For the longest time, I’ve resisted the call of the gel eye liner, partly because I didn’t have a good experience with the first gel eye liner I purchased, Maybelline’s Creamy Gel Eye Liner which is supposed to be long lasting, smudge-proof and water-proof but gave me panda eyes so bad that I swore off gel eye liners until I spotted this one…..
The other issue I have with gel eye liners is that I need to control the applicator so that the line is properly drawn. It wasn’t that easy using the Maybelline brush and I usually had to correct my mistakes, resulting in time wasted. I find a pencil eyeliner much easier to use.
Would I have better luck with Shiseido’s Maquillage Dramatical Gel Liner? When I first locked eyes on the GY831 shade, it was love at first sight because it was my kind of colour, slate-gray-blue. It has fine shimmer without any nasty glitter bits.
It isn’t described as a “shimmering gel eyeliner” for nothing. The sparkle and pigment are beautiful, it’s unique as I haven’t seen any eyeliner that comes close to this colour.
The slanted brush is much shorter than Maybelline’s and I dip the brush into the pot coating both sides of the brush and then as per instructions, scrape off excess along the sides of the container.
After that, I transfer the gel eyeliner to the back of my hand so that I can ration the amount to be applied to each eye. I was relieved to find that it was easy to use the brush to draw a near perfect line (near perfect for me, may not be to makeup professionals).
It has a smooth, creamy texture and the brush doesn’t poke or tug my eyelids while I’m applying the gel eye liner. In fact, I’ve found it easier to apply than some pencil eye liners I’ve used in the past.
This particular shade goes well with pastel coloured eyeshadows, it really makes my eyes pop. I can also apply more of it and blend it so that it becomes an eyeshadow. I’ve not tried that yet but I’m sure the results will be equally pleasing.
At RM75, it isn’t the cheapest gel eye liner around but the shimmer in the liner makes it worth the price. I wouldn’t have purchased it otherwise. Although the instructions state that an oil-based eye makeup remover is recommended for removal, I’ve found that water-based removers work just as well.
There are no problems with creasing but there is minimal smudging on the undereye area although not so serious that I need to pull out a Swabplus Eye Makeup Corrector. That said, it’s really waterproof as when I used soap and water to remove it from the back of my hand, it refused to budge until I used eye makeup remover.
Other than this shade, there are also black, brown, blue and red but the only other outstanding colour in this range is the burgundy red (RD632) which is also shimmering and sparkly.
There’s 3g of product in the little glass pot which should last some time. The only thing I didn’t like about the product was that it was manufactured in 2008 which gave me cause for concern as I thought the product might have gone dry. As you can see, Shiseido Malaysia’s address on the sticker is their previous office address.
Furthermore, I dislike paying full price for any product manufactured more than a year ago unless it’s really something special and in this case, I just couldn’t go home without it. No regrets where this purchase is concerned due to the ease of application and shimmer in the color.
