4.07.2010

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil

I'd like to start with a confession.  I've always struggled with eyeliner.  I abhor lining my upper lashes because, let's face it, I do not have a steady hand.  Inner eyes are a little better, perhaps due to the fact that I prefer that look over all.  I have given up on doing my lower lashes.  That area is the worst, I either make my liner too thick or too thin, I'm not sure exactly where to stop (mid-eye or all the way?), and it's just a frustrating situation in general. 

Sure, I love eyeliner.  I mean I love eyeliner.  During my teenage "goth" years I must have went through at least a pencil a month.  I never did quite get it right though.  My friends, who must've known something I didn't, had steady hands when they applied their liner.  They would walk around with perfectly-lined, black (mine always came out gray isntead...) rimmed eyes.  *sigh*.  I would buy the same products as them, yet it would never apply "full strength" on my watery eyes.  Therefore I have probably spent more on eyeliner than any other product, except maybe mascara.

Up until purchasing this Urban Decay eyeliner, my experience had been exclusively in "drugstore" eye pencils.  I shelled out $17 for this pencil, plus the $9 for the sharpener.  Yes, I think you could probably get away with another sharpener for this, but I had also purchased the 24/7 concealer pencil and you really need the sharpener for that.  In my opinion, $17 is a whole lot of cash to shell out for eyeliner.  But after so much dissapointment, I would gladly pay a little more just to get something that lives up to it's claims.

Claims:
"The best Eye Pencil ever, ever, ever! Never before has a pencil this creamy and brilliant been waterproof, too. Velvety-soft, this never-before-seen formula stays soft and creamy for blending (about 30 seconds), then dries down to a long-lasting finish that WILL NOT budge. Line eyes with a hint of color or go for the full artistic, multi-hued effect with the wide selection of lush tropical hues, deep metallics and unusually vibrant neutrals. Incredible with Urban Decay Eyeshadows!
Created with 50% moisturizing ingredients suspended in a sophisticated waterproof formula, 24/7 Eye Pencils offer long-lasting color and a dreamy, creamy feel when applied. With Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E and Cottonseed Oil.
Tips: 24/7 Eye Pencils are ideal for lining inner lids because the waterproof formula stays put. Just apply, try not to blink for a sec, and you’ve got immovable liner."*
*-Source- UrbanDecay.com

First off, I'd like to gush about how creamy this stick really is.  I don't even have to tug at my eyes to apply my liner to my top lash-line.  No tugging, pulling, or wayward pencil lines.  This is the first product I've been able to line my top lashes with pro results.  Woo!  Actually, the creaminess of this formula made me nervous at first.  Creaminess in a pencil usually means lots of smudging, low-staying power, and pencil break-off.  The people at UD must know what they're doing.  This stuff will.not.budge.  Let me repeat, will.not.budge.  It's easy to blend, but once it's set you can't budge it.  Not an inch.  Well, unless you kept tugging at your eyes really hard-but why would you want to do that?

As for the inner-lids, this is where I really get excited.  This pencil gave me a true black line, no black-on-the-stick, grey-on-my-eyes transformation.  I get better results if I run a q-tip over my rims before I apply, because all that extra water in my eyes doesn't do me any good.  It stays put, and never spills down into my lower lash line.  It does start to fade after it's been on for a few hours, like 4-5 or more.  Most of the time it wears longer, but it doesn't live up to the 24 hour marketing ploy.  The reason the fade-factor isn't so bad is because this stuff has such great staying power.  Even when it starts to fade it still won't migrate.  I still end up with those little black balls in the corner of my eyes, but I've seen them worse.  For some reason this doesn't accumulate, I appreciate that.  I can't wait to try it at the pool!

*Application*

Before:

After: 

Finished Look: 
as the Kool-Aid dude would say, "OH YEAH!"

On top of the great application, my sensitive eyes give this the hypo-allergenic two thumbs up.  Well, they would if they had thumbs...I'm not sure about the moisturizing factor though.  It works to make the pencil soft, but I don't think these benefits transfer to my skin.  The best Eye Pencil ever, ever, ever?  Mmmmaaaaaybe.  I still have to try MAC, MUFE, Revlon Colorstay, and Chanel before I give it that title.  Best one I've tried, ever, ever, ever?  Yes!

On to the packaging.  This is where I have my complaint.  The lid doesn't like to stay on, please don't apply this above sink drains or anywhere else it could fall in.  Fishing stuff out of the sink trap is gross, and not something I want to do again, hehe.  You just can't really trust sticking the lid on the back of the pencil, it'll stay closed enough to keep the pencil creamy, but just be sure that you've really jammed that thing down into the pencil so that you know it's got a good seal.

All in all, I love this pencil.  It's not perfect, but is anything?  This little guy goes everywhere with me, I keep it in the pen-holder in my wallet, application is so noob-proof that I can do this in my car (not driving!) and it'll still look just as great as when I apply it at home in front of my fully-lighted mirror.  The only 2 things I don't like about this is that (1) it still fades a little on my inner-rim by the end of the night, and (2) I can't stand the darn lid.  Either way, I will definitely repurchase this, especially in the wide range of colours they have!  Sometimes you really do have to pay for quality, and I'm so happy I made this purchase.  Urban Decay is starting to convert me, partly with their awesome designs, and almost entirely with their quality and performance.

Rating:
4.9 overall
Creaminess-5/5
Smudge/Budge Factor: 5/5
Fading: 4/5
Waterproof: 4/5 (I would give this a 5 but I haven't tested it in the pool yet; it does stay on during showers and wrestling sessions on the couch with my kids-this turned out to be a pretty good eyeliner test, and was lots of fun, too!)
Hypoallergenic: 5/5

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