I’ve been seeing these new eyeliners EVERYWHERE, lately. On the internet, at Sephora, on my friends. I saw them even more from everybody’s Generation Beauty hauls (Is this the “FOMO” that people talk about?).
I’ve heard such good things about this collection, but I’m a difficult customer when it comes to eyeliner.
Enter MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua XL Eye Pencil. A collaboration between MAKE UP FOR EVER and Charli XCX, that contains a collection of waterproof eyeliners that come in a variety of colours and finishes.
Available in 20 shades to match any style, from polished to punk, the AQUA XL Eye Pencil is an artistic collection of eye-popping, ultra-long-lasting eye pencils. Featuring eyeliners in five different finishes – Matte, Diamond, Satin, Iridescent, and Metallic – AQUA XL Eye Pencil was tested by professional makeup artists in extreme conditions: under water, on stage, and on camera. Showcasing a full range of electrifying eye candy looks, from iridescent pastel pink and yellow, to vibrant purple, green and blue, these highly pigmented, high-performance pencils glide on rich and smooth with a special formula to rock any look, day or night.
The AQUA XL Eye Pencil features an exclusive, extra-long (XL) lasting formula, providing:
• XL Performance: A unique blend of ingredients – flexible resin for long-lasting results, vegetable wax for consistent colour payoff, and a revolutionary dry oil that locks in the color and creates water resistance – guarantees waterproof, smudge-proof, transfer-proof and sweat-proof results
• XL Colour: Unique, translucent, crystal copolymer gels helps amplify color intensity and brightness
• XL Comfort: Emollient oil and microspherical silica provides an easy, creamy and smooth application. Mango butter helps prevent skin dryness on application and throughout the day
The waterline test: As previously mentioned, I’m a tough person to please when it comes to eyeliner. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING will stay in my waterline for more than 3 minutes. So of course, I was hoping that the XL Aqua Liners would do the trick. I put a nice coat of M-92 (lilac purple) in my waterline and hoped for the best. After 2 minutes the colour disappeared in the outer corner of my waterline, and 3 minutes after that the same happened in the inner corner of my waterline. There was definitely still a noticeable amount of product in the centre of my waterline, so I’ll attribute the immediate disintegration of the product to not being able to wait for the product to set (you know….needing to blink and all). The remaining product remained on my waterline for a little over an hour, which may not seem like much, but for me (the waterline makeup murderer) it was pretty impressive.
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| Wearing ME-42. Also wearing Anastasia Beverly Hills Maya Mia Palette, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer, Rimmel Apocalips ‘Light Year’. |
While I’m always on the search for something that will stay in my waterline, the main way I use eyeliner is to line my upper lash line, which these liners did beautifully. The pigmentation was so impressive, and although the product did transfer onto my lashes during application, I didn’t care. THEY DIDN’T BUDGE. They stayed for hours. Even after swatching them on my arm, after 5 minutes I tried to smudge it with my finger, and the swatches looked good as new, even after aggressively trying to rub them away.
In addition to the staying power and how pretty the colours look (ME-42 is my absolutely fave), I really like the variety of this collection. With 20 colours, and 5 different finishes, you are sure to find something that suits your needs – bright pastels, subdued neutrals, bold metallics, etc. After trying out these eyeliners, I could happily toss out all my other eye pencils and replace them all with the Aqua XL Eye Pencils.
The MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua XL Eye Pencil are available for $25 CAD/$21 USD at Sephora stores and online.
Press samples featured
