Benefit They're Real! Push-Up Liner Review (First Impression)

Hey hey hey!

So I have a quick impression review for you all (: So the other day when I was making for the purchase for the Urban Decay makeup setting spray, I saw that there was a promotional code for the Benefit They're Real! Push-Up Liner. So I thought why not give it a try? I was kind of interested ever since I saw Claire Marshall's promotional video about it.

"If easy was a crime, she was guilty".... lol trust Benefit to come up with something so cute XD


Just to make this post short, since you can read all about the eyeliner on Sephora, here's the sample sized eyeliner pen!

The new eyeliner comes with a little orange insert that keeps the product contained.




For those who don't know, the concept of this eyeliner is gel eyeliner in a pen form. So instead of having to invest in an eyeliner brush, you simply twist the product out, and with this applicator, apply the eyeliner as if you were using a pen.


Application photos:

For me, it's really hard to get a clean line... for several reasons.

1. When the pen dispenses the gel, it dispenses in a huge "blob". The product does not come out as you draw a line-- essentially you have to use the applicator to maneuver the blob and spread the eyeliner along your eyes. Not easy!

2. The applicator really doesn't go on that smoothy... it doesn't make perfect contact with your eyes, if that makes any sense? If I press harder, the applicator feels sharp and uncomfortable. Not to the point that it hurts me, but why would I put up with it if I have soft brushes that are easier and more comfortable to work with.

3. The applicator is rather stiff, and unlike its advertisement saying it has good flex, it really doesn't. So it's hard to blend out the eyeliner, making the result rather sharp and harsh.

4. Also, if you take a closer look at my lashes... you can see there's some eyeliner gel stuck to it. That was from me trying to line my upper lash line. Definitely does NOT work for that purpose since you can't use the flex pen to work the eyeliner between the roots of your lashes without poking your eyes out.


Didn't try to use the pen to line my upper lash line on this eye so it looks cleaner. I also feel like the pen kind of wipes off the eyeliner if you try to go over it too many times to blend it out, if that makes sense? You can kind of see in both pictures toward the end of my eye the eyeliner has this sheered out, almost translucent quality to it. In other words, it's hard to get the eyeliner to apply evenly.



So I didn't like how the eyeliner looked, so I used some black eye shadows to blend the eyeliner out to get a less harsh look

I don't know if you can see, but as I tried to blend the eyeliner out, since it already kind of dried and set, it flaked off in little bits. After I noticed that I had to be careful with blending with light pressure so I wouldn't disturb the gel liner already laid down.





About 4-5 hours later

Ah, tragic smearing XD So the formula is no good either.

I thought about trying it out again, this time just dispensing it onto my hand and apply with a brush, but I doubt the lasting power is gonna be any different, so I don't think I will bother. Asians beware! Especially if you have the same smudging problem as I do, this is not a friendly formula for those who have the same problems as I do!

Honestly if I were to rate this product, I would give it 0 out of 5. There really isn't anything that I liked about this product and I have no desire to try to practice getting better at using it since the formula doesn't work for me.

Hope some of you found this review helpful! I'm off to bed... zzZZZzz




<3 Frances

MAC Liquidlast Liner Review/ How I line my eyes!

Hey guys!

I'm really excited to do this post ^_^ cuz this product totally deserves it!! In fact, I think this product deserves a lot more attention than it does now.




Content: 2.5 ml / 0.084 oz
Price: $17.50




Although it's said to be a liquid eyeliner, I don't feel like it's a true "liquid" eyeliner, cuz the consistency is really thick compared to your normal liquid eyeliner.







- The brown one is in "Coco Bar" and the black one in "Point Black"


- I don't feel like there's much to say about this product. I obviously like it cuz it stays on well! The most long lasting eyeliner on me to this date. Beats any other gel eyeliners (I've used MAC, Bobbi Brown, Buxom, Shu Uemura). It's water-proof obviously =P

- While I said it's the most long-lasting eyeliner on me, this eyeliner doesn't always stay on all day like every single day I use it. There are good and bad days, but on a bad day the brown eyeliner still wins over the gel eyeliners on their decent days. Generally if it's just a normal work day, it can stay on more than 8 hours without moving. However if I'm hanging out with friends and laugh a lot or tear a lot, it will smudge a bit. 

- Word of caution: the brown formula is wayyy better than the black one. It stays on much better than the black one. I highly recommend the brown one, but I don't really recommend the black one. The brown one is pretty dark so I really love it.

- You will need to have an eyeliner brush to use this product for best results. As you can see from the swatches, giving the applicator that comes with the eyeliner gives a very harsh/thick line. Plus it's a lot harder to control the amount of products you want using the applicator.

- This eyeliner works best without a primer =))) which is total AWESOMENESS =D

Sorry if I look tired and my voice is kind of hoarse... cuz I just woke up and put on foundation XD 


LMAO at the thumbnail XD I laugh every time I see this XD not that I didn't try to change it! it's just not changing =_= so I was like screw it LOL

Hope you guys enjoyed this demo/ tutorial! ^_^

I would also like to add the brown MAC liquidlast liner is my very first holy grail makeup item ^_^ 

<3 Frances

Dolly Wink (Koji) Black Pencil Eyeliner Review

Hello hello =D

Heehee first I want to thank all the love for my bunny Boba in my last post XD little Boba was in heaps of trouble yesterday though, cuz he chewed up my beloved Aldo flip-flops \___/+ and thanks for the sympathy for the backpack thing XD I'm only almost 5'1 and I think for some reason that's the perfect height for getting hit by a backpack?! I've lost count how many times I got attacked by a backpack... (you'd think I'd have better reflexes....)

Anyway, moving on! ~(￣▽￣)~

So you all know I love the brown pencil liner, here's my review for the black pencil liner! =P

I got mine from JpMon for about $11 as you all already know ╮(￣▽￣)╭











- First time using was disastrous O_O it totally mushed (my worst fear argghh!!!) and bits of eyeliner fall off T__T
- However after that first time, the same situation never happened again lol
- Formula is slightly creamier than the brown eyeliner (it glides more while applying, if that makes sense)
- It goes super fast, just like the brown eyeliner.
- Overall I do like it, however I like the brown pencil eyeliner formula more. The black pencil slides noticeably more easily than the brown pencil. 

So I definitely recommend the brown pencil =) the black one is just decent.

That's all I have for you =D Haha super short for a change XD
I hope this review is helpful for some of you =)

<3 Frances

Dolly Wink (Koji) Brown Pencil Eyeliner Review

Hello everyone ^__^

So here we are again with Dolly Wink products ^_~ (hope you guys won't get sick of it cuz I still have a lot of Dolly Wink stuff to write on hahaha~)

So along with the liquid eyeliner, I also got the brown pencil eyeliner. I was very skeptical about this because pencil liners can never measure up to gel liners in my opinion, but now I'm beginning to think that I might be wrong =P

By the way I want to add that, I used Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner on a friend today, and it smeared on her :( well not smear, it just sort of disappears off the outer corner of her eye... so I guess it really depends on your skin type/lid type =( just wanna throw that out there.

Okay here's the brown pencil =)

It doesn't say on the packaging, but on JpMon it says it's waterproof
by the way apparently there's a special limited edition of the brown eyeliner with different packaging, if you're interested in seeing it, click here. It's more expensive... so for me, save money comes first ╮(‵▽′)╭

Here's the brown pencil liner

I got mine on JpMon for about $11 USD

It looks blunt cuz I didn't sharpen it yet..

How it looks on me

The color representation for these pictures are pretty accurate. So as you can see it's a very pretty rich brown

However the brown is a little bit lighter than I anticipated
By the way my eyes look shimmery because I applied an eye shadow base

I like to layer the upper lash line with a black gel liner or liquid eyeliner cuz I think the brown is a bit too light for upper lash line

In these pics I layered it with Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner. I would usually prefer to layer gel liner over it so it's more natural, but I just happened to grab a liquid liner that day XD

- Without a good base, this pencil eyeliner doesn't actually smear too badly on me! Kind of like how gel liner would smear on me with even with a base. But with a good base, man this pencil hardly smears on me at all! I'm officially in love with this pencil >_<
*** When I say smearing I'm only talking about the smearing on the outer corner of my eye... I don't have any smudging problem other than that area***

- The formula is creamy but not too creamy (if you know what I mean lol!!!)  It is creamy enough that it doesn't tug on my eyelid at all, but it's not too creamy that it doesn't mush when I apply. I've used some pencil eyeliner that advertises for extreme creaminess/glide-on-ness, I don't like these at all cuz they're too creamy it'd just mush and bits would fall off! This eyeliner has the right amount of creaminess =D <3 <3 <3 applies very smoothly

- Major drawback of this eyeliner: It goes super fast!!!!!!!!!! I have to sharpen it like after 2 or 3 uses... no exaggeration there. Or else it becomes too blunt to work with :( I wish they'd come up with the twisted kind.
But other than that I really don't have anything negative to say about this eyeliner ^__^ has definitely become my new favorite and I have been using it religiously lol!

-by the way I prefer this pencil eyeliner to the liquid one

So being very impressed with the brown pencil liner, I went ahead and ordered 1 more brown pencil liner for backup and 2 black pencil liner (aiya I know I know >_<)
(I'm never the backup kind of girl... so... I really really love this >_< heehee)


I just got my black pencil liner a day ago so I'm still testing it out ^__^ will review it once I got a solid feel for it.

The reason why I'm doing separate reviews on black and brown pencil liners is all of you eyeliner junkies out there will know... different pigmentation yields different formula and does NOT give equal results... I hope this black pencil liner won't let me down!

I hope some of you find this review helpful ^__^

Will be back soon with more Dolly Wink products =D

<3 Frances

Dolly Wink (Koji) Liquid Eyeliner Review

What is "Dolly Wink"?

It's a brand that is created by the collaboration between a very popular Japanese model, Tsubasa Masuwaka (益若つばさ), and Koji.


Tsubasa Masuwaka

To be honest, I had no idea who Tsubasa-san is before Dolly Wink came out lol! But after seeing the packaging of Dolly Wink, I decided to give in and give it a try O_O (yes, sucker for packaging right here!)

Anyway, I wasn't gonna try the liquid eyeliner since I read mixed reviews, and liquid eyeliners never worked for me (they always make my eyes water in the sunlight for some reason O_O) but I'm really glad I tried it ^__^


I got mine from JpMon.com
I paid around $15 for it

I really really like JpMon! It's a trusted Taiwanese website that sells only Japanese products. I like it because it doesn't overcharge products like some websites do. Still a bit more expensive than if you get it from the Taiwanese drugstore, but it's not bad (probably only different by 1 USD...). The shipping takes about one week (mostly because of custom check, otherwise it arrives US like within 2 days), and the shipping is very reasonable. The only drawback is that this website is in Chinese, so for non-Chinese/Taiwanese consumers it'd be difficult to shop. However if anyone is interested in buying from the website, I'm glad to translate ^__^ just let me know! 

Here's the eyeliner

Very small and slender

- as you can see, it has super fine tip

this is what it looks like on my eyes

- I applied it twice on each stroke to get this intensity, it's a nice black :)

my thoughts on this product:
- I'm really glad I tried it! it's the only liquid eyeliner I've tried that doesn't make my eyes water!
By the way, liquid eyeliner only makes my eyes water if I extend it further like shown in the pic above, for some reason that really irritates my eyes and my eyes would NOT stop watering until the liquid eyeliner's washed off -__-

- the black is buildable and is a nice black

- the eyeliner is easy to use and control. however the fine tip sometimes tickles my eyelid lol!

- the lasting power is good if I use it with the right base :) still smears a tiny bit on the outer corner of my eye but really isn't bad. Once wear this eyeliner out for about 8 hours and there was only minimal smearing on the outer corner of my eye (but it also depends on how much you laugh/your eyes water) Although without a good base the corner will smear on me

- I'm not sure why when I read a bunch of reviews they all said it's not water-proof... well it is (if you look at the packaging picture, on the lower right corner of the package, the blue part says water and sweat proof). And I actually ran it under the faucet for a while and rub it gently, it didn't come off, so it's definitely water proof!

- drawback: no idea how long this thing is gonna last... I have a feeling it's gonna run out super quick. Also, If I curl my lashes after applying this eyeliner, some bits of eyeliner tends to be taken off with the eyelash curler so I will have to reapply it... 

 -Will I repurchase this? I think so =) ! Although I'm not  a big fan of liquid eyeliner for me it's still necessary to have one, and since this is the only one that doesn't make my eyes water, heck yes I'm sticking with it! =D

So moral of this story... still try things out cuz even if it doesn't work for others, it might work for you lol!

Hope you guys enjoy this review :)

<3 Frances

Eyeliner Basics for Asian Eyes/ How I Do MY Eyeliner

Hello~~~~~~~~

Sorry long time no post!!! Been busy ahhh  X___X
So today's post is gonna be super eyeliner basics... specifically for Asians with closed lid space, like me :D
So you can skip this post if you don't need this information.

But firstttt....

I'd like to talk about different types of eyelids. Because I found that none of my white/non-Asian friends understand what I'm talking about when was describing how there are outwardly-folded (外雙)/ inwardly-folded (內雙) eyes, monolids, even open-eye (開眼頭) surgery.

Here are some example pictures of non-Asians eyelids just so you guys can see the differences:

Jessica Alba


Natalie/Girlicious


Anne Hathaway


Angelina Jolie

I feel like for non-Asians they're more like a crease, rather than an actually fold



Now onto Asian eyes :)
There are roughly four types of Asian eyelids (monolid not included in this picture)

 My very crappy drawing XD

1.
Outwardly folded eye with open inner tear duct


I don't see this eye shape a lot for Asians (and may I specify East Asians) but I have met a few ppl who naturally have this kind of eye shape. 

There are eyelid surgeries available where the inner corner of the skin of the eyelid/skin right on top of the inner tear duct is removed to open up the eyes, known as open-eye surgery; 開眼頭).

2.
Outwardly-folded eye (外雙)
Representation: Ayumi Hamasaki!

Where the inner corner of the fold doesn't really connect with the inner corner of the eye

3.
Inwardly-folded eye (內雙)
Representation: BoA!

Where the inner corner of the fold actually is connected to the inner corner of the eye


Hahaha yayy BoA represent!!! cuz... I have this eye shape too XD

Lastly would be monolid... which I'm not gonna talk about cuz most ppl know what it is. It's just the way Asian lids fold differently is very perplexing to a lot of ppl :P

To demonstrate my point better:

For eye shape #1 and 2... you can pretty much do whatever you want with your eyeliner, there's not many limitations thanks to the lid space there is. I'm gonna talk about today is how eye shape #3 should do their eyeliner, or my suggestion at least :) there is no rule and it really depends on your personal style/taste as well.


So first off, I always tight-line my upper lash line


Second part, lining your upper liner, is the trickier part.
Because of the nature of this lid, the inner corner of the eye is closed up, leaving no lid space, so I'd advise you to start lining your eyes where your pupil is when you look straight at the mirror

see how I don't start at the very inner corner?

And here's a comparison between you leaving in inner corner free (left) and gradually thickening the eyeliner out , versus if you fill in the inner corner with the eyeliner with same thickness from inner corner to outer corner (right).


See how on the right, the eyeliner basically fills in your lid space and closes your eyes down? This should be avoided.


Wing out your eyes if you want (or you can save this step along with lining bottom lash line)


Now onto the bottom liner
Line only 2/3 way in, and start fading the gel liner as you work inward

Leaving the inner corner free makes your eyes appear bigger and brighter
Whereas lining the whole bottom line kind of closes your eye, because you're defining the boundaries of your eye area.




The above is just my suggestion if you want to achieve bigger/brighter eyes :) But of course you can do whatever you like. It really depends on what kind of look you're trying to achieve. For me this is how I do my eyeliner on a daily basis.



Now, I'm gonna show how to do the same thing using a liquid eyeliner.

For the upper liner, follow the same procedure of lining


Now onto the bottom liner, have a Q-tip ready.
Dip the tip on the Q-tip into black/brown eye shadow, then blow at it gently to remove the excess eye shadow so you won't have fall-outs


Then roughly place your liquid liner

(Sorry for the blurry pic cuz I had to do it fast haha)
And WHILE THE LIQUID EYELINER IS STILL WET, with DABBING motion, gently dab the eye shadow onto the liquid liner. I usually just dab at 3 points





Like so (I took the pics after I finished dabbing lol here's just to show where to dab)

End result... tah-dah!

Pretty natural eh?


SECOND OPTION with liquid liner

You can also use a wet Q-tip and smudge out the liquid liner while it's still wet, it will give you the same effect. However I found this method gives less consistent results because it really depends on the formular of the liquid liner; For examples, this method works on Revlon, Maybelline and Tokidoki liquid liner, but NOT on loreal. I found if I use this method with loreal liquid liner it'd just wipe the liner away.

So that's all... very very basic stuff. But I hope some of you might find it useful :)

Thanks for reading I know it's super long!

<3 Frances
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay I must have sucked at explaining the differences between eye shape #1 and 2 and my drawing must have sucked XD
Anyways a bloggie asked about what the difference is ^^~
So I found some better pictures to explain

Both #1 and #2 are outwardly-folded lids. The only difference is that #1 has also removed the eyelid on the inner corner.


I got this off a eye surgery advertisement page. The circled part indicates the skin that is to be removed.

So here are the two eye shapes I was talking about, #1 being the bottom eye, #2 being the top eye. You can clearly see the tear duct of the bottom eye because the part of the skin that covers it has been removed.

Other example of #1 eye:


#2

you can see the skin of the inner corner of her eye is still intact, unlike the model above.

***** I'm not saying these models have had surgeries done! I have no knowledge about that.
*****I DO NOT OWN ALL OF THE IMAGES

Hope that clears things up :) <3 Frances