How to Choose Good Kohl Eyeliner

There are so many colour cosmetics brands offering eyeliners, they all look quite similar but can differ widely in price from £2 – to over £20 – with fantastic reviews at both ends of the spectrum – so how do you choose one, that works well and doesn’t break the bank.

How they are made
 
Pencils can be moulded or extruded dependant upon the type of texture you wish to produce and the final component such as wood or plastic.  Currently there are only 2 producers of pencils in Europe. Schwan, Germany (also produce Stabilo pens) and Swallowfield, UK as it is very specialised.   China have a few suppliers but they are not particularly good.  India is also entering the market.  Eye pencil manufacture is quite similar to normal writing types of pencil.  UK used to have 2 suppliers, and Intercos, Italy used to be a producer of pencils. 

Ingredients

A combination of 3 or 4 waxes and a little oil eg Beeswax, Carnauba, Candelia and Shea butter – as these have are hard at room temperature but melt sharply on contact with body temperature. They are very similiar to a hard lipstick. Manufacturers will play around with how the ingredients are combined togther to get the best pay-off and best results when sharpened.   20-25% pigment loading of iron oxides are used and they are triple roll milled to make them as fine as possible.  Black has to be intense, so black iron oxide (CI 77499)  alone will not be sufficient.  Carbon black is often used, which is an intense black used to pigment rubber. The pigments need to be able to absorbed by the oils and waxes.  Sometimes oil based actives are used to make claims.

Application

Fortunately, it’s easy to try out most eyeliner in shops so feel free to draw shapes on your hand and assess the payoff, ease of application and smudge proofness before you buy.  The key things you should be looking for when selecting a kohl pencil are: - pay off, texture, sharpening, shrinkage.  Smudgeproof and water resistant is key but also by nature of the product ie no water that should be easy to fulfull.  Most brands are very similar just variations of the same blend. the difference being the size of the pencil and packaging.  Each manufacturer produces for several brands from cheaper mass market  up to premium.

I’ve gone through my small collection of kohl pencil and tested them for pay-off and intensity.  NB Most are between 5-10 years old!

1.  £2.62 - Jungle Green, Rimmel Made in Italy – good pay-off and intense colour
2. Blue, Colour Trend Made in England (Constance Carroll – now closed) – not that intense
3. Charcoal Grey, Professional – can’t remember where I got this from
4.  £4.00 - Shade No. 10, Barry M (newest) – my favourite colour, but not good staying power
5.  Bronze, Swallowfield Made in England – best texture and payoff
6. £14.00 - Black, MAC- most expensive eyeliner and worst payoff and texture
7.   £2.89 - Enjoleuse, Bourjois – Made in Czech Republic – not very good payoff
8. £8.00 - White, Body Shop – Made in Germany – very good
9. £4.99 - Black, Max Factor – Made in Italy – very good, nice intense colour
10. £10.50 - Spice, MAC – Made in Germany – good

The cheapest one, Rimmel was better than the most expensive one – MAC – in fact the MAC black eyeliner is the worst I’ve every tried, however, I like their lip liner! TOP TIP:  Its always a good idea to sharpen your pencil prior to use, to reduce possible contamination. 

My advise, where possible support Made in UK, we have some brilliant brands and some excellent people working in the industry, so lets keep them here!

Thank you to Abigail Jones, Swallowfield for sharing some technical information with me.

How to Choose a Good Mascara

Out of the 6 mascaras that I possess, only 1 is less than 2 years old!  So I’d thought its time to buy a new one but what to get, there is such a variety out there.  Is there anything that compares to the lash extensions that I have now become addicted to?

Ingredients

Mascaras are straight forward consisting of black iron oxides, waxes and extras such as:-

Waterproofing agents for tear proof mascara
Silica spherical spheres that sit on your lashes to volumise
Cellulose or nylon fibres to extend the length of your lashes
Keratin and panthenol for condition – as the lash life cycle is around 4 weeks, I’m sceptical about this
Ingredients for curling lashes – bit sceptical about these too
Ingredients and coatings to make the formulation as hydrophobic as possible and hence give waterproofing and longer wear
Lash lengthening – that’s another blog!

I’m amazed that anyone pays over £10 for mascara, seeing as they contain almost identical ingredients. 

It’s all about the Brush

Fact:  A poor formulation will be greatly improved with a good brush, unfortunately a fabulous formulation will be sorely let down by a mediocre brush.  With this in mind it does help select good mascara, as one can automatically dismiss any brands that do not have a variety of different brushes or do not regularly bring out new brushes.  So a brands like Maybelline and Max Factor, for example offers many different types of brushes, regularly bring out new ones, some of which they even patent (which usually means they are onto a good thing!)

Application

Two coats will give a good effect, especially if the first coat is a primer containing the volumising and lengthening ingredients.

How men can be useful

Take a man along with you when choosing a new mascara and trial different mascaras on their hairy forearm to see which gives the best effect, as its not hygienic to try the testers on our lashes.

 Insider Tip

I’ve worked with ingredient suppliers all over the world and can share with you that most technologies for colour cosmetic comes from New Jersey and Japan, and there is a high concentration of the best colour cosmetic brands in the New York/New Jersey location ie Elizabeth Arden, Maybelline, Max Factor, Clinique etc who get shown these technologies first.

There are also opthamology approved mascara's, so good for contact lens wearers, but its usually mentiond in small print on the pack, or its worth calling the consumer help line. 

So to conclude I would select a mascara that comes from one of the US giant brands, with a new improved or patented brush, that of course volumises, lengthens and is waterproof etc.  I tend to look and see what Maybelline have to offer, they are always very innovative and excellent value for money.