A few weeks ago I was doing some grocery shopping — and for some weird reason, the local grocery store has a great selection of Wet N Wild products! There was a sale on certain things — buy one get one free. I couldn’t pass that up, could I? So I picked up their Mega Liner in Indigo Blue and Plum. Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting much from them.
Boy was I wrong!
Wet n Wild Mega Liner in Plum & Indigo
Wet n Wild Mega Liner in Indigo and Plum
Wet n Wild Mega Liner in Plum & Indigo
The packaging claims these liners are: fast drying & smudgeproof. Are they? Well let me tell you, one of the nights I was testing these my allergies were killing me. My eyes were red and watery and I was using eye drops all night and probably rubbing my eyes without even noticing. At the end of the night, neither color had budged. No smudging, no smearing and no fading or flaking.
RESULT!
That said, I wish Plum were more opaque. I have to go over the same area 2-3 times to get a truly solid line of Plum. But did I mention these were $4? Indigo Blue is more opaque and to my delight, it’s also METALLIC. (Whereas Plum is matte.)
Wet n Wild Mega Liner in Indigo
Wet n Wild Mega Liner in Plum
I’m just super impressed with these and I definitely want to try the other colors in this line.
I’d give INDIGO BLUE 4 Kitteh skulls (taking one off for needing 2 layers)
And I’d give PLUM 3.5 Kitteh skulls (for needing 2-3 layers)
I have been putting off writing this tonight because I’ve been obsessively watching NASA’s livestream of the Mars Curiosity Rover’s landing on Mars. MARS, people. Frakking Mars! It was hugely exciting and inspiring.
Science… It’s a beautiful thing.
Ok, ok, back on topic! I recently picked up Urban Decay’s “Smoked” palette and let me tell you, it’s a winner. I know their “Naked” palettes are hugely popular but I am just not really into earth tones. But this? It’s… dare I say it….MARS TONES. Ok, ok not really, I’m still just super excited. If it was based on Mars, it would be red, right? But if I were to create a palette inspired by space, I think it would be pretty close to this one.
The colors are gorgeous and richly pigmented. It’s also nice to see several matte shades included (Kinky, Freestyle, Backdoor and Blackout). The real standouts for me are Mushroom (a taupe-tinged silver with slightly warm undertones) and Asphalt (a lush metallic pewter.) The only shadow that didn’t wow me was Blackout, which was a little patchy. Another nice thing is that the non-matte shades are more metallic/shimmery than glittery.
It’s a really well balanced palette that has both warm and cool tones, which I think makes it extremely versatile no matter what your skin tone or skin undertone. These colors are fierce. Not only that, but it comes with a full sized 24/7 Pencil in “Perversion” which is amazingly smooth and inky-black. It’s like the Spinal Tap album of black eyeliners:
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Perversion
It also comes with a travel-size tube of Urban Decay’s Primer Potion which seems to be the gold standard of eyeshadow primers, though if I’m honest, it’s one that has never worked that great for me. (I prefer Too Faced Shadow Insurance though even that one will not stop the creasing of my unusually oily eyelids.)
But wait, that’s not all! It also comes with a little booklet! The booklet is pretty nice as it not only includes a variety of 12 different smokey eye looks, but also has a glossary of terms and techniques and examples of brushes you can use to get the best smokey eye.
Urban Decay Smoked Lookbook
Urban Decay Smoked Lookbook
Pretty handy, right? If you’re wanting to expand your Urban Decay eyeshadow collection, I don’t think you can go wrong here. All the shadows are beautiful an great quality. If you love a smokey eye, again, you can’t go far wrong here. And if you love a smokey eye but have no idea how to do one, you might find this just the trick. (Pssstt… you can also buy the booklet separately!)
All in all, I’m going to give this 4.5/5 Kitty Skulls. (Um, my new rating system, ok?) I took off one kitty eye because the Primer Potion is pretty meh for me.
The Smoked palette can be bought at Sephora, Urban Decay and wherever Urban Decay products are sold.
Bonus: Urban Decay is Cruelty Free!
PS: I keep changing my layout because I can’t settle on one! I think this one will work for now though! And now back to your regularly scheduled programming…
My eyes are watery. I mean, like whoa. Watery as all get out. My seasonal allergies happen to occur in all four seasons so no matter what I do, my eyes are watery, itchy and often red. Which makes wearing eyeliner a bit hard at times. I need an eyeliner that wears like iron — but is gentle and non-irritating. For ages I’ve been using Urban Decay’s 24/7 pencils but like any true makeup junkie, I always wondered “Is there something even better out there..?”
Answer: Hell yeah.
Milani Liquif-eye
Milani Liquif-eye Metallic Eye Liner Pencil in 01 Black. Wow. The pencil is incredibly soft and creamy and deeply pigmented. It goes on smooth, without tugging or dragging. Initially I was worried that it would smear but after a few seconds, it sets and does not budge. Ever. You have to work fast if you want to smudge/blend it out because once it sets, it’s not gonna move. After wearing it normally, I had no smudging or smearing or fading after about 6 hours — it looked as perfect as it had when first applied. And that is with me liberally using eye drops and my normal eye-watery-ness.
Oh gawd, cuticles!
Since I had been using Urban Decay 24/7 Pencils, I wanted to see how the two compared in pigment. The Milani is much darker and richer, as you can see:
One pass for each pencil. Milani wins!
And then I got out my trusty wet-naps and tried to actually remove the stuff:
Milani -- besting wet-naps everywhere!
Right. Wet-naps were not up to the job, people. While the Urban Decay was coming off, the Milani barely budged. This is after a LOT of scrubbing. I think this shows that the UD pencil is great — the Milani just has that much more crazy staying power. I had to go and use an oil-based eye makeup remover to remove them completely.
After trying the Black and being completely mad for it, I decided I really also needed to get the Aqua.
Milani Liquif-eye Metallic Liner in Aqua 04
And of course, I wanted to see how it compared in color and pigment to Urban Decay’s Flipside:
Milani Liquif-eye in Aqua Vs. Urban Decay 24/7 in Flipside
While both are gorgeous, the Milani is a bit darker and richer. I actually forgot to take a picture when trying to remove them but the result was similar to the black liners. While the Urban Decay pencil hung in there admirably, the Milani stuck like a fabulously colored glue.
But last night I decided to do the ultimate test. I lined my waterlines generously — one eye in Black and one in Aqua — and after about 6 hours, I decided to watch the season 2 finale of “Downton Abbey” (yes I am one of those crazy Downton fanatics). Now, no spoilers or anything but the season 2 finale was a 2-hour-long weepfest. Tears of joy and sorrow and just sheer “OMG it’s the damn finale” tears. I didn’t hesitate to blot and wipe my eyes and no eyeliner came off on the tissue.
After the show, I went and checked my liner and while my eyes were red, the eyeliner was completely intact. The Aqua had faded slightly but there was zero smearing or smudging or migrating. The Black was perfection. Result!!! I really can’t wait to see how well this holds up once summer rolls around — 100+ degree weather with a billion % humidity? Yeah, I think they’ll actually last nicely and I won’t end up with raccoon eyes. For a change.
I got these eyeliners at CVS drugstore for less than $8. To compare, the Urban Decay 24/7 Pencils are $19 at Sephora. My only wish is that the Milani liners came in more colors — presently they only come in Black, Brown, Aqua, Gold and Silver. I generally don’t wear brown eyeliner but I plan on picking up the Silver and Gold as soon as possible. You can find Milani at many drugstores and also buy it online at Milani.com.
In any case, the gold liner will come in handy once March rolls around, am I right?
Lenny Kravitz as Cinna in "The Hunger Games"
Yeah, I’m also one of those crazy Hunger Games fans!
brightlycoloredperson 