So I mentioned here when I posted my Die Antwoord nails that I recently did a ninja-themed dance performance to their song “Enter the Ninja”. Despite performing it twice, I didn’t manage to get a good photo of my makeup, so these pictures that will have to do:
All the black is Essence Gel Eyeliner in Midnight in Paris. This is my second gel eyeliner, and I’m definitely jumping on the bandwagon – longer staying power than pencil, more blendable when wet and easier to handle than liquid. Having heard good things about this budget eyeliner, I used it basically as facepaint. The result? Still perfect after nervously shaking backstage for 6 hours, performing under bright lights with lots of upside down hair flicking moves. Interesting, as I was getting prepared in the bathroom, I looked across at our row of 5 preening girls and we were all using gel eyeliners. It’s definitely the longest lasting, smudge proofiest option!
Essence Gel Eyeliner dries very matte, and very black. For a novice like me, this was very easy to appl in short strokes with a slanted eyeliner brush. I also used this as my eyeliner for my “Recreate Yourself” FOTD here. Back-of-hand swatch:
Pros:
– Super cheap ($5.95 for a 3 mL pot)
– Richly pigmented
– Easy to use, blendable
– Long lasting and smudgeproof
Cons:
– Limited colour selection (black, brown and silver in the standard line), and often only 2-3 of each colour on display
– These aren’t sealed in the store, so you need to check each pot for finger dents. I had to go back to Target a few times to snag an untouched pot.
Essence Gel Eyeliner retails for $5.95 for 3 mL and is available in Target and Priceline.
If you buy Essence at Priceline they mostly seal everything, unlike if you pick it up at Target
Ooh, good to know. I’ve only looked at gel eyeliners once when Priceline first got Essence in and everything was unsealed, glad to hear that’s been changed! 🙂
Idk if they have it down there, but I love Maybelline’s gel eyeliner, and they have a few more colors – black brown, dark purple/eggplant, dark green… I think that’s all. And it comes with a great little brush.
Oops, that’s meant to be “black, brown….” not like black-brown. 🙂
They sound good, I’ll have to look out for them!
this looks awesome!
It really is! 🙂
I have their gel liner but from a limited edition and it’s waterproof I have really good experience with it. I love cheap but good products
Cheap + quality is so hard to find, but Essence seems to be doing well! I remember seeing a green eyeliner from a limited collection but it had a finger mark in it 🙁
I hate when other customers do it. It’s a common thing over here so I always have to check if the product was open before I buy it.
LOVE die antwoord, love that song, love the make-up and love the blog!
all awesome. 🙂
Haha wow – thank you so much!
I also use a gel eyeliner, not Essence’s though. I’ll never go back to pencils.
I still like wind-up pencils for eyeliner on the go (i.e. public transport, quick touch-ups), but gel is definitely my first choice now!
umm you look AMAZING in that first photo! Killer body woman!!
I must try essence gel eyeliner, such a cheap brand as well!
Thanks Mel! I’m really getting into Essence, they’re excellent value!