REVIEW: NYC Liquid Eyeliner
So... I watch a lot of Youtube videos about makeup. I definitely have my favorite Youtubers and I usually find that their recommendations are pretty much on point, I usually tend to agree. Sometimes it can be hard to find a good Youtuber whose opinion you generally trust, but once you do it can be really hard on the pocketbook. I mean. Really. GIVE ME ALL THE RECOMMENDATIONS. I think I might be the target market of influencers. Anyway. Lately I've been all about liquid eyeliner for every day. My go to eye look lately is a really simple, neutral contoured eye with a thin, slightly winged liner. I feel like that's a great look for a lipstick junkie like myself, because you can pair it with literally any lipstick and it'll work. Also, it pairs beautifully with a red lip. So, of course, I'm on the lookout for drugstore priced liquid liner that really gets it done and when I heard several Youtubers whose opinion I trust talking about this one with almost holy grail status I had to pick it up. Hmm.
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From the New York Color website:
Ever dreamed of having Audrey Hepburn's glamorous look? NYC New York Color Liquid Eyeliner infuses your eyes with the intensity they crave. This staple liner can do fine or bold lines without the fuss. With its mistake-free applicator, elongate your lash line to shape and define your eyes like never before.
So, the packaging of this eyeliner is actually really nice for the price. It's a really simple glossy black tube with really graphic silver text on it. There's nothing really special about it, but I think that it actually looks quite nice and I wouldn't necessarily have assumed that it was a $3 eyeliner just from looking at it.
Now, the brush... Ugh. So, when I first pulled this out, there was a couple of bristles sticking basically straight out to the side and I absolutely could not get them to straighten. Unfortunately, I got frustrated and plucked them right out of there before I took photos, but trust me... Disappointing and basically unusable until I took those bristles out. What I was left with is a brush that doesn't quite come to a sleek tip. Instead, the bristles were a little uneven at the end. Also, while I do appreciate the fact that this brush is thin, it's a little bit flimsy which, combined with the uneven bristles makes it pretty much impossible to create a really precise wing with any sort of ease. Also, I found that it was almost impossible to create a really thin, natural line right at the lash line. I have to say this brush was definitely my first big disappointment with this liner.
Now for the formula. I will definitely give this liner the fact that is is very opaque and very black. When you work with it a little, you can certainly get a nice dark line to the eye, but again it's very difficult to keep it smooth, thin, and subtle. I found the formula to be quite liquidy, which I suppose could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on preference, but it did set fairly quickly. It also set to a completely matte finish while maintaining the depth of the black, which is nice since some liners tend to lose some of the intensity once they're dry. And now for my biggest problem with this liner... The flaking. Oh my god did this liner flake on me. I don't know what it was or if it was some kind of user error, but throughout the day I was finding little flecks of black on my undereye and the tops of my cheeks. When I checked my liner, you could actually see where it had flaked off. Big fail. Huge fail.
I had high hopes, I really did, and I was prepared to love this. I assumed that I would love it as much as the influencers that I've heard rave about it, but it really didn't hold up for me. I'm not sure if maybe I just got a bad batch or something, but that seems unlikely considering it was both the formula and the applicator that failed for me. At $3, this could be worth a try to see if perhaps you can make it work, but it definitely doesn't get my recommendation. If you're looking for an incredible drugstore liquid liner (at a higher price point, I admit), find a Physicians Formula sale and pick up the Eye Booster 2in1 Eyeliner. While I don't really buy that the serum is doing anything for my lashes, it's an amazing formula and a perfect brush.
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