner comes in six standard colors and one new color. You can find these liners at Targets, Hardings, Big Lots...I've seen e.l.f. in Meijer stores as well. You can also buy these online and if you're able to get a coupon code, you could get these liners for as cheap as 50 cents.
As far as the description goes, I don't notice any brightening effects or skin soothing, to be totally honest. I am not a huge fan of these...the matte colors are hard and waxy and you have to drag them on the skin to get color payoff. They also don't last more than an hour or so in my waterline. The black isn't the blackest black liner either. These also smudge. They don't claim to be long lasting or waterproof, so I don't hold that against them, but they tend to smear on my lower lashline. I do really like "Gilded" though. It's a pretty orangey-gold liner that has a nice metallic look to it. It's also a lot creamier than the "Black" or "Coffee" liners so maybe the matte colors are just waxier than the frosty ones. "Coffee" is a light matte brown and it tends to disappear into my eyelid. It could just be that it is so light and I have a bit of a driver's tan going on.
L-R: "Black", "Coffee", and "Gilded".
Moving on to the Shimmer Eyeliner Pencil. e.l.f. says:
Instantly brighten eyes with e.l.f.’s shimmering metallic liners that put the spotlight on eyes. The smooth formulation glides on effortlessly without tugging at the delicate eye area. Choose from an assortment of 9 delicious and essential shades designed to add depth, definition and a special sparkle to create a very glamorous look! Pencil includes a convenient sharpener cap for easy use!"
These come in some pretty snazzy colors. There are some pretty jewel-tones that I'm interested in. I have only seen these come in sets in stores and not sold by themselves, so I'm thinking you'll have to order online. There are nine colors.
As far as the formulation goes, this pencil glides on my eye a lot easier than the Brightening Eye Liners. These aren't glitter liners, they've just got a noticeable shimmer to them. I've never been able to find a shimmery black liner pencil that is dark, and that is true for "Black Bandit" as well. It comes off as a deep shimmery charcoal, possibly because of the shimmer, which is silvery. It's pretty, but I like BLACK liners. I've used this in my waterline, even though you're probably not supposed to, and it lasted around an hour. This is also smudgy, probably because it's softer than the other liners. I have a love/hate relationship w/ those pencil sharpener caps. They're super convenient, don't get me wrong, but I take whatever eyeliner I wear for the day w/ me in my purse and sometimes the sharpener cap ends up shifting and sharpening the pencil in my bag! Haha, that's not a flaw w/ the product itself, that's just my personal fail, but I do put a different cap on it when I want to take this w/ me.
So I purchased two more colors: "Grassy Green" and "Twinkle Teal" and DAMN ARE THEY PRETTY. So, again, I highly recommend the Shimmer Eye Pencils but not the regular eye liners.
Alright, that's all for this review! For more e.l.f. Essentials dollar product reviews, go here!
