Physicians Formula Eye Booster 24 Hour wear 2-In-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner: Review

Black eyeliner - almost everyone you know uses it. It's everywhere, no matter what the trends are, most people love their black eyeliner. No matter how pale or tan they are, most people feel more confidence with that little black line that is the bane of our existence most mornings, but always makes us feel great when we get it right. 

I confess, I own a black eyeliner. However, I almost never use it. The last time I reached for it was....2 months ago? I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out - I prefer brown over black. I am very pale, so much so that black eyeliner honestly looks a bit harsh against my skin tone. Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes I want to be fierce and do a graphic black eyeliner like I see the models wear (It always looks better on them) so I try it, but like a favorite song, I always go back to brown eyeliner when I want to feel my best.

Enter 2 months ago when my brown liquid eyeliner had run out, and I found out that the drugstore offers many more vegan and cruelty-free makeup options than I ever thought possible. I found a list of vegan products from Physicians Formula ( a cruelty-free brand), the first makeup I ever used, and I knew I had to try something from them. It had been years and years since I had used them, but I had very fond memories of walking into a CVS and asking a sweet girl if they had any organic makeup. She showed me Physicians Formula, and I asked what I should buy, picking up every single product she pointed at saying that that was what she used. 

This time around I took a different route, researching each product on the vegan list before deciding to try their new liner. The promises of it helping my lashes grow and looking great was too much to resist, plus at the price point of only $10, I knew I had to try it.

Physicians Formula Eye Booster 24 Hour Wear 2-In-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner

$10.99

Simply put, it worked great for the first 2 days but after that it stopped going on evenly and opaque. I would do one eye and have to go back over it 6 times to get it to be a solid brown line. Then the second eye I would only have to go over it 3 times to get the same opacity. The next day the first eye might be 3 times and the 2nd eye 5 times. There was no consistency with this product. When I only have a certain amount of time to do my makeup, I don't have time to go over a line 6 times. It's just unrealistic.

The felt tip was slim and made it easy to draw on the line, except the liquid product itself just wasn't reliable at any point.

Furthermore the claims that it would help my eyelashes grow were false. I used this eyeliner every day for a month and a half, and nothing grew except my frustration. There was absolutely no improvement in the length or strength of my eyelashes.

When swatched next to Kat Von D liquid eyeliner, while they look similar, the Physicians Formula I had to go over 4 times to get that line, whereas the Kat Von D I only had to draw once.

As much as I wanted to love this product, it was so bad it made me go out and buy an eyeliner twice it's price because I knew the quality would be better and consistent with each use. Maybe the next product I try from them will be a hit.

30 Days of Lips + Looks: Day 26 "Purple/Bronze/Nude"

Day 26 "Purple/Bronze/Nude" - Urban Decay 

 

(Inspiration photo)

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick "Naked": $22.00

I was sent an inspiration photo tonight that was so pretty I couldn't pass it up. I love dramatic brown/bronzey looks, so this was really fun for me to re-create. The lipstick is more of a pinky-nude than a true nude like in the photo. Despite my photo's appearance that my makeup is much softer than the inspiration photo, it is actually just as dark and intense - the lighting washed it out tonight a little bit sadly.

30 Days of Lips + Looks: Day 16 "Indie Darling"

Day 16 "Indie Darling" - Lime Crime Velvetine Lipstick "Utopia"

Lime Crime Velvetine "Utopia": $20.00

I've had my bright Lime Crime velvetines for a little while, but it's hard for me to wear them since I mostly go to work and I can't go too bright at work. I have to go darker or more neutral for my makeup at work, so I definitely wanted to include my favorite color "Utopia" in my challenge. I was thinking about doing brown with the purple, but brown is my go-to and I wanted to challenge myself so I went with silver/grey. I only own 3 shades of grey (Not 50, har har har), so I created a softer but still visible grey look to balance the bright purple on my lips.

30 Days of Lips + Looks: Day 3 "Double Liner Happiness"

Day 3 "Double Liner Happiness" - Lorac "Nude Scene"

Lorac "Nude Scene": $10.00

I love this color like whoa, but I realized when I was looking through my collection that this nude is one I haven't worn very much. The eyeliners I used today are Lorac as well, and I just thought it would be really fun to try something a little more unusual for my eye look. My eye look is a cobalt blue liner on the outter half of my eyes, and a gold eyeliner on the inner half, both on top and on bottom. The lipstick, even though I haven't worn it that much, is actually one of my favorites. It goes on so perfectly and is such a great nude for my skin tone.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner: Review + Lookbook

While growing up certain beauty aesthetics were engrained into me as a sort of "Don't Do" bible. Each time we passed by the beauty aisle or I would play in my mother's makeup I was reminded of those rules as a warning, as if some glittery makeup goddess would bestow bad eyebrow days on me if I disobeyed. Of course, as a young teen and being told "Don't do that" only made me want to do it even more, and as I've gotten older and developed my own style I've rebelled against one rule in particular:

 ***Pink around the eyes makes you look sick/diseased***

As soon as I was out on my own in college I dove into variations of browns, pinks, blues and greys and I am happy to say that pink eyeshadow is one of my best friends. I'm so drawn to pink now as an adult that when I saw the Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in the shade "Woodstock" on sale, my heart skipped a beat. The shade is a beautiful deeper sparkly coral that's perfect for the summer months. Instead of just doing a regular review about whether or not I like the product and how it wore, I decided to create 2 different eye looks using the eyeliner because I love it so dern' much.

Look #1 Half-eye cat flick

A very simple, easy half-eye cat flick. Since my eyes are smaller I like to start at the middle of the eye with eyeliner and then draw it out to the side since I've noticed it creates the illusion of larger eyes. The eyeshadow shades underneath the liner are lighter pinks and dusty mauves with a shimmery pink in the corner of my eye to draw light to it and create the illusion of a wider eye. I went very light on the eyeshadow application to give just a gentle base contrast for the bright pink eyeliner. My trusty NYX concealer under my eyes and one coat of Calvin Klein mascara completed the look.

Look #2: Double Liner Happiness

This was a tricky look for me as I've never really done a really big bold eyeliner, and I'm sure you can see I don't have the steadiest hands. I love contrasting two colors like this so I might continue to try to push myself with more challenging looks like this in the future. Practice makes perfect, and clearly I need a lot of practice! :-P

Overall Review:

Urban Decay's 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner is very easy to use, and of course the packaging is adorable. It goes on quickly and it STAYS on. I accidentally rubbed my eyes more than once, and my eyeshadow shifted but not the eyeliner. It applies very smoothly and it's effortless to create any kind of shape you want due to the thin application brush that comes with it. The color itself is bright but it's not a neon "I'm going to a rave after this" bright. It's a really beautiful bold pink and the sparkles add a nice hint of shimmer in the light. The ONLY bad thing about this liner, if you can't already tell from the picture above, is that you have to go sparingly with it or it can get a little...clumpy.

The price is absolutely worth it due to the quality of this product. This shade probably isn't for everyone, but if you're looking for a formula for a great liquid eyeliner, I recommend going for the Urban Decay 24/7 in another shade. I've tried different brands of liquid eyeliner with a brush before and I've got to say this is my favorite to date.