Eye love thee Part 1: Eye Liner

This isn’t a beauty blog, just rambles of days when i have time to wordpress but i really want to share something to girls or guys looking out for three eye make-up essentials, the eye primer, eyeliner and mascara.

(I do insert make up related posts because I am a girl afterall!)

After so many years of trying different products, ‘cept for high end ones(I just find it too much to maintain high end make up products) I have finally finally finally found my Holy Grails of eye make-up.  Students with budgets, you will probably like this post.

Meet Tony Moly Backstage Gel Liner, Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer and Max Factor 2000 Calorie Dramatic Look:

Eye love these!!!

I recently got the Tony Moly and Etude House primer last September when a friend of mine visited Korea, and with the gaining popularity of  Korean make-ups(hello BB Cream?) you cannot let your friend leave Korea without shopping for make-up for you, right?  Both are my firsts…first gel liner and first eye primer and I’m just really happy that both worked, meaning, I don’t have to spend on trying other brands and risking disappointment.

The Max Factor 2000 Calorie on the other hand is my 2nd tube, the first lasting me for 10 months(beyond the mascara life rule which really sucks for those who spend on expensive ones).  When I first planned on buying it, I was deciding between Max Factor and Cover Girl Lash Blast but since there aren’t any Cover Girl counters in known department stores I went for Max Factor (Cebu Country Mall does carry Cover Girl but uhhhmmm….).

korean, korean and finally some english!

I did mention that I was going to keep this post short so let’s start with the first product:  Tony Moly Backstage Gel Liner.

Tony Moly Backstage Gel Liner (with all my fingerprints)

Manila, I believe, has a Tony Moly shop and this retails for about PHP350+.  I’m sure if you get this in Korea it’ll be a lot cheaper.  As my friend puts it whilst in Korea, “Skin Food and The Face Shop are sold in groceries here”!

This is my first gel liner, and hopefully the last liner I’ll ever maintain.  So I say to all you gel liners out there, this thingamajiggy represented you all well!  REPREZENT BOiii! #ghettotalk

The Tony Moly Backstage Gel  Liner in Black comes with a brush.  Hurray for all first timers! I reckon HBC’s gel liners somewhat imitated the  design. Tsk tsk tsk.

Since I don’t own any liner brushes, I do use the brush that comes with the pot.  It’s not terrible, it works but I’d like to have a brush that’s thinner since I have hooded eyelids and my left lid turns mono on some days.  So I’ve to be careful when lining my eyes or else I’ll get smaller eyes.

From L-R: handle, the gel pot, white pot cover, expandable brush

The only downside to the product’s design is there’s just a lot to disassemble when you want to use the product. Like it requires a table or else you’ll have too many things in your hands.

my pot craters

Just to show how much product you’re getting, I’ve put my dirty thumb nail against the pot.  The gel product is about half of my nail.  Then again, one of make-up’s essential rule is… a little goes a long way.  The amount of gel liner here should not worry anyone.

dirty fingernail vs product. Elle Woods does not approve!

Swatch time!

From top to bottom (warning: very unorganized swatching)

1. 2 “straight” strokes with eye primer underneath

2. Dotted first, then connected dots without primer underneath

3. Dotted line without primer

4. 1 “straight” stroke without primer underneath

5. 9 “straigh” strokes without primer underneath

#4 swatch tells you that color pay-off isn’t fabuleux.  You’ll need 1 or 2 more strokes to get it all black, even with a primer as seen in #1 swatch.

The finish is matte, which I like since the very reason why I line my upper lid is to make my lashes look hella longer.  I don’t like film/satin finishes which you usually get with liquid liners, they just look…cheap.  There I said it.

WITH FLASH From Top to Bottom: 1. Lined twice with primer underneath 2. Lined the way I usually do which is to create dots then connect all dots to make a line 3. dotting 4. One stroke without any primer underneath 5. 9 strokes without primer underneath

Most product reviews usually show  ”With Flash” and “Without Flash” versions, I do have without flash photos but they seriously look the same with those “With Flash” photos.  So Imma just head straigh to the wear test.

When looking for an eyeliner, #1 requirement is: SHOULD NOT MAKE A TOTAL ASS OUT OF ME (read: No raccoon eyes).

Every pencil eyeliner I’ve gotten hold of and used  has always migrated to my under eye.  It is simply embarrassing!

Even if I clean out my lashes right after applying the liner, product still migrates. Arrghh, how annoying!

And it’s not like I can stop myself from blinking.

And as much as I don’t want to rub my eyes, sometimes you can’t help it or you’ve forgotten that you have liner on.

So I am going to try to replicate the rubbing, blinking and crying with the  swatches.

The swatches below were rubbed about 52 times -the way I rub my eyes.

And the swatches did fade but it’s not like you rub your eyes 52 times in a day, right?

Actually the reason why I rubbed it that much was because I wanted to see if I can remove the product from my hand just by rubbing.  Evil me.

Rubbed 52 times, yes I was counting.

Since I still have the swatches, all 5 of ‘em, I wanted to run some water on it like as if I was crying or was running under the rain.

But because someone’s using the bathroom  and I can’t use the faucet at the very moment(moment = when I was taking photos),  I am going to use my water spray!

spritzer no spritzing!

Spritzed water on the product for 10 times:

didn't really run, huh?

Rubbed on the swatches for  5 times and voila!  Swatches are still visible but are smudging now.

So if you’re crying really hard, don’t rub your eyes crazily.  The liner will definitely smudge!

And then there were smudges...

Now as much as I want to show you how this works on my eyes, I’m still quite shy about showing my FUGLY FEZ.

Until I muster up some courage, then I will update this post. Teehee.

But let me just say that I am so happy with this gel liner.  I am officially saying goodbye to pencil eyeliners and liquid liners!  And boy am I glad to not have purchased Kate or Maybelline gel liners.

I’ll just state my experiences with this liner on me:

-for a girl with oily hooded eyelids, this liner stays really long, like until I wash it off.

-it doesn’t sting at all

-it doesn’t smudge, even when I accidentally rub my eyes or cry but I do keep a tissue on hand just in case i rubbed my eyes too much.

-have tried putting this on without a primer, works well just like with primer for under 6 hours, after that slight smudging occurs

-can be removed by make up remover

-has not dried, been 4 months

-and it’s cheaper than Maybelline gel liners. Php350ish.  Not bad for something that could potentially last for more than 1 year or 2!

Now it’s not a perfect product, I did notice that:

-it smudges to my crease when I don’t have a primer on, but it usually happens after 6 hours of wear, remember I have oily hooded lids.

-i’ve experienced it migrating to my under eye but it happened after 6 hours without primer and without setting it(I realized I actually don’t set it with anything), but totally not raccoon, think Taylor Momsen.

-too many items to remove or disassemble

-brush not too thin for hooded eyelids

-color pay-off is not at 100% after 1 stroke so putthing this on will take up more time than eyeliners and liquid liners, or maybe i should have dipped the brush longer or picked up more product at one go???

But but but…

I am definitely happy with this.  Like  I don’t have to bring this with me wherever I go, or I don’t have to put this inside my make up kit because I know there’s no need to retouch. And mind you,  I’m out from 9:30AM(made-up already) to 10PM(I work 2 jobs y’all!!).  That’s more than 12 hours!  That’s how confident I am when I have this on.

And for as long as it’s not going to dry out, one pot could last me for 2  years I believe.

Hella HG!!!

PS.

This is how I store it, upside down (avoiding it to get dry):

storing Tony Moly gel liner

PPS.

Did I mention you can extend the brush?

So much for a “short post”!

So anyone googling for Tony Moly Backstage Gel Liner, I hope my post will be of help…help in convincing you to get one. Bahahahaha! But it is cheap, so I don’t think it’s going to hurt you much if it wouldn’t work…right?  Just try. Ya never know!

So ’til my next “beauty post”!

of non-intelligence and daily babbles POST # 12

I dont know if its just me or has my La Opisina gone a little bit toxic lately.

You know how it is when someone tries to make things difficult for you?

Like there isn’t any issue to begin with but because she’s just probably having a bad day and she feels like you’re making it worse or maybe wants to rub it on your face that you can’t win over her she then gives you that take-it-or-leave-it tone???

Have you met someone like that? I have this officemate, I mean we’re good. We hang out a lot..we actually form part of a trio then she gets bad days or days when she just doesnt want to give in, it can be annoying as hell but you give it to her ’cause it wont be the end of the world if you give into her.  And then one day when you just can’t give in, she gets ultimately annoyed and acts like on of those girls from the movie “Mean Girls”, isolates you, tries to ditch you, doesnt ask you to join her for lunch, tells everybody else how agitated she is with what you’ve done and basically asks them to ignore you too and they fucking do!

CRAZY!

I’m not one to give anyone a bunchload of bullshits.  I tell things as it is.  I don’t like lying because I’ve poor memory so remembering a lie is a horrible responsibility for me to take let alone pretending everything’s OK.   When I can sense something is not fine, I say it right there and then.

Unfortunately, some people can’t take the frankness.  When you finally dare to ask them what’s wrong, what the issue is, they pretend that things are ok.   Seriously, if you just tell me what your issues are I’m sure we can fix it.  But for as long as you’re going to pretend that things are fine when we all know it’s not since you’re doing stuff behind my back then I will let things be.  Be as selfish as you want to be but if things go wrong and you look at me for some kind of help, please don’t expect it, I happen to be a bitch.

 

 

mourning over a mascara

Yesterday was probably one of the saddest days of my life.
I just found out that the L’oreal Telescopic Clean was pulled out from the Philippine shelves about 2 months ago.
They didn’t even hold a clearance sale so I can say a proper farewell to it.
I don’t know what to do now.

Definitely drowning myself to one of these later this weekend.

Review: Revlon Double Twist Waterproof Mascara (don’t throw it just yet…)

So the only reason why I’m writing this is because I feel bad for this mascara, the Revlon Double Twist(Waterproof Mascara).

I got this as a gift last new year’s (I should be thankful I didn’t spend for this).

This was never on my radar and I didn’t use this ’til last month.

I decided to use this to spare my L’oreal Telescopic from getting used up  (READ: I don’t follow that 3-month rule).

Now my thoughts on this Revlon mascara…mainly negative:

1. I’m not sure if this is supposed to lengthen and volumize but it gave me broomstick lashes.

2. The brush is too huge to reach the inner corners.

3. The wand is too short making it difficult for me to brush mascara on my left lashes (I’m right handed).

4. And if I tear up, this stings.

I’ll only use this mascara if I temporarily don’t have a choice.

BUT it’s not entirely a bad product because instead of using this as a mascara I use this as my…drum roll please..

eyeliner!

(I’m bad at liquid liners because I don’t have steady hands.

I don’t think I’ll try gel liners because they usually dry up easily.  I’ll probably get frustrated.

And as much as I love pencils cause they are so easy to apply, they just all migrate to my lower lids!  I’d look horrible.

And I’m cheap so I haven’t tried those Urban Decays and MUFE liners and don’t have plans to purchase them).

So this mascara has become my trusty eyeliner for the past few days.

I find the consistency of the formula just right for an eyeliner.

I’m really happy I took the time to look into it.

So if you own one, don’t throw it away just yet.

Pick that liner brush and put some Double Twist on it(I usually scrape off some product off the rubber brush using an

angled eyeBROW brush).  Push it onto your upper lids just like a gel or a cream liner.

Wait for it to dry, maybe 30 seconds.  Dust some powder and voila! You’ve got a budge free liner care of a crappy mascara!

You might just end up liking it like I did.

just keep clicking.

Since almost everyone owns a DSLR, I’ve neglected using my camera, a Canon Powershot A590.   Hey, it’s a lot more fun to pose than click except when I have SPF on my face!

But sometimes you miss those moments of possibly capturing a gem.

My gems aren’t extraordinary but for someone who carelessly clicks away, it can be very gratifying.

booze after work

I thank the cars passing by last night.

hey you!

Had no clue about Mr. Creature ’til I uploaded this photo.  How cool does Mr. Creature look chillin’ in the bud?

2ne1 fan

Can I just say that I am a 2ne1 fan.
And I am truly loving their new song.

of non intelligence and daily babbles POST no. 12

wanted to blog but the wordpress ui on my phone via opera is turning me off.never mind.

of non-intelligence and daily babbles POST # 11

i kinda feel bad for those who had to marry out of convenience…then again why not?

maybe i should seriously consider it.

of non-intelligence and daily babbles POST #10

Some random rant.

I was on facebook when one of my facebook friends (READ: Not considered as friend in real life) posted how excited he was to shoot for his first pre-nuptials.

Let me get this out…you are not close to good. You only have a DSLR. You are no better than those with digital cameras. Your DSLR -produced photos are so bad we cringe at the sight of them.  You make us feel worse when you try to fish for good comments from us.

Please.Stop.The.Delusion.

Same goes out to all you idiots who buy into this kind of shit.

I need to get me some booze.NOW.

of non-intelligence and daily babbles POST # 9

A few years back, accountants were threatened of technology in the form of the accounting software. Today, it’s the system administrators and IT teams who are threatened by  technology. Thanks cloud computing!

Just like what I said 5 years ago “Eat that, IT!”

That’s for acting like gods.