First up in my series of mini-reviews are these two little guys: the L'oreal Lineur Intense liquid eyeliner in Carbon Black and the Tarte BB Tinted Treatment in Fair. Hilariously enough, the product I had high hopes for ended up being a total fail, and the product I was initially doubtful of ended up being quite nice.
First up, the product that didn't wow me: the L'oreal liner. I've heard great things about how pigmented and smooth this product was, and it definitely is a beautiful, rich, black color. But unfortunately, it's not even mildly water-resistant.
Being one of those incredibly pale people with uber-light eyes, I have a mild sun allergy, and bright light--especially bright daylight--tends to make my eyes tear up. The L'oreal liner completely disappeared or flaked up at the first sign of liquid, as you can see above.
The packaging is also mildly irritating. The tube is completely nondescript; the only indication of what product it is is found on the little label on the bottom. And while it's nice to find a drugstore liner with a brush tip, the tip on this liner is a bit thick and rather boxy; I've been doing winged eyeliner for years now, but it was a bit of a struggle to get a precise, pointed wing with this brush.
Of course, when I went back and touched up where it had melted off, I fell back in love a little. It's just so rich and black and affordable--only $8 for a liquid liner with a brush! But alas, I know that it will melt at the first sign of rain, sweat, or tears, and that's a no-go for me. I'll use this product every once in a while, maybe when I'm going out or when I'm just darkening up the liner along my lashline, but beyond that, it's a total bust. RATING: 2 out of 5.
The Tarte BB cream, however, ended up being an unexpected like. Not only did it look quite dark when I first squirted it out of the tube, but the texture is so silicone-y that when I first began rubbing it in to my skin, I actually yanked my hands away from my face in shock. Granted, this product is marketed primarily as a primer, something you'd use under a foundation to give it more staying power and a bit more coverage. But because this product is tinted AND marketed as a BB cream, I was fully prepared to treat it like a light-coverage foundation. To its credit, the Tarte BB blended in to my skin very smoothly, provided light coverage, softened up on my dry-combination skin after about 15 minutes, and looked like a decent color-match. But I still didn't trust it, so I set it with some translucent powder.
Folks, I had no reason to worry: this baby stayed put through a walk, blotting with tissues, and a good 5-7 hours of wear. While it looks nice in daylight, it looks especially lovely in flash photography, as seen above. My skin almost appears slightly blurred and soft-focus, though of course, topping it with a slightly mattifying setting powder helped. And I did feel the need to dust a little more powder on my nose (where I actually get oily) after about 5 hours. Regardless, it looks nice and is in a doable shade for my N5-10 skin--a rare treat. I still get squicked by the texture, and I wish it was a bit more "ooh! aah!" in daylight, but overall, I quite like this product. RATING: 4 out of 5.
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