Little Black Bow

Little Black Bow (part of the Glamour Daze collection) is one of my favourite fluideline gel eyeliners from MAC.

It's a dark grey shade with tiny little iridescent glittery particles, sooo pretty.
Little Black Bow is such a nice change from the bold black eyeliner that I normally wear (Blacktrack by Mac is my current 'go to'), it's nice to mix things up every once in a while, don't you think?
Seeing as it's a glittery shade, I know I should have really blogged about this for the Christmas and party season, but I totally forgot I had it, woops!

Gel liner application can be a little tricky if you aren't used to using a brush for your eyeliner. I know I struggled at first, but the more you practice, the easier you'll find it. I find Gel eyeliner the best for getting that really clean cut, precise line, like a ribbon effect.

Now let's talk staying power. Mac Fluidline eyeliners have the best staying power I've ever found in an eyeliner, by far! They literally don't budge, you can apply in the morning, wear all day, and head for a night out and it literally doesn't move. It's also really easy to remove too, perfect.

I didn't swatch this for you, as it seems to be difficult to capture on camera, I promise you it's gorgeous in real life though!

Little Black Bow is £15.50 for a 3g pot, which seems to last forever and ever! So it's completely justifiable.

Have you tried Little Black Bow? What's your 'go to' eyeliner?

Product Rave: By Terry Ombre Blackstar

When it comes to my minimal makeup it's mascara and a base, base being foundation and concealer, but there's one quick step that pulls everything together and takes a look from being minimal to slightly more polished, a pop of colour. The item in question that I've been gliding along my lower lash line for achieving this is By Terry Ombre Blackstar in 11 Beyond Gold.

The Ombre Blackstar are a cream eyeshadow pencil that have been in the range for a while but this shade is part of their fall collection. As far as eyeliner crayons go it's got it all, extremely pigmented, creamy, blendable and best of all doesnt tug at your eyes. In fact, it literally feels like silk gliding over your eyelids.

What impressed me the most was the most incredible lasting power...when applied at 8am, attended meetings and events all day, that evening at around 10pm got on a long haul flight and when I arrived in my hotel room at 5am, I was in absolute awe to see the golden eyeliner still in tact with only the slightest of fading on my waterline. Incredible.

Can't rave about it enough! Will be definitely be checking out some other shades...

Budget Buy: Bourjois Intuitive Liner

Bourjois Intuitive Liner £6.99

My fickleness really kicks in when it comes to eyeliners, especially liquid. There seem to be quite a few recently I've been loving, L'Oreal, Pixi and now Bourjois - which has something different to offer in comparison to the others. It's a liquid eyeliner pen with not one but three points! at first glance it just looks like a bit of a gimmick - something that would help but doesn't really. Well, im happy to report it really does!

Top - just eyeshadow Middle - with eyeliner Bottom - with mascara

The three lines are supposed to aid drawing a line, which I didn't find they did too much, but perhaps this is due to the fact that I dont normally struggle with eyeliner. When doing something like a cat eye it made more of difference as I could map out the shape I wanted before actually drawing the line. Where it really excells is in thickening my lashes. The little dots of liner pressed into my lashline it manages to fill in the little gaps aiding my lashes to look thicker and fuller without having to apply layers of mascara. Perfect for natural makeup days!

Easier to apply than a thin nibbed eyeliner like Hourglass Script (post here) and ideal for those who dont care for thick eyeliner but desire a much more natural look. In terms of formula it's a true black that's a little runny but once set doesnt budge. Clarins have released something similar, personally only trying the Bourjois I can't comment but I'm always keener for the less expensive alternative!

So you think you'll be picking this up or opting for a normal eyeliner?

It's time to let go, of everything we used to know

I'll admit it, I'm normally a huge snob when it comes to make-up brands. These eyeliners are probably the cheapest make-up items I have EVER purchased.
I've only recently been attempting to learn how to do liquid eyeliner (I know, I know, it's only taken me a whole 23 years). It always just seemed like more effort and trickier than pencil. 
It definitely gives a more clean, precise line than pencils, and doesn't tend to go smudgy either, so I suppose it depends what kind of look you are going for. I decided as my make-up course is creeping closer and closer (woop), I should probably try it out.

I bought the MUA liquid liner in shade 5 for £1. It's brilliant if like me, you are practicing how to use a liquid eyeliner, it means you won't be wasting a good quality liner.
The tip of the liner is really fine, which means you can get a really precise line, this is very tricky when you are used to using pencil though!
The first time I used this liner, the quality was great, I got a clean line and it was really jet black, very dramatic. It bloomin' well hurts if you get it in your eye though, so try not to overload the brush. 
After the first use, I found it went a little watery, and needs 2 or 3 layers to get a good line. Don't use any more than this though, otherwise it can get a little clumpy looking. The staying power isn't great, so I wouldn't recommend if you need to wear it for a long period of time as it can start wearing off and looking a little patchy , and if you try and fill it in, it begins to look clumpy. I really like the post though, it looks like a little ink well, how cute! For £1, to experiment with, I would say you can't really go wrong.

I've also only just started bothering to use white liner on my waterline too, I'm such a bad beauty blogger! I don't use this everyday, just if I'm having one of those days where I'm a little tried or hungover, and I want to look more awake. It really opens up your eye and makes you look brighter.
Although it's a really soft pencil and doesn't drag, I find I have to do a couple of lines before it shows up properly, the pigmentation isn't te best. Same again with the staying power too, you will need to top up every 3-4 hours really. I really like the fact that it comes with a little sharpener on the end. I don't know about you, but I can never seem to find my sharpener when I need it. So to have one on the lid is just pure genius in my opinion, and for £1!

I don't think I would purchase these eyeliners again, purely because of the poor staying power, I don't like wearing products that I have to keep touching up. As I said though, they are good to use if you are learning how to do eyeliner, as you wont be using up a more expensive one. Or if your in you teens and are just wearing them to school. They'd be great too if you'd forgotten your eyeliner that day and just wanted a cheap one temporarily!

Have you tried the Mua eyeliners before? Which eyeliners would you reccomend to me?
Oh, sorry for the lack of face with eyeliner on... every photo I took I looked like a greasy, tired mess. Currently cracking open the wine.

Budget Buy: Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner

One thing I hate about eyeliner is when it pulls against your eyes when applying (and actually really hurts!) My latest quest has been for the perfect, long-lasting, black eyeliner that glides on really easily and doesn't tug or pull. Welcome Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner Pencil! 

Before I even tried comparisons and tested longevity I was sold purely on how smooth the application was, glides on really easily, doesn't pull the skin and has, as the name would suggest, a gel texture. Above is Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner verses Mac Eye Khol in Smoulder. When first applied, after three hours, and after five hours. When first applied I really had to build the Mac pencil to get a colour whereas just a couple of sweeps of Avon was enough! After three hours the Avon pencil had lifted a little but not as significantly as the Mac & after 5 hours the Avon had hardly lifted anymore whereas Mac was hardly visible. To test out the colour pigment I then compared Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner with Mac Smoulder Eye Khol and MaxFactor Khol Kajal in 20 Black (below), the Avon was the clear winner as it was the deepest shade of black and after 3 swipes of my Bioderma makeup remover it was the strongest left!

Most importantly at £4.00 (normally 6 but currently on sale!) is a total bargain! Especially when you compare to Mac, which is more than three times the price at £14.00 and MaxFactor £4.99. I loved this so much I even bought another colour in the shade Blackberry!

You can buy Avon products online here, and find the SuperShock Gel Eyeliner here

Tool Kit: Foolproof Eyeliner Brush!

To avoid apply eyeliner ruining any makeup I've recently I've discovered a brush that has helped my though my eyeliner hazzards! The Smashbox Eyeliner Brush. No matter how much of a rush I'm in or how much or a hurry I apply eyeliner this brush just seems to work with me to make sure it's perfect! The bent brush is really simple to use - just lay the bent bit against your lid and drag outwards. Also a perfect brush for creating a cat eye or a flick     I find it works best when paired with a gel eyeliner, Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner is my favourite - link to post here, as it's so pigmented and very smooth!

Liana Beauty Award: Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner

Eyeliner is one of those tricky things but when done can make such a difference to one's eyes! I definitely prefer pencils as opposed to felt pens as personally I find them easier to apply and easier to blend. One that I've found myself picking up quite a bit recently is this Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner in Black.

A simple felt tip pen that is fine and stiff you could draw anywhere in between a really thin line to a quite a thick one. Above are two swatches, one pressed very lightly using just the tip, and one using the whole nip, you can see the difference in width is huge! Very pigmented, longlasting and once set it won't budge. To apply this I look down into a mirror and press the tip into my lash line and draw along just as you would with a felt tip marker.

If you're looking for an eyeliner to do a smokey eye that you can blend out I wouldn't recommend this, however if you like a nice neat defined line then look no further!

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner is £10.00 and available here or on asos here and from Harvey Nichols!