Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend to just relax and recharge. Life has been crazy busy lately and it's been pretty difficult to find the time to just sit and unwind, but I'm hoping to be back into the swing of regular postings soon. :)

For the first Makeup Monday of 2015 I've got a brand new product from Make Up For Ever to share. If there's one thing in my daily makeup routine I can't live without, it's a good eyeliner. As a follow up to the release of the Artist Liner last year, Make Up For Ever has released two new jet black liners for you to add to your collection. Ink Liner is a matte black liquid liner designed for precision, while Graphic Liner delivers ultra-fine lines with ease using a felt pen tip.

In my makeup routine I typically alternate between gel and fine-tipped pen liners depending on the type of look I want to create. I love pen liners primarily due to their ease of use and precision, so I was immediately drawn to the Graphic Liner. Just look at that sharp tip!

Like other pen liners, the Graphic Liner is light and easy to grip. What's different about it though, is that you do not need to shake the pen in order to distribute the formula onto the felt tip. This makes it feel much lighter in your hand compared to other pen liners. The felt tip is also very stiff, unlike many other felt liners that feature a flexible tip.

After testing the formula for a couple weeks I have to say I have a love-hate relationship with the Graphic Liner. For an eyeliner, I love how pigmented and precise the lines can be. The liner doesn't run during or after application and can last a full day of wear without smudging. It's got a nice semi-gloss finish and the pen itself is lightweight and easy to use. What's there not to like? I'm not the biggest fan of the stiff felt tip which can be a bit irritating during application at specific angles. I personally like my pen liners to have a flexible tip so as to give a smooth application without feeling the pen drag across the eyelid. When the dragging occurs I find the lines are less precise and have the tendency to allow the ink to spread a bit outside of the drawn lines.

Aside from the stiff applicator, the Graphic Liner is a solid eyeliner I would definitely recommend. It's available through Make Up For Ever boutiques and Sephora across Canada for $29 CAD, which can seem pricey, but the wear time and pigment intensity is worth the investment in my books. I'm considering giving the Ink Liner a try, just because it does feature a flexible tip and a matte black finish. Has anyone tried the Ink Liner? Let me know if you have and your thoughts in the comments below!

*Disclosure: This product was sent for consideration of a review.

Happy Monday! It's Canadian Thanksgiving Monday and I've been spending as much time as I can with family. I just wanted to take a moment to say how thankful I am to have the support from everyone who reads my blog! Your encouragement means the world, and I am so happy that I am able to continue to blog and do what I love! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Moving onto today's post, I have to gush about this new eyeliner that I'm loving. Last month Make Up For Ever launched Artist Liner, an eyeliner that promised to be highly pigmented and smooth gliding. To be honest I've never been a fan of pencil liners. I find that they always smudge and give me panda eyes, which is why I only ever use liquid or gel liners.

The Artist Liner looks just like your usual liner, but with a twist-up design it means there is never a need for sharpening. However, the trade off for a twist-up design is that you get less product than that of a pencil liner. The eyeliner is very sturdy as it is housed inside the shiny black plastic that Make Up For Ever is known for. The diameter is smaller than that of a pencil, making it easy to hold onto.

Reading the description of the Artist Liner, I was pretty skeptical of its promises to be smudge proof and long wearing. But let me tell you, this product definitely lives up to it's claims! I tested out matte black (shade M10) and one light swipe gave a highly pigmented swatch, as seen above. The formula is creamy, and blendable as long as you work quickly.

I found that immediately after application the formula was blendable for a very short (we're talking seconds here) period of time. The formula almost seems to set right into your skin...that eyeliner isn't going anywhere! After my swatch I vigorously rubbed over the area where I applied the product. As you can see, the formula lightened up a tiny bit but it did not budge. The eyeliner survived an 8 hour workday without any problems other than lightening up a tiny bit. This formula is a dream come true for me!

If you're after a highly pigmented, long wearing eyeliner in pencil form, look no further. The Artist Liner is available in 15 different shades with matte, metallic, iridescent, diamond, and satin finishes - there is something for everyone!

Available via Make Up For Ever Boutiques and Sephora across Canada for $24.

*Disclosure: This product was sent for consideration of a review.

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a safe, fun weekend - those of you out on the East Coast, hope you're alright and not covered head to toe in snow! Today we're switching things up and celebrating Makeup Monday, cause I'm so excited about this eyeliner!

While I was in Hong Kong last summer, I knew that my holy grail Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner would need to be replaced soon. But instead of picking up an identical one, I decided to discover some of my options, and the Kanebo KATE super sharp liner stood out at me when I was visiting Sasa one day.

The size and structure of the eyeliner is very similar to Dolly Wink, in that the packaging is very sturdy, and the cap fitting tightly to ensure the product doesn't dry out. Similarly. the the pen is very fine, flexible, and capable of drawing both thin & thick lines. Upon application, the product dries readily, and does not smudge or budge all throughout the day. It works so well that its difficult to remove, and can leave a bit of a stain on your eyelids if you don't take the time to thoroughly wash it off!

For the time that I need to be wearing the product for (8+ hours), this liquid liner is awesome for me. The applicator tip is precise, and the colour is just as intense at the end of the day as it is at application. Serious perfection. It also is a little cheaper than the Dolly Wink liner, and goes for about $10. I highly recommend this eyeliner, so do try it out if you're in the market for something new! It's available via Amazon & Kanebo.

I feel like I bought so many new liquid eyeliners in 2011! But in reality, I think it just feels that way because all the ones I've picked up, I love, and use on a regular basis. Back in December, I picked up the UD 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition on a whim. I had heard good things about the product and was excited to see how well it would hold up.

The product is packaged in a sleek tube, with a very thin brush applicator. Before use, you must shake the tube in order to mix up the product to get full pigmentation.



Now the brush applicator is so thin and pointy that you may find yourself poking your eyelid on some occasions. It's a tiny little prick that will not hurt you, but may irritate you when you feel it. Don't let it deter you from trying out the product though! The formula is very pigmented, and Demolition dries to a dark, matte brown.



The brush is extremely easy to use and manipulate - you can draw thin lines, taper the brush strokes, or build up to draw a thicker line. My favourite way to use this product is to wing out the eyeliner, as the brush is thin enough to make the drawing of a wing simple and fuss free. It's a long lasting product that will not budge after drying, and will wear smudge free up to 12 hours for me.



The one thing I would have to mention with this product is that it can apply pretty thick - it can sit thickly atop of the eyelid if you are building up the product. As a result, you will be able to physically feel a layer of product on your eyelid, versus a pencil liner which deposits a thin layer of product that sits harmoniously with the skin. I don't personally have a problem with this, but when it comes to removal, the product will ball up and form little pieces that stick around the eye. Make sure to remove and cleanse the eye area thoroughly to remove all traces of the eyeliner.

I really love this particular eyeliner in Demolition - the brown shade it dries to is dark enough that it can be passed off as almost being black, but without the stark colour that some black eyeliners can carry. The 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliners come in 11 different shades, ranging from gold and silver to hot pink and teal. Unfortunately, not all the shades are matte, and many contain shimmer and sparkle, which can be difficult to incorporate in everyday neutral looks.

Seeing as the MAC fluidline is my ultimate eyeliner of choice, it's very rare that I stray away from the product to check out other eyeliners. But when they're in different colours, that's a whole different story.

I picked up these two smudge sticks as part of an order from Sephora I had made earlier, because they were on sale. They're the first eyeliners from Stila that I have purchased, and I'm actually quite impressed with them.

The two eyeliners themselves were smooth, and glided well on the eyelid without tugging at the skin. I honestly hate using pencil liners for this reason, they are always tugging at my skin and make me worry about wrinkles and floppy eyelids, hah. The colours are highly pigmented, and are budge and smudge proof, which was nice - don't want to have weird looking metallic panda eyes, my friends.



The product glides on smooth as butter, and does give at least a good eight hours of wear. A little product goes a long way, so if you're looking for a nice, long lasting metallic liner, these might be right for you.



Koi is a medium gold shade, the base colour is darker than what I consider to be gold, which is made up for with the high sheen finish. Silver Dollar on the other hand is a lighter, shimmery silver, also with a nice sheen finish. Both are great colours for highlighting in the inner corners, or worn on the bottom lash line.

The smudge stick eyeliners usually retail for $20, giving 0.01 oz of product which is honestly pretty expensive when you consider the amount of product you are paying for. My regular MAC fluidline retails for $15, giving 0.1 oz of product. That's 10x the amount! So before purchasing, definitely evaluate whether the purchase of the product will be worthwhile.