Review and Swatches: Essence Liquid Ink Matte and High Gloss Eyeliners

When it comes to eye makeup eyeliner is a must for me. I do wear eye makeup without eyeliner, when I don’t have time to draw a line (I need to take time for a nice, straight, precise line) or when I’m not in the mood for it, but eyeliner makes a huge difference in my makeup. My favourite or most used are liquid eyeliners, although these are not the easiest to use. Today I’m going to talk about Essence Liquid Ink eyeliners that a lot of people love, while I like them, but I can’t say I’m madly in love with them.

The family of Essence Liquid Ink eyeliners got bigger last fall, when Essence released Matt and High Gloss eyeliners. As the name already says they main feature is the finish. One gives completely matte look, while other high glossy one. They are packed in a black standard Essence packaging with a thin brush. I’ve never notice this till now, but High Gloss eyeliner has a smaller and thinner brush than Matt eyeliner (or maybe is this just in my case). That also means that High Gloss eyeliner is easier to maintain.

The formula of these eyeliners is very wet, but with good colour payoff, because it covers the skin with first layer already. One can do a thin or thicker line with them; it depends from one’s preferences (if you noticed I like thicker line). Theyupgrade nicely, because they don’t dry too fast, which means you are able to layer it and fix the mistakes you did and that way to create a perfect line. Then again they dry quickly enough, so that they don’t transfer on the upper part, above the crease. Liquid eyeliners never make a problem by doing a flick and the same is here (I only have a problem by doing a flick with some not so great pencil eyeliners). Both eyeliners are true black shades.  

Now let’s go to some not so great qualities (or better said quality). The one that bothers me the most is that soon after application they start to crackle in the inner corner of my eye, sometimes also on the part where the flick starts. Luckily I wear glasses, which makes this almost imperceptible for other people, but it bothers me. These don’t smudge a whole day if I don’t touch them, but if I get tears in my eyes or I get in touch with water (for example rain) they do smudge. Both of them, actually, which surprises me, because Matt eyeliner should be waterproof; at least that’s what it says on the packaging. I think I quite used up Matt eyeliner, because it already became thicker and a bit harder to apply nicely, but I don’t have a huge problem with that, because that happens with all liquid eyeliners. I also have to point out that none of these irritated my eyes in any way. The removal is not the easiest, but it’s also not something that micellar water couldn’t remove with a bit more attention. 

Essence Liquid Ink High Gloss eyeliner.

Essence Liquid Ink Matte eyeliner.

These contain 3 g of product and cost around 3 € (available in drugstores that sell Essence). As I said, I do like them, although I can’t say I’m madly in love with them. But for the price these are good eyeliners. Finishes are different, so there’s something for everyone. I personally still prefer Catrice Ultra FineInk eyeliner in shade Don’t Move, but unfortunately I don’t have it anymore to compare it with Essence eyeliners. I also haven’t repurchased it yet, because I want to use up those eyeliners I already have first.

Have you tried Essence Liquid Ink eyeliners? What do you think about them? Thank you for reading!