I consider a cat eye look to be one of my closest friends (no offense to my human-type friends) and we generally get together every day. Usually it's a good time - a quick swoop across each lid and I'm good to go. I stick with liquid eyeliner 99% of the time because it's what works best for me (and because I'm fiercely loyal, but we can talk about my delightful qualities another time), but I was getting sick of trying new subpar products.
I had a great run with an eyeliner pen, but when it stopped working out I went on a journey to a land I'd only read about: gel eyeliners. A sort-of-sister to liquid liner, gel is thicker and more pliable, but I'd never tried it myself due to a lack of good drugstore options. BH Cosmetics is an online brand selling eyeshadow palettes, loose glitter and tools among other things, and I found some favorable reviews of their gel eyeliner so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Here are my thoughts:
BH Cosmetics Gel Eyeliner
I bought the BH Cosmetics gel eyeliner in Atlantic (blue) and Onyx (black). These were on sale for $3.50 each (and currently are again - or maybe they are always "on sale?").
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| BH Cosmetics Gel Eyeliner in Onyx (left) and Atlantic (right) |
My initial thoughts were that the blue was GORGEOUS and that both gel liners were super pigmented. Off to a great start! The product was really soft and easy to play with, which made application a breeze. I was shocked how easily these both applied. I've been using eyeliner for more than half my life, and I think these were the easiest liners I've ever applied, including liquid pens.
I used this angled eyeliner brush from ELF. Whoever invented this type of brush is a genius and deserves the many riches I am sure have been bestowed upon them. I can't believe I waited so long to use this brush! All this time I've been letting my own wrist do the bending like a fool.
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| Clearly I could not wait to touch this before snapping a photo. Don't steal my finger print, please |
The gel liner in Atlantic is a great unusual shade of blue - not quite light or dark and really pops on your eyes. This one was completely opaque in one coat. It felt like I was painting, but somehow even easier. No snagging or smudging here. It was easy to build line thickness where I wanted it and even out any areas that needed it. The cat eye flick/wing was also simple due to the soft formula and controllable brush. It would also work well with a slanted eyeliner brush, but I am definitely partial to the bent brush.
Onyx was a bit of a different story because I found it to wear off really quickly after application. Like the blue, it was opaque and went on very smoothly, but within an hour I'd find tiny black smudges on my face and hands. The blue shade did not move AT ALL, so I was confused by the messiness of the onyx shade. Bummer too, since this was going to be my every day liner.
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| Just not quite crisp enough for my liking! |
It didn't completely run off my eyes, but its general smudging made it too high maintenance for me. I tried it on several occasions and always got the same results. I'm trying to find another use for it so if I ever take up professional football (who knows?) I will smudge it under my eyes.
They offer so many colors at such a good price that I'm willing to gamble again on other fun shades, like Fresh (a pearly mint green) or Lilly (a shimmery purple) in the future. Now that I know I'm into gel eyeliner I'm willing to try some new brands, too.
Have you ever tried BH Cosmetics? Are you a gel eyeliner devotee or just gel curious? What is the best black eyeliner out there for upper lids?
