It would seem everyone has been raving about Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner for years and now I know why but although it is that good, I still prefer another...
For the past year now I've been wearing L'Oréal Infaillible Lacquer Liner in Slate which on me is just perfect since I can't wear black, well maybe I could but I don't feel comfortable with it. Green eyes with a rather pale complexion, I feel if I wear black it's the only thing we see. Slate is a dark grey/brown that goes with everything and with it I can do a thick line without looking like I'm coming out of the 60s and the fabulous thing about it is that it's matte!
Although I love L'Oréal's for everyday I wanted another just a tiny bit darker but again, not black and it too had to be matte. I found one in the Bobbi Brown's line up of gel liners, Caviar Ink.
This is my darkest eyeliner in years! In my teens my friends and I weren't makeup wearer but we did use a lot of black pencils. Maybelline, the little red one to be exact and not as an eye liner per say we used to apply it only on our waterline. Yup, it was a great look, made our eyes appear smaller! After that I was never much of a black wearer and for years went for a more smudged look but now powders and crayons don't work so well for me anymore. With deep set eyes and slight droopiness, liners end up on upper lids more often than not and if they don't fade evenly, raccoon eyes is what I get.
Why was it so hard to find a good one? The formula of course had to be tenacious but the color also had to be just right! You see, most companies will offer a limited number of options, mainly black, brown and sometimes more fashion forward colors like bronze and bright blue for example and those don't look so good on me. Tired of brown I wanted a dark grey with no shimmer! Tall order apparently because very few companies make them.
Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Caviar Ink...
I do think the picture shows clearly that it's not black, it's a smidgen lighter.
How I use it?
With a thin slanted brush. I'm actually looking for a new one since the one I have may die in the the next few months.
How does it perform? Very well.
It does stay put but maybe not quite as long as L'Oréal's on me. If I apply it at 8:00 in the morning, by 9:00 pm it doesn't seem as dark but there's no traces of it on upper lids so I have no idea where it goes... into thin air I guess. :)
The texture of Bobbi Brown, harder than the others I've tried so far. Compared to Clinique, M.A.C and L'Oréal I really had to go at it to have any product on my brush which surprised me a little. Because of this it takes a little more work and I wasn't able to do a straight line in one go.
Do I recommend Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner? Yes.
Even if I prefer L'Oréal Infaillible I know that, had I tried Bobbi Brown first I probably wouldn't have considered the lower priced drugstore option. It has good staying power and if black scares you, Caviar Ink is truly a good color to have a closer look at.
The only thing I don't like about Bobbi Brown's is the texture. Harder to get on the brush it takes a little more work to do an even crisp line and if you go over it too many times it starts to come off and this can be a bit of a pain. This could be because of my brush which might not have enough stiffness for this formula.
The fact that I still prefer L'Oréal is totally a personal thing because both do get roughly the same outstanding high scores.
Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner Reviews:
Makeup Alley: 4.4 / 5 lippies for 997 reviews.
Beauté-test: 4.3 / 5 stars for 252 reviews.
Which is your favorite "stay put holds like steel" eye liner?
Do you have a favorite eyeliner brush? Please let me know, I'll need a new one soon!
