Showdown: Diorshow Liner vs Clinique Quickliner Intense

I love my eyeliners but the pencil or soft kohl varieties just leaves a smudging mess on my hooded Asian lids within an hour or so. Worse, some of less smudge-proof ones even migrate from the outer corner of my eyes to my undereye area, truly giving me the panda-eye look.

That’s why for days where I want fail-safe smudge free eyes (read: workdays), I stick with the liquid variety (my holy grail is still the Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Eyeliner), but you can’t smudge liquid liners and achieve the smokey sultry look, so I still keep a few pencils handy for that purpose.

Two of my latest pencils are from Dior and Clinique. I’ve pitted them against each other in a smudge and budge test and I have to say, the results were surprising indeed.

Diorshow Liner Waterproof in Carbon 098

Being promoted as a waterproof, eyeliner I have high hopes. The packaging of the pencil is exceptional - in a metallic sliver pencil design, it oozes 100 points in class and elegance.

Clinique Quickliner for Eyes Intense in 01 Intense Black*

In the other corner we have Clinique Quickliner Intense which is a dual-ended liner. The pencil end is capped by a plastic lid and other end houses a sponge smudger capped by a clear lid.

Top - Bottom: Diorshow Liner, Clinique Quickliner Intense

Both are automatic pencils meaning that there is no messing around with pencil sharpeners as a twist or two of the pencil would give new kohl lead to line eyes.

The Clinique Quickliner Intense is only one directional twist though, so don’t over twist as you wont’ be able to twist the lead back down and will end up with too long of a lead that will break off when you apply pressure to draw on skin, wasting the product (yes, I learnt about that the hard way).

Pigment wise, both are deep black and very intense in colour which Dior's Carbon showing up to be true black on photos more than Clinique which seemed to give a blue tint. They are easy to smoke out but on actual application, the differences between them become apparent.

Left - Diorshow Liner; Right- Clinique Quickliner for Eyes Intense

The Differences
Clinique glides on skin like butter without any tug or pull and feels almost like applying a liquid liner making it very easy to draw closely along the lines of eyes or do any tight lining (lining along the waterline). Dior feels more waxy and takes several strokes and harder pressing for the product to warm up and get the same colour intensity and is not as pleasant to use on upper lids.

On the back of hand smudge test, Dior stands up against the test and passed with flying colours. In fact Clinique looked more smudged after rubbing it a few times on my fingers. I was impressed with Dior at this point.

Smudge test: Diorshow liner is more true black when drawn with pressure and stands up against rubbing better

Interestingly, on eyes, it was a totally different story. My oily lids seemed to wreck havoc with Dior. The pigment fallout appears quickly  too and because of its harder lead, I don’t draw as intense line as with Clinique.

Within an hour of wear, Dior was giving me panda eyes with more fall out and fading of intensity. For Clinique, there was abit of budge but it was not as widespread and the intensity was still very much intact. In fact, I could wear the almost till 4 hours without constantly checking for fall out and smudging. After that, there is a bit of fade and movement which I clean up with a cotton bud.

Tip: Dip the cotton bud in foundation or concealer first before using it to clean off product fall-out or smudges so you don’t wipe off your base makeup from your under eye area.

Diorshow Liner - 1 hour later with a fair amount of smudge, fading and fallout

Clinique Quickliner - 1 hour later: less fallout and minimal smudging

So from a real life test, Clinique wins hands downs in my book for those with hooded or oily eye lids. It is by far more intense and longer-lasting liner that is less affected by oil; the products don't migrate as much and it just stays put. I can see myself using Clinique Quickliner for daytime wear where I want more crisp lines with minimal fall-out and Diorshow for evenings where I’m going to do a lot of smudging work for the smokey look since I'm bound to get smudges already.

It just goes to shows, for eye makeup, the back-of-hand test is very deceptive if you have oily lids. Even high-end waterproof products fail on me and I really can't see myself buying another Diorshow Liner pencil when the Clinique Quickliner can be used for both day and night and is a lot cheaper too.

Have you bought any products that worked well when tested on your arm/hand but didn’t live up to expectation when put to real use? 

Diorshow Liner RRP A$50 at Dior counters in department stores and selected pharmacies.
Clinique Quickliner for Eyes Intense* RRP A$34 available in 6 shades at Clinque counters and online.
Product marked * was provided for consideration.

Review & Comparison: Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Eyeliner & Kate Super Sharp Liner

I am terrible at lining eyes. With my shaky hands and unsteady strokes, I make mistakes all the time when trying to draw and line my eyes. Adding to my woes, I have a small eye crease space so I steer clear of thick eye lining techniques as it can unintentionally give me the goth look.

And if that isn't bad enough, my oily eye lids mean no eye makeup stay on for long without massive effort and copious amounts of priming and prepping the skin beforehand so understandably I often forgo lining the eyes to avoid smudges during the day.

Types of eye liners for clean sharp lines

Pencil liners are great for blending out to create the smokey eye look but tend to only give sharp fine lines from freshly sharpened pencil so liquid or gel liners are more dependable for clean sharp lines.

Having narrowed down my choice of liners, I only have the product staying power to contend with when looking for eyeliners. Today I'm sharing with you two products that meets these demanding needs.

Packaging of Kiss Me and Kate by Kanebo eye liners

Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Eyeliner
I came across this brand when I was visiting an Asian beauty boutique in Box Hill, an eastern suburb of Melbourne a few months ago. The sales assistant swore by this product so I decided I must try it myself to see if it meets the needs of my very fussy eyes.

This Japanese brand is one of the most popular drugstore brand in the Asian market and I can see why as the quality rival those of luxury brands. 

• Pen type packaging - it reminds me of a good sharpie felt tip pen. It boast a fine 0.1mm tapered felt tip, giving you alot of control and is capable of drawing medium or very fine lines depending on the pressure and angle you apply it against your skin when drawing. 
• Beautiful rich black colour - just the deepest opaque black shade you want from your everyday eye liner and it only fades slightly after 8 hours. 
• The ink flow beautifully out of this pencil and makes drawing lines effortless - it glides on smoothly with no bleeding on the sides and even improved my clumsy drawing skills and is practically idiot proof - I love it alone for making me look like I'm a pro with lining eyes meaning that I can now master drawing wings and flicks with the fine tips - see exhibit below for proof. 
• It promises tear-proof, sweat-proof, oil-proof stay-put colour once dry and I'm happy to report that it delivers on all these promises. I don't get any smudging on it when lining the top lids and only the slightest smear after a good 3 hours when I do use it to tightlining work from my watery eyes (i.e line the water line or inner rims of the eye). If you don't have watery eyes, you will have no smudging problems with this product at all. 
• Comes off fairly easily with eye makeup remover.

Lined eye using Kiss Me Heroine Make smooth liquid liner - check out fine flick at the end

Kate by Kanebo Super Sharp Liner

Kate is mid range Japanese cosmetic brand from Kanebo who is reowned for his leading luxurious skincare products. I was introduced to this liner over a year ago by a girlfriend who had lived in Japan for over 3 years and is equally obsessive at finding the best beauty products.

• This is another pen type ultra fine liner with also with a 0.1mm felt tip (are you sensing a theme here?) so is great for any detail work you want to do on your eyes/face. Flicks at the end of eyes are also very easy to control with this pen liner. 
• The ink flow of this liquid liner can be a bit finicky at times and needs going over your strokes a few times to even out the thickness of the lines and achieve good opacity sometimes but thankfully the fine lines means multiple layering doesn't add too much thickness and also helps to deepen the colour. 
• The colour is a deep black shade but I find that by the end of the 10 hour day, it does fade to a dark grey shade so the formula is less superior to Kiss Me's . 
• Is also non-bleeding, smudge-proof and tear-proof and stood up well against the majority of liquid liners out in the market. I find it again to not be as good in weathering my oily lids as Kiss Me's at the end a long day. It stood up well if you only need it to stay on your eyes for 5-6 hours. 
• Comes of easily with eye makeup remover.

Comparison of both liners - look how fine the tips are

Final thoughts
I love both liquid liners and use them both interchangeably depending on how long I need to have my makeup on for. I find that the tip of the Kate eyeliner is less firm than the Kiss Me one, so can be slightly harder to use as I don't have a steady hand. For the working day, Kiss Me is the fail-safe option and for a night out, I'd happy draw away with Kate.

Is Kiss Me Heroine Makes' eye liner worthy of HG status? I think so as I've tried many liquid liners over the years and most fall short of the staying power or ease of application. It is now my benchmark liner when comparing all other liquid eye liners and at such an affordable option, I can't recommend this product enough.

Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Liner 0.4ml RRP US$12 at Sasa.com | ~A$25 locally at Asian beauty boutiques
Kate Super Sharp liner 0.7ml RRP US$12 at Cosme De | ~A$25 locally at Asian beauty boutiques 

Illamasqua Toxic Nature Collection: Torture Sheer Lip Gloss and Glister Precision Ink

The Illamasqua Toxic Nature collection was released back in March this year so I am very late to the party to do a review on the products from the collection.

Truth is though, I only received these items recently so am trying to get this out ASAP so that if you are interested in the shades, there's still opportunity for you to pick it up in stores or online. 

Sheer Lip Gloss in Torture 7ml - A$33

As its name suggest, this medium thickness in consistency is very sheer and wearable despite the vibrancy in the tube. In fact, I wish there was more pigment as I quite like the colour of Torture – a pretty coral peach. 

It’s non sticky formula will be welcomed by those who hate sticky glosses and imparts a subtle layer of colour whilst keeping lips moist for hours. It's perfect for adding hydrating shine to lips and can be layered over your favourite warm colour lipsticks. 

Torture looks almost bare on my lips

Precision Ink in Glister 1.8ml - A$43.50

Precision ink is a liquid liner with a sharp felt tip that makes drawing precise lines a easy and fool-proof. 

Glister is a pink nude shade with iridescent pink shimmer. Although I found the shade too light to use as a top lid eye liner, A thicker line over eye shadow brightens up my peekers and it also works very well on the lower lids to widen the eyes and give is a light shimmering dimension.

For anyone artististly inclined, you can draw it anywhere on the skin for added shimmer and is one of the more unique shades that won’t be found in any other brands as a liquid liner. 

Once dry, the colour stays on for hours and is smudge and water-proof. The precision ink formula is definitely a keeper and has me keen to explore other precision  inks shades. 

Illamasqua is available exclusively at Myer Melbourne, Chadstone, Sydney, Bondi, Brisbane and Robina. 

Products were sent for consideration.

Win: Natio Berry Beautiful Collection and more Berry swatches

Following the Natio Berry Beautiful palettes swatch post, I’ll wrap up the rest of the Berry Beautiful collection today with their lip colours, nail colours, eye liner and mascara all of which are new limited edition shades. 

Lip Colours – RRP A$15.95 

I'm surprised and impressed by Natio's lip colour hydrating formulas that leaves lips soft and moisturised. They glides on relatively easily and lasts a couple of hours before re-application is required to freshen up the colour. Both these shades are very wearable shades. 

Baby berry, a soft berry plum colour that is more a satin finish with a sheerer coverage.

Natio Baby Berry

Velvet Berry, a deeper berry shade with a semi-matte finish that gives a fuller coverage as it is more pigmented. 

L-R: Velvet Berry, Baby Berry

Nail Colours –RRP A$9.95 for 13ml 

High gloss formula, these polishes were quick drying and very smooth and easy to apply. They are fairly chip resistant too which makes them even more awesome! 

Berry You is a deep cherry red – I love vampy shades in cooler months and this one is a classic stunner.

Berry You - 2 coats in indoor white light

Very Berry is a dark plum purple – 2 coats and it’s almost purple black. A very edgy shade for those who like their digits dark. 

Very Berry - 2 coats in indoor white light

Eye Liner - RRP A$14.95 for 3.5ml 

Midnight Berry is a navy black liquid liner with a felt tip pen. 

I find that felt tips don’t work too well on my eye shape as I need many strokes to draw the line across my eyes and the felt tip can make the liquid become streaky going over it too mulitiple times. But once I get it right, the sharp tip does give precise application and when the liquid dries, the colour is pretty much smudge proof and stays all day with minimal fading by late afternoon.

Super Long Lash Mascara in Black – RRP A$14.95 for 10ml

Gives clump free sculpted lashes that are lengthened and defined perfectly. It isn’t the most volumising mascara but if lengthening and lifting power is what you want and need, then this is one mascara you need to check out. 

Natio Midnight Berry eye liner and Super Long Mascara, fresh beige eye shadow on lid from  Soft Berry palette

Natio's Berry Beautiful colleciton is out now at your nearest Myer, David Jones or selected pharmacy Natio counter. 

Giveaway: 

Love what you are seeing and hearing about Natio’s Berry Beautiful collection? Yes? Well I’ve got a great prize for 2 lucky readers.
Natio has kindly agreed to give away two sets of Berry Beautiful packs away on Things I Love worth A$82.75 each.

The 1st prize pack is the Soft Berry pack for those who want a romantic and gentle foray into Natio’s berry world (contains the Soft Berry Mineral Beautiful palette, lip Colour in Baby Berry, Nail Colour in Berry You, Liquid Liner in Midnight Berry and Super Long Lash Mascara in Black).

The 2nd prize pack is the Dark Berry pack for those who want and crave more drama are daring berry shades in their life (contains the Deep Berry Mineral Beautiful palette, lip Colour in Velvet Berry, Nail Colour in Very Berry, Liquid Liner in Midnight Berry and Super Long Lash Mascara in Black).

All you need to be in the draw to win one of this awesome prize pack is: 1. Be a subscriber of this blog via Google Connect or email (either one will suffice). 

2. Comment below and tell me which Berry prize pack you want to win and why and note down your subscription method.
3. This giveaway is open to residents with an Australian or New Zealand address. Only one entry per person.

4. The total value of the prizes is A$165.50. The prize pack will be sent by Natio to the winner's chosen address.

5. This giveaway closes at midnight AEST 2nd April 2011. 2 winners will be chosen by Random.org. with the 1st winner awarded the prize pack of their preference. Winners will be announced on this blog no later than 3 days after the close of the draw.

These products were provided for consideration. 

Review: Is UD Naked Palette worth the hype?

I've waited for what must be eons (yes, 4 months did feel that long) for this precious baby to come back in stock and be shipped to me. My expectations and anticipation of this palette was obviously escalated up to the stratosphere after all those months. Finally I can do a review to share with you whether I think this palette is worth one of the biggest beauty hypes this year.

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Here's what the product looks like in its packaging.

In its packaging

Out of its box

• The palette comes with a sleek velvet magnetic enclosure case, contains 12 neutral colours has a duo-ended 24/7 glide-on eye pencil in Zero (black) and Whiskey (brown). It also comes with a mini eye potion primer. 
• Ok - the colours are not mind blowing or even terribly unique. But that is the whole attraction for me, it's meant to be a 'naked' colour palette that goes beyond basic neutrals with 4 coloured shades to play it up the abit. They are all very pretty and I love each and every one of them and can see this being the only neutral palette I ever need to have (except for product research purposes haha)
• Virgin is satin beige, sin a frosted champagne pink, naked a matte nude taupe, sidecar shimmery malty brown, buck a matte cocoa butter, half baked a metallic golden bronze, smog a frosted dirty dark copper, darkhorse a shimmery deep cool brown, toasted a satin bold copper, hustle a satin wine brown, creep is a onyx black with shimmer, and gunmetal is metallic steel grey with silver glitter. 
• all the texture of the colours in this palette is just amazing, it applies like velvet on skin, and I experienced zero fallout with all of the shades. Again amazing is the pigmentation - one swipe and you get colours true to pan. It was very resistant to fading - even in humid weather and didn't crease on me for almost 3 hours (very impressive results since most shadows don't last 1 hour for me). 

NC30 skin, natural light

NC30 skin, fluorescent light

• Eye shadows aside, the 24/7 glide on pencils are amazing. Literally just a soft touch and colour is transferred onto skin, making it the ideal pencils to use for tight-lining or lining the waterline as you don't have to tug as much to get pigment off it. The textures of these pencils are amazingly smooth as well - by far the best liners I've encountered to date (would be keen to compare with MUFE Aqua Eyes eye liners). 
• I gave these liners a rub test, and the colours faded evenly without much smudging at all. This translated to very minimal smudging on my super oily eyes which is just so brilliant to see it faded very evenly throughout the day (imagine if you had non-oily eyes, these liners will stay fixed all day long). 
• the primer potion is great to use to give any eye shadows and ensure vibrant colours that lasts for hours without fading or creasing. The only downside is it grabs eye shadows when it touches the skin, so can make blending work abit more challenging. 

freshly applied, rubbed off, see no smudging at all

Rating: 10/10. I ♥ every product in the palette and yes, it's totally worth the hype. RRP US$44 (ex tax) at Sephora or Ulta. It is also available at BeautyBay (UK)  but most retailers are currently out of stock unfortunately. I bought mine from Ulta.