Marvellous Maybelline-Gel Eyeliner Review

So I've been hearing a lot about this gel liner.I've heard rumours it's the same as or maybe even better than Bobbi Browns. I like the Bobbi Brown and love Inglot Gel liners, but as Bobbis' is around the £17 mark and Inglot sadly no longer trades in NI,ultimate sad face, I just had to get my manicured mitts on the Maybelline liner which has a rather reasonable price of £7.99.The Buy one get one half price offer in Superdrug lured me into purchasing the black and the brown.

So whats it like? Well packaging wise good.The glass jar is nice. No cheap plastic here. Nobody likes to admit it but looks are important. It also comes with a rather dinky brush, but more on that later.

Outer packaging

Brown

Black

Now how does it apply? Swatched, both the brown and the black are nicely pigmented. The black actually is black unlike other cheaper gel liners which can look a little navy or grey once applied. The brown has a slight shimmer through it which is nice but I think if its labelled as just brown then thats what it should be. Brown. Am I being fussy?

I used the brush that came with it to apply the liner. I do not like the brush for lining eyes,however I love the brush for lipstick application. the rounded end is perfect for defining the peaks of your lips. Instead, it might have beeb better to have included a pointed or angled brush. Yes that brush can give a think or thin line but its hard to use, a pointed or angled brush gives you more control and can be used to create more elaborate detailed lined eyes. You know for when you're in the mood for swirls and stars ;)

The liner itself is very creamy and glided on effortlessly. If you've very oily lids, I'd recommend using a good primer first as this may slip and slide around your eye. Compared to Bobbi Brown and Inglot gel liners,the Maybelline version is very similar, however it didn't last as long as my Inglot one. The black had smudged a little around 8 hrs after application. I found the next day when I wore the liner again,that adding a little bit of black shadow over the top of the line alleviated this. The colour stayed true throughout the day and didn't fade. I also tried it on my waterline. The liner didn't irritate my eye but it did smudge a little towards my tear duct but then I always get a little bit of smudging in there anyways.

Needless to say I was quite impressed with this little pot of joy.

All in all I think Maybelline have produced a pretty good product thats great value and perfect for everyday wear. But for heavy duty liner that is black as black can be and will not come off until I want it to, I'll stick to my trusty Inglot gel liner.

Have you got caught in the hype? Let me know in the comments box below.

Bubbly Brush Cleaning

  Anyone who knows me, knows how ridiculously anal I am about the cleanliness of my makeup brushes and tools. My kit brushes are deep cleaned after every use,spritzed with sanitising spray at every opportunity and my personal brushes are quickly cleaned with a spray of MAC brush cleanser after every use and then every two weeks deep cleaned with baby shampoo.

  So it should come as no surprise that I am positively turned (Belfast term for practically vomiting at the sight of.) when I see brushes that are so dirty with foundation the bristles don't even move anymore, or, when I give a makeup lesson to someone who uses the same foundation brush they've had since they were 15. One that has never actually been cleaned, even when they first got it. Boke! (Belfast term for actually vomiting at the sight of.) Good brushes are expensive and if you look after them well, will last you a long time. Plus goodness only knows what bacteria lies between those icky stuck together bristles!

  Seeing Mr Koren Zander- affectionately known as EnKoreMakeup on Youtube, develop a brush soap that not only cleans your brushes effectively,but will condition them and, if you use the scented ones, leave your beloved brushes smelling sweeter than roses, really excited me. I know I know, its only soap.I need to get out more.

  The soaps are solid with a loofah attached to the bottom and come in their own wee plastic pot.Usage directions and ingredients are on the label attached to the pot. They contain a lot of oils with natural antibacterial and conditioning properties.

  First impressions were good. There seemed to be a good lot of product and they both smelt lovely. In particular the ultra conditioning one. Although 'unscented', it had a little hint of tea tree and eucalyptus which I find to be a nice refreshing clean scent.

   I used the Pomegranante one first.I wet the soap and then swirled the dirty brush around the top a few times. It lathered just enough to coat the brush. This one wasn't dirty enough to need to use the loofah side so to test that out I used my Louise Young LY34 which is a pain in the bum to clean. The loofah definitely helped to dislodge some of the foundation stuck in the middle bristles. The soap itself did a pretty good job of removing makeup from the brushes. It rinsed out well and left no residue. Even gel liner which normally needs an oil cleaner to remove from the bristles, came off quite easily.

   For the Ultra conditioning soap I used bigger fluffier brushes to test the 'Ultra' conditioning. This one lathered the same and 'loofered' the same as the Pomegranate Pro. I left the brushes to dry overnight and then checked their softness in the morning.They were clean and soft, Although I didn't feel much of a difference in softness of the brushes thad had been cleaned with the Pro Ultra soap.

 I'm pretty impressed. The soap effectively removed makeup from the brushes and left them clean and soft. However I wouldn't recommend it for makeup artists that do any sort of work other than beauty makeup, like SFX or bodypainting etc. It definitely isn't strong enough to remove that kind of product. I'd happily repurchase the Ultra Soap, it seems a little more antibacterial. I'd still spritz my pro brushes with Beauty So Clean sanitiser or isopropyl alcohol though to be sure they are well sanitised.

  The pomegranate scent didn't last, which i'm quite glad about as it got on my nerves after a while. I wouldn't use scented cleaners on my kit brushes anyways, for the same reason as the scent may annoy people. I loved that wee pot they came in. So handy for taking with me on trips, as it's a solid, it's one less thing to go in that darn liquids bag!

Overall I like the soaps, I just dont love them enough to constantly repurchase. As I said I'll probably get the Ultra one again in the future but baby shampoo and isopropyl alcohol is doing the trick for me now :)

  I purchased the Pro Ultra conditioning Brush Soap £9.50 and the Pomegranate Pro brush soap £8.50 from www.beautychamber.co.uk 

Let me know what you think if you've tried any of Korens' soaps.