Majolica Majorca Jeweling Pencil Eyeliner Swatches

Majolica Majorca is the offshoot of Shiseido, the Japanese brand famous for skincare, as well as makeup. Majolica Majorca is very popular among Asian girls, with its "Shiseido-for-a-cheaper-price" appeal. That said, I have to admit, Majolica Majorca is one of the better Asian drugstore brands I've seen to date, with their quality of products.

Majolica Majorca has a line of pencil eyeliners, called the Jeweling Pencil Eyeliners. Why they're called Jeweling is a mystery to me, but I guess it's a reference to the sparkles in the pencil eyeliners, since it's definitely not the colours.



L - R: BK999, BK901, BL503, PK204, BR606, Marble 71, Green Jewel GR522, Amber Flakes BR633

BK999 is a soft matte black.
BK901 is a black with sparse silver glitter.
BL503 is a deep colbalt blue with sparse silver glitter.
PK204 is a frosty pale pink. Pink eye anyone? LOL. This would probably be good on the waterline.
BR606 is a warm yellow brown with sparse gold shimmer.
Marble 71 is a frosty gold that isn't that greatly pigmented.
Green Jewel GR522 is a light grass green with gold shimmer. The shimer in GR522 is a bit denser than in the other colours.
Amber Flakes BR633 is a deep brown, less warm than BR606, with gold shimmer. I'm not sure if I'd call it amber flakes, but it's pretty. Again, the glitter in this is denser than the other shades.

I don't know why some of the shades have shade names and some don't, but I guess the ones with the names were part of a later release. These went on with a nice glide, and were decent in pigmentation, althought they didn't stay that long.

Majolica Majorca Neo Automatic Eyeliner Swatches

Majolica Majorca is a drugstore brand of cosmetics hailing from Japan, and is actually marketed as a subsidiary of Shiseido, a more upmarket Japanese brand of cosmetics and skincare. As a result, Majolica Majorca has gotten a lot of fans (you know, the whole "upmarket cosmetics for drugstore price" thing). That's not to say it isn't good, though. I think it has one of the better lineup of products among Asian brands.



Today's swatches are simple and short, featuring the Neo Automatic Eyeliner. These are liquid eyeliner in the form of a click-pen dispenser. Yes, a click-pen dispenser just like those Stila Lipglazes. That is rather unfortunate, in my opinion, because the liquid eyeliner tends to collect and harden up in the brush dispenser, and basically render the brush rather gunked up and useless.

Unfortunately I was only able to swatche two of the entire range. The rest of the testers were all gooped up, and it was impossible to get any product out of them at all.



L-R: GR555, GD833

GR555 is a gorgeous olive green with a metallic finish. I love olive greens, so this one is right up my alley.

GD833 is another lovely colour - this time it's a metallic gold. Not an ugly, brassy, orange gold though - this one is more of an antique gold that is very wearable.

Packaging flaws aside, the Neo Automatic Eyeliners are actually of good quality. The pigmentation is superb, and the staying power is also really good. I had to remove these swatches with makeup remover! So it's really just a matter of whether you'd like to put up with the fussy packaging. I actually really like the colours and the staying power, I'd be a lot more tempted if the packaging was more practical.

GOSH Extreme Art Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner Swatches Part 1

GOSH is one of the most underrated UK drugstore brands ever. Sleek and Barry M get more coverage (probably because they seem to engage in PR activities more), but I personally am more drawn to GOSH's colour selection and quality. Everything I've tried from GOSH, I've liked, and I can't say the same about Barry M or Sleek. And I've tried quite a bit from GOSH - so far, I've tried and liked the nail polishes (I still remember my first love, GOSH Holographic), lipsticks, eyeshadows, eyeliners, and lipglosses.

The Extreme Art Waterproof eyeliners are, indeed, waterproof. In fact, once you let these "set" for awhile, they seriously DON'T FREAKING BUDGE. These are probably the most long-lasting eyeliners I've come across, and thus excellent value for the price. I've worn these on a night out, and despite sweat and rubbing, they were still there at the end of the night. What's more, they come in such a wide range of colours - there's going to be a few you'll need to pick up.



L-R: Black 07, Metallic Grey 25, Dark Purple 01, Light Blue 08, Middle Blue 09, Cobalt Blue 10, Green 12, Light Green 05, Olive Green 06, Orange 03, Gold 13, Metallic Brown 24

Black 07 is jet inky black. It's one of the few colours that's not metallic or shimmery in finish.

Metallic Grey 25 is a gunmetal metallic grey with silver shimmer bits. Quite pretty, methinks.

Dark Purple 01 is one of my favourites! It's like Urban Decay's Rockstar, only in liquid form (which makes it last longer, on me at least), and it also has this metallic sheen to it.

Light Blue 08, Middle Blue 09 and Cobalt Blue 10 - GOSH obviously loves the fans of blue eyeliner because they have made three shades for them! They're all similar, but as you can see in the swatches they're not all alike. Light Blue 08 is a metallic sky blue, Middle Blue 09 is a darker blue (but it's still quite light), and Cobalt Blue 10 isn't quite my idea of cobalt blue at all, but it's a pretty metallic blue nonetheless. To me these are all variations on sky blue.

Green 12 is a straight up green. Not much to say here. Neither too blue nor too yellow.

Light Green 05 is not only lighter than Green 12, but it's also more yellow in undertone, and more metallic.

Olive Green 06 is another of my favourites! I love olive greens though, so I'm totally biased. But I love this, it's a very wearable neutral that still adds some colour to your eye look. It also has specks of silver shimmer in it.

Orange 03 is a light yellowy orange, while Gold 13 looks more like Orange Part Two to me...it doesn't look gold to my eye, but it does look like an ambery-orange.

Metallic Brown 24 is just that - metallic brown with just a hint of red. A very safe work option.

GOSH Extreme Art Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner Swatches Part 2

GOSH is usually one of those brands associated with boring neutrals, instead of brights and unusual colours. But there are surprises in that line, too. Like their Extreme Art eyeliners - they actually have glitter shades in there, and five of them, and some of them are actually pretty unique and very multi-dimensional. For a drugstore brand, the colour selection of glitter shades is pretty impressive. I only wish the glitter in these were denser, because for some of these shades, you'll need to go over the line a couple of times to achieve full opacity.



L-R: Multi Glitter Top Coat 18, Silver Glitter 19, Silver 14, Light Purple 17, Purple Glitter 26, Aqua 11, Aqua Glitter 21, Green Gold Glitter 22, Dragon Green 23, Light Yellow 04, Copper 02

Multi Glitter Top Coat 18 is pretty cool. It's a clear base with glitter bits that sparkle gold? silver? something pretty cool. I only wish the glitter was denser in this one, but I guess it's a top coat, right?

Silver Glitter 19 is just that - silver glitter in a clear base. Very nice if you like that sort of thing.

Silver 14 is a metallic platinum shade of silver. If you wanted a metallic silver, but didn't like Silver Glitter, this might do the trick instead.

Light Purple 17 is a gorgeous light lilac purple shade. Very pretty and girly.

Purple Glitter 26 - OMG this is totally awesome. Definitely my favourite of the bunch, and I don't even like glitter! For one, the glitter in this one is slightly finer than some of the other colours, and it's also denser. And - it has holographic glitter! This has got to be the only eyeliner I know of with holographic glitter! It's absolutely gorgeous, and my swatch did not do this one justice at all. There are two types of glitter in this one - a purple/silver metallic glitter, and holographic glitter. The net result combines to give a very multi-dimensional shade that looks purple in some lights, silver in others, and still black in yet other lights, AND also has holographic glitter to boot. Very very cool. Awhile back there was a shade of nail polish by OPI called Mad As A Hatter that was wildly popular, and this is the eyeliner equivalent of that nail polish.

Aqua 11 is a bright and pretty Aqua blue. Very glowy.

Aqua Glitter 21 doesn't look aqua in my swatch, but it's aqua/silver/gold in real life. The glitter bits shift colours with the light, and I think there's more than one colour of glitter in there. Very multi-dimensional, and even though I don't like glitter I can appreciate that.

Green Gold Glitter 22 is a metallic glitter that looks simultaneously green and gold. I kind of like it. Like Aqua Glitter, I think there's more than one colour of glitter inside. I think some of the glitter is the same in both colours though, which is why they look similar.

Dragon Green 23 is a grassy green shade that is darker than Light Green (which was swatched in the previous post). It has a metallic gold flash that makes it interesting.

Light Yellow 04 is a pale banana yellow with a metallic finish.

Copper 02 is a metallic copper shade, and this does look like copper to me. A little boring, maybe, but still quite pretty.

Bright Summer Eye: Collection 2000 Glam Metallics Coloured Eyeliner Swatches

Summer is always perfect for brights - bright nail polish, bright clothes, and bright makeup (not necessarily all at once, of course - but then again, why not?). For girls who aren't comfortable with bright nail polish or bright clothes, bright makeup is a good way to start off bringing some summer into your look. It's always good to pick one feature (lips, eyes, cheeks) and put a pop of colour onto it, like a bright lipstick in an otherwise-neutral face. But my favourite by far is to wear entirely neutral makeup, but with bright eyeliner. That way, your look isn't drastically changed (after all it's only a line or two of colour), but you get in on the brights trend.

Today's trend-related swatches are the Collection 2000 Glam Metallics Coloured Eyeliners. That's a long name, LOL! Collection 2000 is the Wet n' Wild of the UK - the cheapest drugstore brand for makeup you'll possibly find. The last time I talked about this brand, I swatched some of their eyeshadow palettes HERE, but I didn't think they were all that special. However, this time unlike the eyeshadows, the Metallic eyeliners aren't too shabby.

Here's a peek. Don't they look nice and metallic?



L-R: Vinyl 1, Fierce 2, Ripped 3, Groupie 4, Punk 5, Grunge 6

Vinyl 1 is a pretty metallic silver, that really looks like metal.

Fierce 2 is a metallic gold, and this one also does look really gold.

Ripped 3 is a lilac purple, very pretty and a nice feminine twist on metallic eyeliner.

Groupie 4 is really cool. It's a turquoise aqua colour, and I think this one does have a slight gold sheen to it. It's not a duochrome, but just a slight sheen. It makes it a little more unique.

Punk 5 is a sky blue that's pretty bright.

Grunge 6 is a light yellow green, that reminds me of grass.

I noticed that when I swatch these they were decently pigmented. Not massive pigmentation, mind you, but decent, especially given the price. And another thing that I thought was good, was that after I had swatched them, I tried to wipe them off, and I found that a couple of the colours left a stain behind on my skin. I'm just going to take that to mean that these things have decent staying power, hopefully. It's hard to tell when you're just swatching them. But in terms of colour and pigmentation, these are not bad at all.

Glitter Summer Eye: Collection 2000 Glam Crystals Dazzling Gel Liner Swatches

If you are unafraid of glitter, then glitter eyeliner will probably be one of your staples during summer. Glitter eyeliner is a good way to jazz up an otherwise neutral face. While I myself personally am glitter averse (I'm eternally worried that the glitter bits will irritate my eyes), it seems to look good on others. And since glitter seems to be synonymous with summer, I figure why not swatch them for you guys?

Today's glitter eyeliners are the Collection 2000 Glam Crystals Dazzling Gel Liner. These are basically bits of glitter suspended in an almost-clear gel base. Because of this, they are perfect for layering over non-glitter eyeliner to give a little bit of bling to your look.



L-R: Glitz 1, Funk 3, Hustle 4, Le Freak 5, Night Fever 6, Dancing Queen 8, Retro Chic 9, Shake It Up! 11, Spandex 12

Glitz 1 is a silver glitter suspended in a clear base. This one had one of the denser glitters of the entire range.

Funk 3 is a yellow gold glitter in a clear base. As you can see, this one had less dense glitter than Glitz. This colour is pretty cool though. It's more yellow gold and not orange gold.

Hustle 4 is super super cool. Have you heard of OPI's polish Mad as a Hatter? It was a totally cool bottle of polish, consisting of multicoloured glitter in the bottle, and it looks kind of purple-silver-black on. Well, Hustle is like the eyeliner version of Mad as a Hatter. The swatch doesn't do it justice at all. It looks like a silver, but it's a lot more multi-dimensional than that. Sometimes it looks purple, sometimes silver, sometimes black-ish. It's a beauty.

Le Freak 5 is a turquoise aqua glitter in sheer turqoise gel.

Night Fever 6 is a colbalt blue glitter in a clear gel.

Dancing Queen 8 is a rosy red glitter in a clear gel.

Retro Chic 9 is a gold glitter in a clear gel, but this one is more orange than Funk.

Shake It Up! 11 is a blurple (a mix between blue and purple) in a matching blurple gel base. This one is also pretty cool. It's more purple than Night Fever for sure, and it's a very pretty stunning colour.

Spandex 12 is a yellow green glitter in a clear gel. On closer inspection this one has two kinds of glitter, green and yellow. Or is it my eyes playing tricks on me? It's hard to tell.

So what do you guys think? Is glitter eyeliner cool, or is it a no-no for you?

Sleek Ink Pot Swatches, and a Dupe for Bobbi Brown Violet Gel Liner!

Sleek Ink Pots are their gel eyeliners, in a small pot form, not unlike the packaging of Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners, or the MAC Fluidlines. The big differences is that these are packaged in a plastic pot, and are a lot cheaper. The range of colours is small, since they only have 5 colours, but nevertheless, there are some beauties in the bunch.

The first thing I noticed about these was that they always seem to be sold out at my nearest Superdrug. Sometimes entire racks of colours are empty. I've no idea why though. They do seem pretty popular. With the exception of one or two bright colours, the colour range is also incredibly subtle, making them perfect colours for work.

Here are swatches, as always:



L - R: Bobbi Brown Indigo Gel Eyeliner, Sleek Ink Pot in Denim 495, Sleek Ink Pot in Espresso 496, Sleek Ink Pot in Purple Rain 497, Sleek Ink Pot in Zest 501, Sleek Ink Pot in Dominatrix 498, Bobbi Brown Violet Gel Eyeliner

Denim 495 is a beautiful cobalt blue. At first I thought this might be close to Bobbi Brown Indigo Gel Eyeliner, so I swatched my pot of Indigo next to the Sleek colour, but no dice. I like Denim, though, it's a very beautiful glowy blue that's not too bright, and not too muted.

Espresso 496 is your basic matte dark brown. This one is a cool-toned brown, so no orange here. It's also so dark it's almost black, but when swatched next to Dominatrix 498, you can tell they're not close. This one might be good for girls who want an alternative to black eyeliner.

Purple Rain 497 is one of those colours that make people drool over Sleek. You know me, you know I love purples (for nail polish, eyeliners, eyeshadows and accessories), and you know Sleek's Purple Rain is just going to be up my alley! But seriously. This colour is gorgeous. It's a lovely jewel-toned violet that is still subtle enough for the office. I love it! It's glowy, and beautiful, and the colour is just to die for.

Zest 501 is a bright happy matte primary yellow. For some reason the texture of the tester in this one wasn't as good as the others. I'm not sure if it's just been abused more by people sampling it, or if it's the actual formulation of the eyeliner.

Dominatrix 498 is your basic matte black. Nothing much to be said - it's a flat out black.

And if you didn't already notice, I swatched Bobbi Brown's Violet Gel Eyeliner next to the Sleek Ink Pot Swatches because I thought they looked really similar - and lo and behold! We have a dupe! Well not a 100% dupe, but this is as close as dupes ever get! They're almost identical! When I swatched the Sleek Ink Pots, I was all over Purple Rain, and no wonder - I already have something like it! They're both jewel-toned purply violets with a certain muted-ness that makes them work-appropriate, and they both have that lovely glowy shimmer I love so much. In fact, I do think the Sleek is slightly more glowy than the Bobbi Brown, but I'm splitting hairs here - honestly if you wore Sleek Purple Rain on one eye and Bobbi Brown Violet on the other, I don't think I'd see a difference.

Now I'm sure you're wondering how these compare quality-wise to the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners. Well first of all, let me state that Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners are my ABSOLUTE favourite, and it's hard to top that. So when I did my comparison swatches, I left them on my hand for awhile (so yes I was in fact going about my business in central London with eyeliner swatches on my hand - the things I do in the name of beauty! The great thing about London is that there are so many weird people I hardly stand out :P ). And after that, when I got home, I attempted to test the staying power of the eyeliners by smudging them around with my fingers, and then by washing them off with water. When it comes to smudging, the Bobbi Brown obviously won out, but I have to give kudos to Sleek for trying. Both Indigo and Violet barely smudged, while the Sleek Ink Pots smudged somewhat. Not a lot, but definitely more than Bobbi Brown. Given how cheap these are, and given that Sleek is a drugstore line, I'm actually really impressed. And then I subjected the entire batch of swatches to running tap water, with a bit of rubbing. Oops. The Sleek colours washed off almost entirely, while the Bobbi Browns stayed on for much longer. So while I'm really impressed with how the Sleek Ink Pots seem to be pretty smudge-resistant, I don't think they're actually waterproof, so if you're planning on going swimming with these on....please don't. But if you're not entering the water, I think these are actually pretty good for day-to-day usage, since they hold up well to smudging.

Another comparison I want to make between the Bobbi Brown Gel Liners and the Sleek Ink Pots is the level of pigmentation and texture. As you might expect, the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners were a lot more pigmented than the Sleek Ink Pots. I only needed 1-2 swipes for the Violet Gel Eyeliner swatch, and 1 swipe for the Indigo swatch, but each of the Ink Pot swatches took about 3 swipes or so. Some Ink Pots are more pigmented than others though. I found Zest, the bright yellow, to have the least pigmentation, while other colours were generally decently good. Also, the texture of the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners is much better than that of the Sleek Ink Pots. In general they were much smoother and softer, although I might add that since I was using testers for the Sleek Ink Pot swatches, they could have just dried up due to being tested multiple times a day. So I'm not really in a position to comment on that.

I pretty much like these Ink Pots, given the price. They're decently pigmented, are pretty smudge-resistant (on my hand at least), and value-for-money. And if I ever run out of my Bobbi Brown Violet Gel Eyeliner and happen to be on a budget, I'd give Sleek Purple Rain a shot!

GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner Swatches!

Today, I bring you GOSH Velvet Touch pencil eyeliner swatches! These babies are totally awesome. They're my second favourite brand for pencil eyeliners, and that's saying a lot because those of you who know me will know that nothing, and absolutely NOTHING, can top my love for Urban Decay's 24/7 pencil liners, so to be second is a big wow.

These are of really good quality. They glide on just as smoothly as the Urban Decay 24/7s, and they are just as creamy. They also last for almost as long, and are a lot cheaper too. And they have an awesome range of colours too - the swatches below aren't everything, but they're what my Superdrug had testers for, so there are actually other colours out there that I didn't swatch. I really highly recommend these with all my heart, I do love them so.

Some of the liners had numbers with the names, and some didn't, so that explains the inconsistent labelling. Don't ask me why though - they were all Velvet Touch Eyeliners (i.e. the eyeliners that were in non-twist pencil form with the cap). I'm pretty sure they're all from the same range, but if I got anything wrong, let me know!

And, here we go! Swatches:



L - R: 010 Copper Girl, 008 Silver Screen, Purple Stain, Green Grass, Golden Moss, Woody Green, Cool Mint, Pretty Petrol, Black Ink, 001 Blue Moon, 002 Girl Power, 004 Green Boost, 005 Golden Cadillac, 003 Green Devil, 006 Bananas, 007 Alligator

Most of the names are pretty self-explanatory, so I guess I'll keep my chatter to a minimum today. Most of the colours have shimmer that gives a certain sheen to them, although a couple are matte, and some have a metallic or duochrome finish. Surprisingly, because of the greyed-out nature of most of the blues and greens, especially the darker ones, they're actually more wearable than they look at first glance.

010 Copper Girl is a bronzey brown that's on the warm side - I could see this veering pretty orange if you're really cool-toned.

008 Silver Screen is a pure platinum silver. Very pretty. As you can see this one has a nice metallic finish that really makes it stand out as compared to just pure grey. I like this one.

Purple Stain is really cool. I think it might have had a slight blue/purple duochrome that the swatch didn't fully capture, and is a very pretty violet-purple that leans blue.

Green Grass is is a mid-tone green that is neither too yellow nor blue (as opposed to the yellow-green 003 Green Devil, or the blue-green 007 Alligator), and it's a pretty basic green.

Golden Moss is one of my favourites, as it's a very pretty olive green, and it reminds me of Urban Decay's Stash 24/7 liner. You know I love a good olive green eyeliner, so I'm all over this one.

Woody Green is a very pretty greyed teal. I don't know why they called it Woody Green, seeing how it has so much blue in it. Nevertheless, this is really pretty, and one of my favourites. It's a dark bejewelled teal that is pretty, and lends a pop of colour, but the way the colour is greyed keeps it muted and wearable.

Cool Mint is one of those colours I'd ooh and aah over, but would never dare to wear (I know, I'm a wimp). It's positively glowing in this swatch, and has a slightly frosty metallic finish. So pretty.

Pretty Petrol is a it's a bright but wearable colbalt-bordering-on-navy blue. I like how it's a cross between colbalt and navy - it's wearable, but still pops for a bit of colour.

Black Ink is a flat out matte black, so that's one to look at for those who are looking for a good basic black eyeliner, or who want a cheaper version of Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in Zero.

001 Blue Moon is a blue with shimmer. Your basic mid-toned shimmery blue.

002 Girl Power is an orange shimmer. I wouldn't wear such a colour, but hey, how often do you see orange eyeliners around?

004 Green Boost is a pastel pale jade or mint green - sort of like Chanel Jade (and all its imitators) but in eyeliner form, instead of nail polish form. If anyone liked the whole mint green or jade green nail polish trend and wants to try it in eyeliner form, this is it. It's also got a frost finish to it.

005 Golden Cadillac is a sunny bright yellow. It's a good primary yellow - the kind you see in colour charts.

003 Green Devil is a yellow-green, and it reminds me of grass more than Green Grass. But it's a great green for very warm-toned girls who find most green eyeliners tend to pull blue on them.

006 Bananas is another one I like. It's a shimmery vanilla yellow that does remind me of the inside of bananas. For girls who like to rim their waterline with light colours, or use a light-coloured eyeliner in the inner corners of their eyes, this is a good one.

007 Alligator is a pretty slightly greyed blue-green that reminds me of emeralds. I like the jewel tone of the colour.

Gel Eyeliner Swatches and Review! Bobbi Brown, MAC, Stila, Etude House

Today's swatches are also featuring my stash! Yay! Some time ago I did a post on my stash pics (which you can read about here), and it had a measly number of gel eyeliners. Well, since then, I've acquired a couple more, and now I can show them all off!

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a bright colours person when it comes to eyeliner (or for that matter, makeup in general), but I swear, although they're almost all neutrals, they're all different!

Most of these that I've shown here are pretty awesome - as everyone knows, Bobbi Brown is pretty much the queen of gel eyeliners, and MAC is her little more tempremental daughter, and Stila is the court jester who spouts out golden gems in between bit of rubbish. That's my opinion of it, anyway. But I do love them so, and all of these are pretty good, although some are better than others, and I'll go into more detail when I discuss each individual colour. In general though, the Bobbi Brown ones have the best texture, consistency and pigmentation, although the rest are pretty good too. That being said, there's a difference between the different types of Bobbi Brown gel liners too - some are better than others, and rumour has it that the "newer ones" in the clear glass jar aren't as nice as the "older" ones in the frosted glas jar, although whether the eyeliners were reformulated or merely repackaged is still a mystery. Still, there aren't any duds in this stash, because, you know, its MY stash. Duh. :P

Also, most of you would probably already know this, but it's always a great idea to store your gel eyeliners upside down. This allows you to not only see the labels on the bottom of the pots (and thus save yourself the trouble of looking through your stash to find that one pot), but it also prevent the gel eyeliners from drying up so fast. I'm not sure how exactly, but it does seem to work for me.

Anyway, here are swatches to start off:



L - R: MAC Ostentatious, Bobbi Brown Black Mauve, Etude House Orgel Light Gel Eyeliner 04, Bobbi Brown Violet, Bobbi Brown Indigo, Stila Jade Smudgepot

MAC Ostentatious is a neutral taupey brown that's not too cool-toned for warm-toned people. I actually expected this to be more grey, but it's more brown than anything else. It's not a brassy, bronzed, orangey brown though, it's a greyed out brown, the kind that I love. This one is really very work safe, and it doesn't have a hint of shimmer at all. I didn't like this as much as I should have - the pigmentation is not as good as the Bobbi Browns or the Stila, so with this particular colour you do have to go over the line a couple of times. It does last for awhile, but it does tend to get a little smudgy towards the end of the day - just a bit.

Bobbi Brown Black Mauve is a purply-grey-brown, another one of those colours that I could have a million of and still love. It has just a hint of shimmer that disappears once on your skin. I was disappointed by the case of the disappearing shimmer though, it was the shimmer that really got me excited. This one looks less interesting on skin than in the pot, unfortunately. The texture is also great, but the one I have is the "newer" repackaged gel eyeliners, in the clear glass jars rather than in the frosted glass jars, and it doesn't seem as nice as the other Bobbi Browns I have. It does have good staying power though - I've no problems with this.

Etude House Orgel Light Gel Eyeliner 04 (what is it with Asian brands giving their products ridiculously long names!?) is a beautiful, captivating colour - the kind you look at and just HAVE to have. It's a cross between a purple and a grey, with a really cool pink flash/duochrome to it. I LOVE THIS. It's neutral but interesting, and it's really glowly. Unfortunately, the texture of this is the driest out of all the gel eyeliners I have, and I attribute this to the terrible lousy packaging of Etude House. When I first got thi gel eyeliner, it was a little harder than my Bobbi Browns and MAC, but after a couple of uses it just slowly hardened. Now whenever I use it I have to dig my brush into it. Although the packaging doesn't keep the gel eyeliners moist, it does look really cute. I've included a few photos further down in this post, just so, you know, we can ooh and aah over the innate ability of Asian brands to be kawaii :P LOL OK I'm kidding, but the packaging is really very pretty, which is always a plus. Also the pigmentation on this is a little bit skippy, so you do have to go over your work again to really build up the colour. The good thing about it though, is that it stays forever on your skin. This colour is the most unique neutral I've ever seen in awhile, so I feel sad that it just had to be ruined by quality problems. I think it was also possibly limited edition, although I'm not certain.

Bobbi Brown Violet is very very pretty, it's a muted deep purple violet with shimmer, and it doesn't lose any of it's oomph even when it's on your skin. And it' incredibly pigmented, and glides on like butter. It also stays on for a really long time without smudging. The one I have is in the older packaging though, and I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

Bobbi Brown Indigo is blue, but it's not a screaming neon blue. It's a beautiful matte deep blue, more navy than indigo actually, since indigo implies that there is some purple to the colour, but this one has no purple at all. I'd have called it Navy instead, but I'm not Bobbi. Anyway, This one is also awesomely pigmented - you really only need to touch your brush to the surface - and also very smooth, and also really long lasting.

Last, but not least, Stila Jade Smudgepot. Now the Smudgepots are a bit of a hit-and-miss affair - some are really awesome, and some not so much. Fortunately, Jade is one of their better colours - very creamy, very pigmented, and really long lasting. I really like this a lot. It's also got gold shimmer in it which really amps up the colour. Beautiful. They call it Jade, but Jade to me conjures up images of minty green colours, no thanks to the ongoing Chanel Jade craze. Still, true Jade is indeed not really mint green but a bit deeper than that. I'd say this one is sort of a jade green with some emerald in it, because it really has that vibrancy of colour.

Anyway, that was a really lengthly review, wasn't it? But I'm not done yet! I said I would show you the cute Etude House packaging right?





Is that cute or what?! Cute pink plastic top (and they even put shimmer in the pink plastic! Talk about attention to detail!) with nice girly swirls and design...Unfortunately the pretty packaging doesn't do much to prevent drying up of the eyeliners - and I stored them upside down too! I'm so disappointed.

Anyway, here's an EOTD I did awhile back with the Etude House eyeliner. Unfortunately the lighting wasn't very good, and the pink flash seems to have disappeared, but here you go:



Wow, my eyes are really small and hooded, aren't they :X

And, that concludes this real looong post for today, finally! :)

theBalm Pick Up Liners Swatches and Review

Today's swatches and reviews are that of theBalm Pick Up Liners, a cutely-packaged set of three liners and a sharpener. These liners are REALLY small - they aren't longer than a couple of inches.

Each set has three liners, but I've just swatched them altogether because there were only 2 sets and thus 6 colours altogether. That, and I got mixed up as to which pencils were in which set :X



The pencils are all matte, and none of them have shimmer or glitter - which would appeal to some of us here. The colours are nice but boring basics, so these are good, but nothing to scream about. Sugar Daddy is a dark olive green, Ladies Man is a pretty navy blue, Casanova is a mid-tone brown, Lover Boy is a grey-purple, Don Juan is black, Romeo is dark grey. Like I said, nice but basic. Perfect colours for work, I suppose. I actually like every colour here except black (but that's only because I don't wear black liner).

These liners are relatively soft, and go on pretty well. Pigmentation is also pretty decent. Staying power, however, I find a little lacking. Maybe I've been spoiled by the Urban Decay 24/7 liners (I always say that once you use those you won't use any other pencil liners), but these seem to smudge off easily in comparison. Still, they're not all that bad, they just aren't wow-ing me.

STASH PICS! Aka why I can swatch and compare from my stash alone

So early on in this blog I said I wouldn't be doing the whole checking-out-new-color-collections thing, and of course the only reason why I said this was because I already have TONS of my own makeup, and I'd like to swatch them for my own reference.

So of course, since stash pics are always a beauty to behold, no matter the eye of the beholder, without further ado, here you go, along with wordy running commentary courtesy of yours truly:



That is my stash of eye palettes. These are Stila, Becca and MAC, I believe. I like my MAC - I've always been fortunate enough to pick the colors that didn't suck, and I LOVE my Stila. I know right now they're pretty much an over-the-hill brand, but back then once upon a time it was the fashionable thing on MUA to collect Stila eyeshadows, believe it or not. And for good reason too - the older ones in the cardboard packaging were the softest, pigment-est, and blendable-est things ever, AND they had great staying power. I kind of feel that the quality of Stila has gone down the hill in recent years, even with the eyeshadows. I had a Stila Espresso once in a cardboard tin, and swapped it away. Later I had swapper's remorse and got another Stila Espresso (by then they were selling them in pans like they do now), and the quality was le suckage compared to the old one. Sigh. Sad but true. Now I'm holding on to my Stila palettes, which were depotted from the cardboard tins, and I'm never letting them go - they're memories of a brand long gone by..



That's my single eyeshadows stash. Since this picture was taken I've depotted some of them and paletted them. Only 1 15-pan palette though. I kind of feel like I use my shadows more when they're in singles than when not. I've no idea why, I'm weird like that. I'm totally partial to MAC when it comes to shadows (although I'll be the first to admit they're super hit-and-miss when it comes to quality, but still not as hit-and-miss as NARS is), although I do like WnW, Urban Decay, and some other brands like Chantecaille.




Mmmmmm....Blushes. There are fewer things that make me happier than blushes. Despite the fact that I have chronic acne and super sensitive skin, it hasn't stopped me from getting more blushes...As a result I've become really awesome at reading ingredients in blushes and picking out the comodegenic ingredients. LOL. Sadly since this photo was taken I've gotten rid of the NARS (I think it was the isopropyl palmitate inside breaking me out) sadly, but I love much of the rest, esp the BB, Stila and Becca for cream blushes, and the WnW for powder.




Lipglosses! This was my first foray into the world of makeup! I'm a huge fan of lipglosses, and I totally don't discriminate - as long as it has no huge bits of glitter (ahem MAC Dazzleglasses), I'm one happy kid. As you can see I'm partial to Stila, but I also really like Smashbox (totally underrated IMO), and NARS. But my good ol' stanby is that old dingy Sally Hansen gloss you see up there - top row, 2nd from left. Can you say HG?




Lipsticks....So recently I've gotten into lipsticks, and have proceeded to build up a collection of them. As you can tell I like the rosy-lipcolour look, since I don't really like nude lips. I had a lot of MAC in this picture, but honestly I found them kind of drying, so I swapped them all away, except for 2 or 3. My HG of HGs for lipstick would be the Covergirl Trushine in Blushberry, which @#%@#$#*%* Covergirl had to discontinue. *Shakes fist angrily*



Lastly, random misc stuff, like my cream eyeshadows, eyeliners and loose shadows. Since this picture was taken, I've discovered the wonderful world of gel eyeliners (esp love BB and MAC), and have swapped away my loose powder eyeshadows (I guess I'm too clumsy for them). Still mucho love to the rest that remain though! I still have all my Urban Decay 24/7 liners, if not more, since they're literally the best pencil liners around.

So there you have it, that is my happy stash. I hope to do swatches and comparisons from my own stash - maybe it'll help me weed out the dupes in my stash too!