Hey Guys... So this is gonna be my first impression review of the MAKEUP Forever Aqua Black Waterproof Cream Eye Shadow. The shade I purchased was in Black and I applied it with a MAC small angel brush #263. The liner costs $23 at Sephora and is available at Sephora stores, Sephora.com, Makeupforever.com and various makeup stores. The brush I used was $19 at MAC stores, MAC counters and MACcosmetics.com. I do, however, not like this brush for eyeliners, it's just what I used for this application.
My experience with eyeliners is what I would consider a love/hate relationship. I love the look of super black, defined eyeliner but I have eyes that hate it. My natural eyes are almond shaped, hooded and very watery. I've tried waterproof, long lasting, latex, gel, powder, pencil, liquid and even sharpie (yes, I know... I was young!) to do my eyeliner hoping it would stay and no such luck. The issue is my eyes water and pool. I try to keep a tissue with me but after a while, my makeup suffers. I get circles in the outer corners of my lid, almost like a bald spot of in my eyeshadow. Naturally, my perfectly placed and expertly drawn wing is gone within an hour of applying.
There's a part of me that has no desire to pay $20 for a "damn liner". I happened to be at Sephora and talked to one of the makeup girls, voiced my concerns in hopes she would have a suggestion. She pointed me towards this liner/cream shadow but it's not the first time I'd heard of it. Various YT-ers have talked about it but I'd never recalled specifically hearing my issues and how it held up against them. She also pointed me towards the Kat Von D liquid eyeliner pen. She said it was easy to use for my small eyes but the waterproof aspect was kinda iffy. I chose the Makeup Forever one.
On to the use. I used a Mac angled brush and honestly, I hate the brush for eyeliner. I actually have 2 (I was convinced that the first one wasn't working cuz of something I had done in the cleaning process but no, it wasn't me, it was the brush!). I tried it in 2 different ways:
1. As eyeliner. I used the angled brush, dipped a bit and applied along the lash line, winged it out to extend the eye and used what was left on the brush under my lower lashes. I had heard it was effective on the waterline but last thing I needed was (Worst case scenario) it to mix with my watery eyes and give my eyes a grey tint. I applied it for the first time at about 9am and went all day, literally till 11pm.
2. As eyeshadow base. I used the same angled brush and later the same day, decided to try it out as a lid color. The consistency was like gel liner so I was a bit afraid of how it would blend but it worked splendidly. VERY pigmented and easy to blend into my crease color. I did set it with a black powder but that was more out of habit than necessity. It dried easily, wasn't sticky like some bases. I applied it at about 4pm till 11pm.
2. As eyeshadow base. I used the same angled brush and later the same day, decided to try it out as a lid color. The consistency was like gel liner so I was a bit afraid of how it would blend but it worked splendidly. VERY pigmented and easy to blend into my crease color. I did set it with a black powder but that was more out of habit than necessity. It dried easily, wasn't sticky like some bases. I applied it at about 4pm till 11pm.
My opinion overall? New favorite eyeliner!! No creasing as a base, no "pooling". Definite must have for my makeup. Only downside? I need a new eyeliner brush but I have my eye on a sigma one... maybe that will be my next review/first impression.
Hope this helped! Lemme know what you think if you end up purchasing!!
