I’ve always wanted to use gel eyeliner, always wanted to compare it to liquid and pencil eyeliner and also see how well it lasts on my waterline. I’ve used a gel eyeliner before by Boot’s 17 but it dried within days and I had a feeling it wasn’t a good representative of all the other gel eyeliners in the market so I kept telling myself I will one day try a better quality one. Well now after about a year or so, or more probably, I finally got round to it and have purchased a few gel eyeliners to try out. Read on to see if I remained disappointed or did indeed change my mind. [For swatches, scroll right to the bottom]

[For swatches, scroll right to the bottom]

I ended up going all out and purchasing three gel eyeliners and a gel eyeliner brush. I was then kindly given the chance to try an Avon version, and automatically I thought ‘yes! perfect opportunity to compare’. I picked up two MAC fluidlines as I heard so many good reviews about them and I also grabbed a Bobbi Brown Long-Wear gel eyeliner simply to try a different brand. The Avon one is a Super Shock eye liner, I’ve tried the gel eyeliner pencil and am extremely impressed so I thought it would be good to see how well the gel compares. The brush I picked up was the MAC 266, which is NOT synthetic bristles. I now wish I picked up the synthetic version as it work well with cream products but what can you do? It does the job and I’m not disappointed in it. I may purchase the 208 which looks like it would do a better job and use the 266 for my brows as it is amazing for that. It is priced at £16.00

I knew straight away that I needed to try MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack. I love how creamy it is and I now use this every time I decide to line my eyes, I no longer use liquid eye liner! Do I prefer it overr liquid eyeliner? It depends really, gel eyeliner seems to give a more soft lined look and liquid provides much more crisp lined eyes. So I think I like both, but if I have one I can definitely live without the other. I really do love the creamy texture, and it stays well on my waterline. The colour is pure black, not that grey black, and I haven’t got anything bad to say about it. You can pick it up for £14.00

This is MAC Fluidline in Dipdown. It’s a lovely matte brown and has all the amazing creamy qualities like Blacktrack. I purchased this because sometimes I want a little softer look for my eyes, and after using this in a bridal make over on a client, I decided I needed one for myself. Staying power is good, and it doesn’t smudge. I’m happy with it and I realise now I need to start using it more because I keep going back to Blacktrack and neglecting this one. Again this is £14.00

This is the Bobbi Brown Long Wear gel eyeliner in Colbat Ink that I picked up. From the pictures online it looked like a navy blue, but a navy blue that looked more blue than black, does that make any sense. Because I love navy blue eyeliner, or blue eyeliner full stop but this product has disappointed me a lot. When I put it on, it looks more black than anything really and doesn’t translate from what you see in the pot when applied. Also the texture, it’s not anywhere close to as creamy as the MAC Fluidlines and is more stiff to work with. On the plus side, it does stay on the waterline really well but if I could go back I probably wouldn’t have purchased it. Some people like the texture a lot but I guess it is more personal preference really. You can pick it up £17.00 but I would recommend seeing it in person first.

Now some good news to balance out the negative above. I was given the chance to try this Avon Super Shock gel eye liner in Shimmering Sapphire and it is exactly the kind of blue I was searching for. And the texture, it glides on really well and is creamy too. It is still navy blue enough for me but bright enough to notice that you are wearing a colour other than black. Staying power is really good, it doesn’t smudge at all and stays on the waterline. I don’t think it can beat Avon’s Super Shock eye liner pencil in the eye liner battle but what can realistically? I really do love it and it’s the cheapest of the lot at £6.oo.

Bobbi Brown & Avon side by side

Swatches

A closer look

Hope you all enjoyed reading the post, and my thoughts on the eye liners. Overall, gel eyeliners are definitely a yay, I can see myself repurchasing MAC Fluidline and Avon over and over. I hope you all have a lovely day and I shall be speaking to you soon! 

Tanzina x

Hi lovelies, how you all holding up. Currently I am redecorating and juggling a new job whilst guilt eats away at me due to not blogging as often as possible. However hopefully all will turn out okay, and I will have a newly decorated room as a backdrop for pictures I post on here. I thought for today’s post I would share with you brushes I’m currently using and loving. 

As you can see, the brand of brushes I’ve been playing around with for the past few months is Japonesque. Japonesque was brand I pretty much never heard of until I spotted a few of their brushes in my local Boots. I’ve gone on to discover much more from the brand, you can read about one of my amazing slash life changing discoveries [here]. I have two full sized brushes from the brand and three travel size brushes. I’m not much of a foundation user, so I probably haven’t used the Pro Angled Foundation brush enough to give you a full in depth review of it, however I’ve not had an issue with it the amount of times I have tried it. The bristles are firm and spread foundation evenly, and I think I prefer the angled tip over rounded tip as it meant I was able to get underneath my eyes and sides of nose (basically all the difficult areas) really comfortably. I like to give honest and reliable reviews to you all, so I really can’t say much more on the brush with such little use. However maybe when I do start getting a bit more use, I shall let you know.

This is the travel size Blush brush, and without doubt my favourite from all the brushes. I use this so often so applying blush, powder and umm more blush? I love how soft the bristles are and how nicely the bristle deposit colour on my cheeks. I honestly have no idea how brush technology works, and won’t attempt to understand it however whatever they are doing with this brush they should do it to all! I’m not one to rave about a product unless I really do love it and I do love this little beauty. Also, I love the fact that it is travel size, I’m not too much of a fan of full size brushes, I don’t know why but I guess I’m just not. I find travel size ones are much more handy and easier to use and of course perfect for travel. If I haven’t stressed enough I absolutely adore this. I need to get more!

This is another firm favourite of mine, but not as much as the Blush brush. I introduce you to the travel Smudger brush, the first of its kind I have tried. Of course it comes in a really handy size but more than that, it helps make the ultimate smokey eye look perfect. I love a good smokey eye, it’s my most favourite eye makeup look to do but I do struggle to blend efficiently along the bottom lash line. As I like to accentuate the bottom lash time with mascara, sometimes accidents do happen and you end up with a mascara smudge just below the lash line. This brush has helped save me from starting all over again and instead I just smudge, blend and smoke it out. It has become a staple in my smokey eye creation, and it’s bristles are small enough to ensure that when I do smoke it out I don’t end up like a drag queen.

My experience with Japonesque brushes has been great and now I have the urge to go and grab more from their brush range. I think I will be heading for the travel collection for my little hands however if your trying to find which range is perfect for you I would suggest trying both full and travel size just to see the difference. You can pick up Japonesque brushes and goodies from HQhair who I have just spotted have an offer on the UD Naked palette. Spend a £100 and you get one free! If I hadn’t already picked one up ages ago I would have done all my summer beauty shopping just then! (Lucky escape bank balance!) Until next time have a lovely week and I shall try fit you in between my redecorating! Tanzina x