Friday 6 June 2014

Lancome Artliner 24H Bold Color Precision Eyeliner in Sapphire #03 & Turquoise #05 review and swatches



I'd heard raving voices about these little beauties before I got obsessed with Lancome Artliner eyeliners myself but they never appealed enough to me to try them out until I saw a girl on Youtube lining her eyes with the bright blue one and I immediately knew I needed that in my life. 

I don't know how they relate to the regular Artliners, but these graphic eyeliners are a line of coloured pens that offer a diversion from the traditional black. The shades range from browns and grays to bright colours like the two I've picked.

When they arrived they immediately brought Make-up For Ever Aqua Liners  to my mind. They have the same shape of wand and container, very similar felt tip, although the MUFE one is a bit shorter and harder and less flexible and sturdier and thus easier to use. The formula is also similar with the liners offering rich and opaque waterproof colour that will never smudge but it might flake or peel. If you want to remove these you'll definitely need a waterproof make up remover that won't dissolve the product but it'll will make it come unstuck and peel.

The application poses a bit of a problem for me. Apart from the regular issues that every liquid eyeliner experienced every now and then like shaking hands or lines that don't match, I noticed that this rather runny liquid tends to mess with my lashes when I draw my line close to them. It dries really quickly to a crust on the lashes, making them stigg and clumpy. It's hardly possible to apply mascara on them later on and they look really really gross. I tried applying the liner after mascara, but then it wasn't all that easy to apply without staining the mascara. The most successful method seems to have an old, clean mascara spoolie at hand and combing any product from the lashes before it dries, but that sometimes results in smudging the wet liner horribly. I'm not saying that these liners are impossible to use, but there's a learning curve involved for certain. 


Sapphire is the one that caught my eye first. This is a bright cobalt blue liner that has a matte or sort of satin finish. It's insanely pigmented and opaque. Lines drawn with it have no sheer patches, the colour is applied evenly in a single stroke. 


The downside is its runny formula, which might change in time for the better, but for the time being it tends to flood my eyes in the inner corner. Also the tip is a bit flimsy, which in combination with the runny formula means that the thickness of the line isn't always in line with your intentions. 
But the shade is sooo perfect that I can overlook these slight imperfections. 
I love combining this with taupe and brown eyeshadows for a pop of colour.  


The Turquoise eyeliner differs from the Sapphire one substantially. Although it has the same  runny consistency and dries to become fully waterproof, it doesn't come off in vinyl stripes, like the Sapphire one does, but dissolves like any other liner. But I noticed that it stains my lid for quite a while after removing which might be attributed to green/teal/turquoise pigments in general cause I've noticed exactly the same thing about my Sephora eyeliner in Surf.

I was quite surprised to discover that Turquoise isn't matte as I'd assumed after my experience with Sapphire. Quite contrary, it's highly shimmery, but not glittery. Although the felt tip applicator is the same, for reasons unknown I find this liner easier to apply. 


The shade is, quite obviously turquoise, but it leans more green than blue and in fact it can look almost green in certain lighting conditions and when paired with brown eyeshadow.





Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

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