MAC Liquidlast Liner vs. Milani Infinite Liquid Eye Liner. And KissMe Heroine Make Long & Curl Mascara

Update 2/18/2014:

So I noticed that the Milani eyeliner in 06 unlimited performs almost the same as the MAC Coco Bar after it has been dried out a bit. I would suggest if you have smearing problems, take the cap off and let it sit for about an hour or so to let it dry out a little more. That might help improve the staying power ^_^ Happy to announce that the Milani eyeliner is indeed a replacement for my MAC Coco Bar. 

Hey guys!

Haha I'm back again! Sick of me yet? XD

Just finished 5 exams so I'm on a mini break. Decided to be a slacker and watch movies/blog instead of catch up with all the lectures I missed while I was studying for all the exams orz....

So I finally FINALLY finished compiling pictures/swatches for this detailed comparison review for the MAC Liquidlast Liner and Milani Infinite Liquid Eye Liner. 
 

So I know the only thing you guys would like to know would be, "Are they the same??"

And my answer is no. Not really. I think I'd still rather spend more to buy MAC than Milani.

Now, I would say though, if you are non-Asian, chances are you wouldn't even be able to feel the difference, so I'd say if you're non-Asian, go ahead and get Milani. Unless you have major eyeliner smudging issues. But in general I found non-Asians don't usually have eyeliner smudging problems. Non-Asians can even wear non water-proof eyeliners and get away with it =_= (from my experience anyway... my non-Asian friends can literally wear a non-waterproof eyeliner ALL day without it moving on them. at all. jealous. !!!)

Also I would like to add that I don't base how good the staying power of an eyeliner is on how they hold up under running faucet and rubbing it =_= to me that kind of attestation is completely worthless. Yes that may be able to prove if an eyeliner is waterproof or not, but that can in no way tell if an eyeliner is long lasting. And rubbing the eyeliner under water doesn't prove anything either. Combined with the oils, blinking and eye watering etc etc, it's a completely different kind of environment for the eyeliner. The only way to test the wear of an eyeliner is to really just wear it. Just thought I'd throw this out there.

Before I start, I just want to say I've already done a review on the MAC Liquidlast Liners a while ago. Please check here if you're interested ^_^ 







First off the applicators are pretty much very similar. They do feel a bit different, but to me that's negligible because I do NOT apply these eyeliners with these applicators. These apply too thick and harsh and tend to have the thick eyeliner catch on your eye lashes.

By the way, please keep in mind that these are not your traditional "liquid" eyeliner, because rather than the traditional thin, liquidy formula, this liquid eyeliner has a very thick, gel-like conistency. I think this is why this eyeliner works on me when traditional liquid eyeliner formulas don't =D Again, please check here to see the consistency.
The best result as I've mentioned before, comes with applying with your eyeliner brush.

The love of my life, Hakuhodo G522 eyeliner brush. Been using this for two years and still going strong.

Here are the swatches

The good news is, the black and the brown eyeliners are exactly the same color. While the brown eyeliners apply exactly the same, I feel like the black ones apply ever so slightly different? Like the Milani one is just a bit thinner?? However the difference is quite negligible. Nevertheless I thought I'd throw that out there as well. 


I bought the Milani eyeliners from Amazon.com because I didn't have time to go shopping. On the website it described 07 as a "charcoal," which I cannot disagree more =_= it's more of a silver/gun metal color. If I had known it was this color I wouldn't have purchased it. So for those who are picking these eyeliners on the Internet, beware!

I decided instead of trying to verbally describe the differences for you guys, I'm just gonna let the pictures to the talking. They will explain much better than I can describe them anyway XD

So this is what I did. I just picked two random days when I was wearing the eyeliners and photographed in the morning when the eyeliner was freshly applied, and at night, right before I removed my makeup. Two random days because eyeliners have their good and bad days, like I've stressed before. It's just utterly unrealistic to expect an eyeliner to work the same every day 365 days (especially for us Asians anyway XD). So anyway, hopefully you guys would have a better idea on how these eyeliners wear :) I also put the timeline in the pictures so if you're curious about how long I wore the eyeliners for, look for that in the pics :) 

Also, I want to add that in general, my left eye wears eyeliner pretty well. My major issue is my right eye, and it's because of the way my bangs sit. I part my bangs to the right, and therefore even though I don't notice my bangs bothering my eyes, they do affect the wear of my eyeliner. So that needs to be taken into consideration as well :) Also, in almost all of these pictures I have worked out and taken naps XD

Finally, I want to mention that any smearing along my lower eyelid was from the mascara I am currently using, the KissMe Heroine Make Long & Curl mascara. My eyeliner only smudges on the outer corners of my eyes, and nowhere else. I was wearing this mascara in all of the pictures.



Okay now, with ALL that said, we can finally get into the eyeliner comparison XD 
=========================================================================
1. MAC Liquidlast Liner in Point Black

left/morning


right/morning


right/night

sorry that should say 11pm. My mistake!
left/night

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on a different day, same eyeliner

left/morning


right/morning


right/night


left/night


=========================================================================
MAC Liquidlast Liner in Coco Bar

morning/left



morning/right


night/left


night/right

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a different day

I forgot to snap pictures in the morning, but they're the same as the other day so you can reference that. 




Can you see why Coco Bar is my absolute favorite? It just wears consistently better than the black one. Unfortunately, Coco Bar has been discontinued. It never hurts to ask your local MAC stores to see if they still have any left. But I'm hoping if enough people complain about it, MAC might bring it back >_< I have two back-ups of this eyeliner, don't know what I'm gonna do after I'm through with them ='(
=========================================================================
Now onto Milani eyeliners!

Milani Infinite Liquid Eye Liner in 05 Everlast 

morning/left



morning/right


night/left


night/right

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a different day 

I feel like the Milani black eyeliner definitely has a weaker formula than MAC

=========================================================================
 Milani Infinite Liquid Eye Liner in 06 Unlimited










-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Again on a different day. Again forgot to snap pics in the morning XD 




It's not as good as the MAC Coco Bar, but the formula is definitely better than the black one.
I also want to add it's lucky that this eyeliner appears to wear quite well in those two random days. Because this eyeliner still in no way replaces the MAC coco bar in my heart. It just doesn't hold up as well as MAC Coco Bar.

What's up with me having better luck with brown eyeliners than the black ones?!?!?!?!? Anyone have the same experience?!
========================================================================
So the order of best staying power to the least... the best of course is MAC Coco Bar. MAC point black and Milani 06 (brown) come next; their degree of smudging are quite comparable. And lastly the worst staying power is Milani 05 (black).

That concludes the differences between the eyeliners!

Since I mentioned the smearing of the KissMe mascara, I thought I'd do a mini review of this particular mascara as well.



You already got a pretty good idea on how this mascara looks on my lashes from all those eyeliner pictures so I'm not gonna post more. I don't know if you agree with me, but they do not enhance the appearance of my lashes... rather I feel like this mascara makes my lashes look quite rigid.




You can see the fibers that are supposed to elongate your lashes. Which sometimes do flake off onto my cheeks.

So my conclusion on this mascara... it's... meh. I had high expectations for this mascara because it is often compared to Majolica Majorca mascaras. First off, I really just prefer MJ's applicator, because it's rubber wand so it doesn't scratch my eyelids, and second because the rubber wands are small and perfect for my small eyes. And third MJ wands just separate my lashes really well.

MJ also has a much better formula. The major issue I have with KissMe mascara is that it tends to smudge on my lower eyelid, like you've seen in those pictures. Plus it just doesn't look good on my short lashes. I feel like KissMe mascara is for people who have naturally long lashes.

So conclusion, KissMe mascara is a miss for me, I will not repurchase. I'm gonna stick with MJ =)

Alrighty, I am done here XD So tired from writing all that, but I really do hope it helps some of you, because I am SUPER picky when it comes to eyeliners and I know a lot of my Asian girl friends often struggle with eyeliner smearing problems.

I'm gonna go slack some more now XD Later ^_^

<3 Frances

First impression on NAKED2 palette, Jeune d'age oranics eye cream, Hourglass mineral primer

Hi guys!
So I took advantage of the Sephora chicweek 15% sale and picked up a few items :)


Don't mind that I just use my Instagram photos :P Too lazy to snap another picture lol.

Naked 2 palette, Hourglass Veil mineral primer, as well as Clarins High Definition Body Lift.

I haven't been using these products for long, but here are some of my general thoughts/impressions :)

First off the NAKED 2 palette!

I'm sure you guys have seen many many swatches so I'm not going to do it XD

The brush that comes with the palette has a blending end and a flat shader end. The blending brush really isn't the best. I feel like in terms of blending, natural brush hairs generally work better than synthetic brushes. I'm not sure if these are taklon fibers???? But the blending brush doesn't blend that well. The short shader on the brush is better than the blending brush, since the brush material is quite ideal for placing/packing eye shadows on.

The metal casing is much sturdier than I thought, not the obnoxious kind of metal if you know what I mean? XD When I first found out that the new NAKED palette comes in metal packaging I thought I wasn't going to like it, but I do like the packaging!

Here the palettes side by side. Don't know why I didn't put the original NAKED palette in the same direction XD but... I don't know if it's just me... I feel like the two palettes are so similar... orz

I'm not quite sure if I am going to keep the NAKED 2 palette. On my skin tone a lot of the shadows look quite similar to the original NAKED palette.
I didn't swatch all the eye shadows, I just swatched the few shadows which I thought look quite similar in the pan.

The shadows on the top are from NAKED 2 and the bottom are from the original NAKED palette.

Please keep in mind eye shadows show up VERY differently according to each person's skin tone. I'm MAC NC20-25. I'm not sure if it's because I'm fair or what, but I honestly think the colors look so similar on me, despite the minor differences that you are able to see from photography.

Hustle is a very very dark plum, almost like a blackish purple on me. I feel like Busted is just a darker version of Hustle.

YDK is a very shimmery/bright/metallic beige color. Toasted has a more pink lean to it. But seriously in person, the difference between the two colors are so subtle they almost look identical.

Snakebite to me is a color between Smog and Darkhorse.

Bootycall and Virgin are super similar too, but Virgin leans more pink while Bootycall is little bit more yellow.

I mean, yeah, I know the eye shadows are different. But honestly the differences are pretty much magnified in the pictures, under this certain lighting. In real life honestly I can't really tell the difference (at least not at this point).

Hmmmmm I don't know... I will have to play with it a bit more to see if it's worth keeping????

Do you guys own the NAKED 2 palette? If you do, what are your thoughts on it? Do you think it's too similar to the original NAKED palette or they are completely different to you?


Also now I have the mineral primer, I'm gonna see how different it is compares to the N28 primer.

Obviously the textures of the two are completely different XD The mineral primer definitely has a smooth silicone feel to it. The N28 is in oil form and also give that smooth silicone feel but it's not as obvious as the mineral primer.


Finally, I purchased the Jeune d'age eye cream. I COMPLETELY forgot that I wanted to try this eye cream before I purchased the Origin's eye cream -___-""" But this eye cream is huge! It contains 1 oz (30ml) while the Origin's only contains 15ml. And even with shipping and everything the Jeune d'age eye cream still comes up slightly cheaper than the Origin's eye cream lol.



The container reminds me of the Laneige Snow Crystal Dual foundation :P It has the same dispensing mechanism.



Here's a swatch so you can kind of see the texture of the eye cream. I really like the texture, but in terms of the moisturizing properties of this eye cream, it hasn't done much for my super dry undereyes and fine lines lol... I will be testing this out more, we'll see.

That's all XD haha it's like a short report lol. Off to work out now!

Have a great weekend guys :)

<3 Frances

Random catch-up :)

Hey guys!

Longgg time no blog! Which is normal I guess XD I decided to do this catch-up post to show you guys my update and some new/newish products I've been using and trying out. Just so I can throw out my general thoughts out there :P since it seems kind of impossible for me to sit down and write detailed individual reviews about everything nowadays.

Hmmmm let's see what first?

There really hasn't been much going on with me =_= honestly student's life is pretty much the same everyday... exam exam exam. But I did go see The Hunger Games movie!!! XD!!!! I know quite a few bloggers went to see that movie. What did you guys think???? I give it an 83% =DDD which is high from me by the way, because I tend to be very critical when it comes to novel-based movies (Harry Potter movies are generally in the C range for me... what can I say the books are just too brilliant and they change the story too much in the movies T^T). I am a HUGE fan of The Hunger Game books!!!! I gotta say, a lot of the parts in the movies really really exceeded my expections *happy tears* but I was kind of disappointed in Rue's scene... it's not as moving as depicted in the book. And I really didn't think they develope Rue's personality as well in the movies. Also I wish there was more to the "cave romance," and they didn't cut the part that she drugged Peeta... so I docked points off from these :P But other than that, the movie was so AWESOME. Jennifer Lawrence was absolutely AMAZING. Can't wait for the DVD to come out!!! Really want to see it again >_<


So being the makeup dork I am, I couldn't help but notice the fashion in The Hunger Games XD Did you guys pay attention to Cinna's gold eyeliner as I did? :P

When Cinna came out in the movie, I was definitely looking for the eyeliner. And I must say the gold eyeliner looked really attractive on him... exactly like the book described!

I never possessed a gold eyeliner before, but now I do XD

Trying to do gold eyeliner XD I've seen other youtubers/bloggers do this look before but I was never able to try it out cuz I didn't have a gold eyeliner... but now I do =DDD

Super subtle gold. Hmmm I kind of want a brighter yellow gold =P my eyeliner has more bronze tone to it.

I can go on obsessing over the books/movie forever, so let me go onto the next subject before I go crazy XD


Hmm next I guess will be a rather "tragic" news. My Bubbi Dual Cover brush came apart =(

Not surprised it happened. Remember when I first reviewed the brushes I noticed cracks along the handle? Then I noticed the ferrule started to get loose after a few months... and they finally came apart. Oh well. Honestly I'm not all that upset (I don't really get upset over things like this for some reason lol) and I'm actually not planning to superglue them back together for the time-being because I think having them apart makes it easier to travel with??? XD We'll see. The other brush that the ferrule has come loose will be the HD flawless brush. I think these are going to come apart soon. We'll see. Guess they're not built as sturdy as I had thought. But anyway besides the Dual Cover brush and the HD flawless brushes, I haven't noticed any other issues with the rest of the brushes.

Next I finally tried out the Lioele Triple the Function BB cream.

This is a major MISS for me. I do not like this at all. It's a really REALLY thick formula, but the thickness doesn't bother me cuz I just sheer it out. But the color is very pale (it does oxidize a bit though) and most disturbingly, this BB cream just doesn't adhere to my face that well. It starts to cake and crease under my eyes and settle in fine lines. I've never experienced this with BB creams, so I am very disappointed. By the way I did try blending this BB cream with other BB creams. Still no improvement. This will go onto my blog sale soon. Other than that it gives medium-full coverage and semi-matte finish.

See it for yourself

Honestly usually my undereye fine lines aren't even that bad, but it just cakes up on my "laughing lines" (my cheeks and my eyes tend to squeeze together when I laugh ahaha) and make me look I have aged years. ICK.

A real shame cuz I really wanted to love this BB cream...

Since we're on the subject of BB creams, Dior has come out with its own BB cream!

I managed to get a sample from Sephora :) The smell is divine and the texture is nice, but the color is so orange :( not that surprised either since I generally have that issue with Dior.


While I have the swatch up for Dior, I figured I might as well do a swatch for Lioele.



NARS has also come up with a tinted moisturizer. I haven't tried it out but I don't think I will be able to since the shade is in medium...

Another sample product I got from Sephora is the Hourglass N28 Primer deluxe sample.

I gotta say I adore this primer! But I went on the website to check the price and it scared me away O_O Not ready to dish out this much money for a primer at this stage. However it is a very nice primer. I was a little shocked at the oil formula, but it absorbs quickly and gives face a smooth finish.







Not sure about the benefits of the essential oils honestly my skin hasn't felt any difference. I just really like how light it is, and the best part is it keeps my oil at bay! My oily nose no longer looks shiny by the end of the day, but rather just dewy. AWESOME!

While I'm not ready to invest in this particular primer, I did purchase the Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer the to-go size (hell no not gonna buy the full size product XD) So I'm gonna see how that compares to N28 primer.

I also got a moisturizer sample from Origins.

It's alright I guess? Don't love it and don't dislike it.

I also picked up an eye cream from Origins.

To be honest I've tried a sample of this before and wasn't impressed by any means. But I already went through 2 jars of the Kiehl's avacodo eye cream and just want to try something else. And didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount either...

Also from Origins, I'm gonna introduce my new love to you all =DDD

I. friggin. LOVE. this. stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You guys might remember a while ago I swore off any clay masks because they make my face red and sensitive. But after getting a sample from Origins, I was in love! So so so sooo glad I got a sample. This is definitely nothing like the Body Shop Seaweed ionic clay mask, or the Queen Helene Mint Julep mask. I will have a more detailed review coming up!

Next I have a few products from Korres:

I got a bunch of Korres products in a sale for pretty cheap. I've only used this a couple times but so far not really impressed. Plus the smell is weird... we'll see.

However, I adore the Korres Lip Butters!!!

I adore the wild rose one much more than the guava one. The textures of these lip butters are pretty smooth and make my lips super soft and comfortable! I like!! ^_^ Although I usually HATE having to dip my fingers into products, the formula is good enough for me to overlook that.

You might think the red is over the top, but really you can apply it quite sheerly for a tint of color.

Naked lips:


Apply "wild rose" sheerly

Gives a little color to my complexion ^_^ and a bit of dewiness to my lips.
Build up just a bit

And you can actually build it up to a very opaque/darker red. But usually this is as far as I will go on  a daily basis ^_^
To be honest I am kind of disappointed in the "guava" formula.

On Sephora website it claimed to be a "clear" formula. Well it's not =_= it leaves a very obvious white layer of lip balm. So no this is not something I will wear out. I just slather this all over my lips at bedtime XD plus this formula is not as thin as the wild rose one???? don't know. But anyway even though at $12 a jar, which is quite expensive for lip balms, I'd still like to try out the ones in pink and coral... sometime XD you get quite a lot of products too.

I also finally purchased the Too Faced glitter glue.

This thing is huge O_O when I saw the thing I was like dang when am I ever gonna use this up?! And I'm kind of debating if I should keep this, simply because I rarely use glittery eye shadows and regular primers usually fulfill my needs. I've only used this once since I purchased it and it wasn't on glittery eye shadows XD I have to say it's quite nice. I think it can even work for regular eye shadows as well?! @@ We'll see, I'll have to test it out more.

I also have a new addition to my lipsticks collection ^_^ (which I can count in both hands XD)
It's from the Lacome Rouge in Love collection.


I've been eyeing the nude pink ever since I saw the swatch/review on Rae's channel:


I adore my Giorgio Armani cool pink lipstick, but it had become rather difficult for me to wear it ever since I got paler and paler AND paler over the winter O_O seriously I think I'm at my palest my whole life. But anyway the GA Rouge d'Armani pink 515 (which I actually picked up per Rae's recommendation as well lol!) is difficult to wear now because I'm so pale. I have to wear extra warm/heavy blushes so I don't look too washed out. So I've been looking for another more wearable nude pink. Rae was actually really helpful and told me that this Lancome 307B is not as cool and has more biege, which I cannot agree more.

I put together 3 lipsticks that I thought are similar:

left: Giorgio Armani Rough d'Armani pink 515 (satin finish, with shimmers)
middle: Lancome Rouge In Love 307B Sweet Embrace
right: Lancome Color Design Love It! (cream finish)

In this pic you can see that GA has shimmers while Lancome does not. And Lancome definitely leans more biege. By the way the GA lipstick reads even cooler on my lips than against my hand.

I haven't tested out if Lancome RIL does indeed have 6 hours wear... but honestly I don't really care lol. I've always adored Lancome lip products! They are super comfortable to wear, and this 307B didn't disappoint =)


Finally I accumulated quite a number of drugstore products. I have to say, I've been mightily impressed by drugstore quality these days O_O these eye shadows seriously are just as good as high end ones.

I decided to pick up Revlon PhotoReady Concealer. The shade in #4 but it's definitely a tad too dark on me. I should've picked up #3 but it was out of stock and I didn't want to wait XD The only reason why I even had the chance to pick these up is because I was on my rotation aka makeup shopping after work XD lol.

I do not own the Revlon PhotoReady foundation but I've heard they contain shimmers. I actually did notice the shimmers in this concealer as well. So if that's something that bugs you then you'll want to stay away. Personally I don't mind it. It is very creamy and smooth, but I found it dries rather fast so you'll want to blend fast. I personally don't find this concealer to be the best for my skin type because I do have combination (normal-oily) skin and creamy products just don't hold up as well on me. I also found this concealer to look quite drying under my eyes, if I'm not careful to take time to really really and I mean REALLY blend it/sheer it out. I prefer to use fingers to apply this concealer so it doesn't sit too thick on my skin which can contribute to cakey appearance.

I honestly didn't expect I was gonna like the Revlon lip butters formula but I do! It's not drying (but also not hydrating... more like it just doesn't dry out my lips that's all, no extra hydration) and it doesn't make my lips peel :D :D :D I picked up Lollipop cuz I thought it looked so nice on Bubbi in one of her tutorials but unfortunately it just doesn't look as good on me lol I think Bubbi is fairer than me.

Before I end this post, I just want to do a little update on my fitness/weightloss progress. So far I've lost solid 7 pounds. Extra 2 pounds (so 7-9 pounds) that kind of fluctuate depending on how much I eat... so I'm working really hard on that. My goal is to lose just another 5 pounds then I'll be so happy. But I've hit a plateau so it's a bit frustrating... sometimes I look at my unchanging number on weight scale and just want to cry T_T I thought about posting some pics but then honestly the difference really isn't that noticeable in pictures for some reason, although you can definitely tell in person. I'm able to fit into some of my old jeans now, without struggling with them either :D :D :D


Even after losing 7 pounds and losing almost all of my boobs and half of my butt XD and some thighs and belly, my face REFUSED to change. Especially my double chin (well my face did get slimmer and my double chin did become less obvious... but just nowhere to my satisfaction). It was so frustrating, so I finally decided to give in and pick up the Clarins Shaping Facial Lift lipo-drain serum (act of desperation I will admit that)


I want to let you guys know that I've always had double chin (was made fun of that in middle school lol) it's just a matter of how bad it is. It's very frustrating because whenever I gain weight, the first place the fat goes to is my chin, and when I lose weight, the last place is my chin as well T__T may I also add when I lose weight I lose my boobs first and gain weight in boobs last ahahaha wonderful combination huh?

I don't know if you guys can tell, but my face did get a lot slimmer on the sides (cheek and jawline).

I know it's hard, you guys prob can't even tell when I gain/lose weight cuz obviously all my good pictures are taken at certain angles to make my face appear slimmer and obviously I chose the better pictures. But even with the same posing, my face is more V-shaped than before.



can you guys tell my chin looks a bit pointier??

a lot more obvious in this pic. But I really don't think my face look this thin in real life lol. Not this thin but at the same time a lot thinner than before. my face looks so stupid in this XD was gonna black out my eyes but oh well whatevs.

Sorry for the mega tired face... yep post exam traumatic syndrome

I will have a more comprehensive review coming up? Don't know how much more comprehensive it can get actually cuz you just have to follow instructions while using this product. And actually unfortunately this is not the result I'm looking for... while it significantly slims down the sides of my face, it hasn't done much to my double chin. I saw results the next day using this product. I'd say maximal effect (like what I look like now, it's not really changing anymore my face hasn't gotten anymore slimmer) in about 3-4 days. It's been about 2 weeks, I'm gonna use it for longer before I make a definite review if you guys are interested?

Okay now for real before I end this post XD

I kind of miss brown hair T_T this was taken about 1 year ago. AHHH but really hate to dye and touch up my hair O_o we'll see if I'm gonna go light for the summer.

If you guys reach the end of this post, I applaud you!!! ^____^ Do you guys like/hate this kind of long post? I try to post as many product pics as I can so you guys can just skip to the part that might interest you. I think from now on when I come out of hiding I will scare you guys with this kind of super long posts XD

By the way, milani liquid eyeliner review coming up! And still working on Josie Maran review XD

Good night world! Tomorrow have to resume my studying schedule again (just been tortured by 2 exams and 1 quiz this week and more to come next week O_O)

Hope you're all doing well!

<3 Frances