Product Showdown: Best High End Black Eye Pencils for the Waterline

To set the stage, a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to try lining my lower waterline with black liner, like I have seen on many You Tube videos. Now you may think, “Wow, Denise! Get with the program! I have been doing that for ages!!!” Yeah, I know. I guess I am behind the times because I had never tried it on myself. So it was time! I decided to do a product showdown between high end liners and drugstore liners to see what I could find in each category. The lower waterline is really a special area---it’s wet, sensitive and some liners do not “transfer” well onto that area, leaving the color patchy or non existent. My objective was to find a black eyeliner that didn’t smudge, provided a deep, dark color and stayed put on the waterline at least four hours. Today’s showdown is on high end  liner pencils and after I finish testing all of my drugstore finds, I will post about the lower cost liners.

For each of these tests, I used the same eyelid primer (Urban Decay Primer Potion), mascara (Trish McEvoy—upper lashes only), gel liner on upper lid (Bobbi Brown), under eye concealer (Bye Bye Undereye, set with loose powder) and eye shadows that I find to be long lasting (Mac and Wet N Wild). None of these products smear on my eyes.

Top: Mac Smolder

Center: Chanel Ebene

Bottom: MUFE Aqua Eyes 0L

Mac Smolder

I was in Nordstrom when I remembered that Mac had a deeply black eye pencil that I should check out. The SA told me that the Smolder kohl pencil was the only one that was rated for the waterline and that it provides the best coverage and is long lasting. She said that she got about 4 hours of wear out of it and that it was the best on he market. Skeptical that four hours would actually be consider “the best,” I decided to take a chance and purchased it. True to her word, the color was the richest of the three high end pencils I’m reviewing. See below how great it looked when it was applied!

Mac Smolder upon application

Beautiful, right? Well, unfortunately, after one hour, I had smudging under the both eyes and virtually none of the liner left on my waterline. At four hours, the smudging was significantly worse and at eight, I had black eyeliner deeply down into the troughs of the eyes. For some reason, I am unable to find the pictures. It’s possible I was so disgusted that I didn’t take pictures, LOL! Beautiful pencil, but definitely a fail on the waterline. I will, however, try it on the upper lid and also use it in future smoky eye looks!

Ages of Beauty rating (for lower waterline): zero stars

Chanel Ebene Eye Pencil

This pencil has been in my collection for awhile and I’ve enjoyed wearing it, with good results, on my upper lid. It’s a nice, dark shade of black but not as intense as Mac’s Smolder. The pencil glides easily over the waterline and transfers color easily to that area. See the pictures, below, at application, after 4 hours and after 8 hours.

Chanel Ebene at application

Chanel Ebene 4 hours after application

After four hours, the Chanel pencil had slight smudging under each eye but nothing too serious. There was still a little bit left on each waterline.

Chanel Ebene 8 hours after application

After eight hours, Ebene left significant smudging but no where near as bad as the Mac pencil. the worst of it was on the right eye (the left side of the picture) at the outer corner. In real life, I would have cleaned this up at the first sign of a smudge so this wouldn’t have been that bad after a full day of wear, although it was completely gone from the waterline and definitely would have needed a refresh after four hours.

Ages of Beauty rating (for lower waterline): **

Make Up for Ever Aqua Eyes in 0L

This pencil is part of the famous “Aqua Eyes” line that was supposedly developed for synchronized swimmers. I have many of the cream eye shadows from this collection and they definitely stay put. The color 0L is a slightly muted black, making it the least intense, color-wise, of the three high end pencils I tested. It went on very easily and didn’t pull the skin upon application.

MUFE 0L at application

MUFE 0L 4 hours after application

Four hours after I applied the MUFE pencil, I experienced very minor smudging at the corner of the eyes but there was nothing left on the waterline. Since smudging is the bane of my existence, I was very pleased with this (if only it would have stayed on the waterline!!!).

MUFE 0L 8 hours after application

After eight hours, the smudging at the corners was only very slightly worse, making the Make Up for Ever pencil the winner of these three pencils, for lower waterline use. Since there was no color left on the actual waterline, this pencil isn’t a home run, but it is definitely what I would consider usable!!

Ages of Beauty rating (for lower waterline): ***

Interestingly enough, I tested one drugstore pencil in between these three and it performed better than all of these (I was shocked!!). Starting today, I’m testing a few more and should have a post on my drugstore results later this week!

I’ll keep testing high end brands as well and will let you know if I find anything better than the MUFE pencil for the lower waterline.

Do you use a black liner on your lower waterline? Have you found anything that doesn’t smudge and stays put? Please share!!!

High End Makeup of the Day

I’ve been playing around a lot with some items I’ve had in my collection for awhile. Some are things that I’ve received as part of various subscription boxes (so i didn’t pay separately for them) and some I purchased at a retailer. Since I’ve also been using the St. Tropez self tanner on the rest of my body, I thought I’d do something summery on my face. All of these products are so called “high end” products.





First things first---foundation. Becca’s Luminous Skin Colour Ultra Sheer Foundation is a new product for me. I have been wanting to try this product for awhile so I finally purchased it at Sephora (here). Retailing for $42, it comes in a fairly large 1.7 oz bottle. I got it in Olive, which is about two shades darker than my complexion.. This worked perfectly against my chest since I have been using the self tanner. It’s also really sheer so even if it’s darker than two shades, it’s pretty hard to mess up. At some point I’ll do a full review of this foundation as I think it’s great for summer.





Since the foundation is so sheer, I not only used concealer under my eyes but on a few darker areas of my face. For this, I used Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Concealer in R1. This is another new product that, again, I purchased at Sephora (here). This particular shade works well for my “tanned” look, but that’s sad because there’s only one color lighter than this one so that says a lot about my level of paleness! It’s a good product and at $20, I think it’s a good price point for a high end concealer. I’ll also review this one in the future.





Over that I applied the Nars Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder (reviewed here), which I already had in my collection. Next up was Bobbi Brown’s Matte Bronzer in Medium 2, which was also from my collection. I like this bronzer because it’s matte and it’s also more red based than orange/brown based like a lot of bronzers. The red undertones are important because when I tan, my skin has a red undertone rather than yellow. That means that this color of bronzer tends to look more natural on me. You can check out this bronzer on Bobbi’s website here. It retails for $38 but you get a lot of bronzer which will last a long time. I used the bronzer to contour my cheeks, along the edges of my jaw and at the top of my forehead and down the middle of my nose.

As for blush, I had received a full size Be a Bombshell Blush in Sweet Cheeks as part of one of my subscription boxes. Since I had never even heard of the brand, I was anxious to try it. This is a really nice blush and I’m looking forward to trying more of their products. Sweet Cheeks retails for $16 and you can see more here.





Now on to the eyes. I used Mac’s Blanc Type powder shadow (from my collection) from the last line to the eyebrow. In the crease, I used Nars Cosmetics’s Ondine shadow, a plummy browny yummy color. Both of these colors are great for everyday wear and look good with all eye colors.








For mascara, I used The Balm’s What’s Your Type? Body Builder mascara (here for $19) and I also used The Balm’s Schwing black liquid eyeliner (here for $17).






Last but not least, I used a Paula Dorf eye pencil in Baby Eyes Enhancer on my lower rims. I received this in a subscription box but this retails for $20 (I also like this product).

Finally, to finish things up, I used Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Rouge in 20 Baby Pink. I love this product and must review it soon!









That’s my latest summer “high end” face. What do you think? Have you used any of these products? Are there any you want to try?

Product Review: Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick

I am always looking for good, long wearing lip colors that don't dry the lips. In my real life, I travel a lot for work and attend day long meetings on a regular basis. One thing I hate is to come out of a meeting with a ring of lip color around my lips because the "long wearing" lip color has worn off much sooner that it should have.

Enter Hourglass's Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick. I've worn this quite a bit lately, while in my home office as well as on the road. How did it hold up? Click below to find out!

Face of the Day: A Luminous, Lifted Look

Lately, I've been interested in makeup looks that revitalize, tired, dry skin. Since it's winter, my skin is dryer than ever and it just feels "blah." That's really the best way to describe it. A couple of months ago, I started trying new products that add luminosity to the skin. At the same time, I had the opportunity to view a new video from my favorite make up artist, Lisa Eldridge here.  Click below to see my variation of her look!

Face of the Day: A Simple, Chic look

I'm a big fan of Lisa Eldridge, a famous celebrity makeup artist from the UK. Not too long ago, she did a You Tube tutorial on a makeup look she called "Flawless and Chic," available here.

It's a look that can be worn during the day or for an evening out and I've worn it many times. Click below to get the details and the products I used.

How to: "No Makeup" Makeup

Photo Credit: Prevention.com

I don't wear makeup every day but when I do, I often reach for a more natural look. As I've gotten older, my skin has "dulled" a bit, pigmentation isn't as even as it was when I was in my 20s or even my 30s, and my eyes look a little less vibrant. That's not to say that I don't leave my home without makeup (I do) but sometimes I like a little pick me up that doesn't involve a lot of time or products. 

For this reason, I've figured out which handful of products provide that extra lift that still looks natural. And best of all, it only takes 5 minutes!