Maxfactor Kohl Pencil in Cobalt Blue : Review and Swatches

My love for blue eyeliner is no secret. I've got brown eyes and blues really flatter them well. I've been on the lookout for a blue kohl forever, something that I could wear on my waterline. I've got blue pencil liners form Maybelline, Faces and Colorbar but none of them are waterline safe. How do I know? I tried them on my waterline and my eyes immediately started burning and watering and I had swollen eyes the next morning. So kids, don't try that at home!
Caution: you can only use products that say kajal or kohl on your waterline.

So imagine my happiness when I saw this product listed on MedPlusBeauty.com. This retails for Rs.220 for but I bought it for Rs.187 online.
There are also other shades available: grey, black, taupe and brown. Wish there was a teal or green though.

Colour:
It's just what the name says : cobalt blue. Pretty bright and completely matte.

Quality:
It's not too creamy like the faces or Colorbar I-glide ones but not hard too. Pretty easy to get enough colour without tugging the eye. But since this is a kohl, it's not smudge proof or water proof. You rub it, it'll be gone.
Comes in a regular sharpen-able wooden pencil form. Fits in any regular sharpener. Easy to sharpen without breaking the tip.

Yay for:

• Beautiful, bright blue colour. Flatters brown or black eyes well. Bright but not garishly so.
• Waterline safe
• Quite soft. Can apply without tugging eye area.
• Not too soft that tip breaks when sharpening
• Pretty inexpensive

Boo for:

• Not smudge proof or water resistant
• Lasts for about 3-4 hours and then fades away.

You can buy this online at MedPlusBeauty here or from any Maxfactor counter.

Overall, I think it's a neat product for the price and I love wearing this on my waterline with a wash of shimmery nude shade all over the lid. The blue is subtle enough to be worn during daytime too.

Rating : ****

Chambor Dazzle liners in Black and Teal: Swatches and Review

My decently performing Maybelline colossal kajal just got over and I was bored of it so was on the lookout for a better replacement, something blacker and less smudging (even though maybelline never smudged all that much on me). I'd read some good reviews for this Chambor dazzle retractable liners so I decided to go ahead and buy it. It's available in some 8 shades I guess with the usual suspects of black, brown, blue, teal, green, grey, sliver and gold. I got the black and the teal. Oh the grey also looked very pretty but I decided to get 2 first to test the quality.
Oh btw what do I look for in a kajal? Must be BLACK and retractable. I don't like to mess around with sharpeners. Oh plus it should also be fairly smudge resistant and non irritating. And loyal and loving and sensitive.. Oh sorry we were talking about kajal no? So, yeah I've used lakme, lotus and maybelline and all were pretty decent.

Chambor Dazzle eyeliners

Black and Teal

Black and Teal

One swipe each-Black and Teal

Chambor Dazzle Teal EOTD

This dazzle liner from Chambor is packaged prettily in a plastic tube the same colour as the liner with some floral designs over it. Now this thing is only one way retractable. Which means it's not really retractable. Once you twist it up it stays up, doesn't go back in. I think this is rather cunning because this has only .28g of product! Yeah! Measly .28g!! For Rs.480. So obviously Chambor people don't want you to feel ripped off. Coz when you twist the entire pencil up you'll see how little there really is and would get angry. That's why it's only one way twisting. Hmpf! Cheaters! This way you don't know when its about to get over and one day you'd be getting ready for the most important party/ date and you've applied kajal on one eye and bam- it's over! Nothing left for the other eye! Tragic no? Ok, maybe a little farfetched but tragic nonetheless. For comparison- the maybelline colossal kajal has 1g of product and it lasted me about 6 months with me wearing it daily on my waterline, sometimes reapplied during the day. I think this chambor one would last me only about 2 months at the same rate. Such a waste no?
Anyway the colours are really pretty though.
Black is a true deep black with a finish
Teal is a gorgeous colour too and looks lovely on my brown eyes.

Comparison- Maybelline colossal kajal and Chambor Dazzle, one swipe each

After rubbing hard- maybelline colossal kajal and Chambor Dazzle

Yay for:

• Intense pigmentation
• Twist up type so no need for sharpening
• Smudge proof
• Water proof
• Stays put through the day. Long lasting.
• Very soft in texture so glides easily over the eyelids. No tugging or pulling. After applying it sets in a few seconds.

Boo for:

• NOT waterline safe. At least for me! I tried both on my waterline and immediately my eyes started watering and the next day they had turned red and puffy. Ugh! So it's not a kajal/kohl. It's just a colored eye pencil that can be used over the lids. If your eyes are not sensitive perhaps it may work for you.
• Not retractable. Once you twist it up, you can't twist it back in.
• Difficult to remove, especially from waterline. You need an oil based remover for this and I'm not comfortable using that in my eyes coz then again my eyes get puffy and red.
• Too little product for the price you pay.
• Expensive

Overall, I'm very disappointed with this and never buying this again. The kajal is a staple in my makeup routine and this stupid thing can't be used on my waterline- the very purpose for which it was bought. Shame really coz it's otherwise pretty good- glides easily, nice pigmentation and smudge resistant. So I recommend that you look at the colored versions coz those can't be used on the waterline anyway. But still too expensive for the amount of product you get. Look at colorbar or faces instead. Sigh. Welcome back maybelline colossal kajal.

You can buy these online at B.Lab.

My rating: **

NYX studio liquid liner in extreme plum purple: swatches and review

Ok gonna keep this review simple coz the product deserves just that. This is a no frills decent performing liquid liner. This is from NYX's range of studio liners and is in the shade extreme plum purple. This range has metallic shades that have a sheen to them even after drying.

This shade is a dark metallic purple and shows up beautifully on the eyes. I bought this from Cosmetix.in for Rs.351. The tube is quite small though and has 5.5mL of the product.

This comes in a regular tube with a wand applicator with an extremely thin brush tip.

NYX Studio liquid liner in Extreme Plum Purple

Brush tip applicator

Swatches-immediately after application

Swatches-after drying

EOTD

EOTD

Yay for:

• Good pigmentation
• Great colour that retains sheen even on drying
• Feels comfortable after applying. In fact feels like you've applied nothing. No stretchy dryness.
• Comes off easily with plain water. In fact what I like about the removal part is that this sort of peels/flakes off when it rub over it with water and doesn't really smudge and stain the area around the eyes like some other liners do. No mess, no dark circles.
• Stays long without fading or feathering as long as you don't rub your eyes
• Inexpensive
• Cruelty free. Not tested on animals.
• Applicator tip is very very thin so you can easily draw thin lines or thick ones.

Boo for:

• Takes about 3-5mins to fully dry during which you'll have to keep your eyes shut especially if you have droopy or folded eyelids else it may transfer over the eyelid area.
• The consistency is slightly runny so you may have to dab over the line to make the colour shine.
• Can't use on waterline.

I like this liner. It's easy to apply and remove and feels comfortable. Would probably explore other shades too from this range

You can buy this here or here.

Rating: ***1/2

NYX liquid liner in electric blue: swatches and review

Like I've mentioned before I love blue liners and keep trying new ones and this one caught my eye. It's supposed to be a liquid liner that dries to a matte finish and is a brilliant cobalt blue. I saw this at UrbanTouch and twice I put this in my cart and both times it got sold out before I could add other items and checkout. Damn! I thought maybe it wasn't meant to be. But I got lucky the third time round. This time when I saw it was in stock, I immediately added this to my cart and checked out. Yay! I win!
This cost me Rs.360 from  UrbanTouch.

NYX liquid liner in Electric Blue

Ingredients

Applicator wand

Swatches-immediately after application

Swatches- after drying

EOTD

EOTD

After an hour-see how it cracks. Ugh!

Yay for:

• Good pigmentation. Awesome blue colour. Quite bright. Will suit Indian brown-black eyes very well
• You can draw thin as well as thick lines with the applicator
• Doesn't irritate the eye
• Easily removed with water (I don't like waterproof eyeliners coz they're a pain to remove and I don't like tugging my eye area so washable is a plus in my book). In fact this gets washed too easily. Hold it under running water and it sort of flakes away! But it doesn't smudge with water.
• Decently priced
• Cruelty free. Not tested on animals.
• Lead free

Boo for:

• The tube is opaque so you can't see how much product is left
• The consistency is quite thin and runny so you have to dab over and over the lines to make the colour show properly
• When it dries, it turns to a matte finish but it feels stretchy, like when you have really dry skin.
• Starts cracking and flaking in about an hour. Ugly!
• Takes long to dry- about 3-5minutes. So people who have droopy or folded lids may find that it transfers over the lid if they don't keep it closed till fully dry.
• Can't use on waterline.
• Applicator end is not stiff so drawing shake-free straight lines is very tough, at least for me.

Overall, I think this is a dud. Buy it only if you love this colour and can't find it anywhere else coz the quality mostly sucks.
If you must, you can buy this here or here. Other shades also available.

My rating: *

Edit: I decided to give this another chance recently and wore it to a dinner do. I wore this over the NYX eyeshadow base in skin tone and after this semi-dried I pressed some matte powder eyeshadow of the same blue colour over it and found the cracks weren't visible then and it remained neat till I came back home, 3 hours later. Yay! Found a way to make it work! Coz I just love the colour. :)

Faces magic liner in Blue: Review, EOTD

I lurve Blue eyeliners. I find that they really complement my medium brown eyes well. I've been on the lookout for the ideal blue liner- one that has a satin finish, is cobalt blue in colour, without any shimmer, just solid colour and of course ticks all the right boxes- non smudging, doesn't feather, doesn't irritate, long staying and (important for me) washable. But I haven't found it yet. :( The upside is that I have acquired many pretty blue liners in the process. The latest to feature in my collection is the Faces magic liner in "blue". It's a liquid liner that's a shimmery navy blue. Its a very pretty colour and looks great on brown eyes. I bought it from Cosmetix.in for Rs.245. The MRP is 300 though. This has 6ml of product.

Faces Magic Liner in Blue

The applicator

Swatch

Faces Magic Liner in blue-EOTD

Faces Magic Liner in Blue-EOTD

Yay for:

• Vibrant colour
• Stiff applicator, easy to control and to draw extended cat eye liner
• Minimal feathering, long lasting
• Doesnt smudge once dry, even if you rub your eyes lightly
• Nice glossy black packaging
• Washes easily with water. For me this is a plus point because I dont like waterproof liners as they are difficult to remove. This I can wear on a daily basis and not have to bother with makeup remover and tugging and pulling. All I need to do is wash my face with soap and water and its gone.
• Doesnt sting or burn

Boo for:

• Slightly thin consistency which means after drawing the line I have to keep dabbing over and over to pack the colour on.
• Takes a while to dry so if your eyelids are small or folded you need to keep them closed till it completely dries, else it'll transfer.
• Bottle is opaque so you wont know how much of product is left
• Cant use on waterline as this is not waterproof

Overall, this is a decent liner for the price and I really like the colour which is not in your face kinda bright blue. This has slight shimmer and not glitter particles which means I can easily wear this to office as well. Works well with bright or nude lips.

You can buy this online here or here. Also available in green, brown and plum shades.

Rating:***