I Need a New Eyeliner (aka Rant at Urban Decay)

Warning: this is a moany post.

Let me introduce you to my BEF - Best Eyeliner Friend. This little eyeliner has been with me through thick and thin for about five years. It's been the only liquid eyeliner I have ever used, and I have never needed to look elsewhere. This little beauty did it all. It glided on like a dream, stayed put until I wanted to remove it, was so easy to control and the colour was devine, a silky black. Behold, Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion.

The reason it is a stock photo is because Urban Decay, for some reason, have decided to be annoying and repackaged this eyeliner. I understand they were restyling a lot of their collection, making these eyeliners waterproof and more easily storable, but STILL. This is what they sell it as now:

Now, don't get me wrong. I am a HUGE fan of Urban Decay and their products. I own two Naked and one Naked2 Palettes, use their primers, their lipsticks and their mascaras, and even attended their Naked2 Launch Night last week.

The reason I am so annoyed with Urban Decay is the sneaky, and frankly unethical (in my opinion), way they have went about their repackaging. The old packaging retailed for, I believe, £13. For this you receieved 7.5ml of product. One of these babies could last me a good few months!

The new packaging is £14. For this, you receieve a MEASLY  1.7ml. How are they getting away with that?? Even if I remember the price of the old packaging slightly incorrectly, you are still losing out on nearly 6ml of product!

Size shown in comparison to nail polish
 

The formula, as far as I can tell, is still the same, other than the added benefit of being waterproof. It's still a fantastic eyeliner if you were to pick it up for the first time. But for loyal customers, this is a bit of a slap in the face. And so, even though I have used this eyeliner religiously for years, it's time for me to move on. :(

I've been trying some felt tip pen style eyeliners, and I'm actually quite enjoying them. Does anyone have any recommendations of a great eyeliner for me to try??

Anyways.

On a brighter note, my boyfriend Scott and I celeberated our 7th Anniversary on Valentine's Day (cheesy I know). We're away to York just now as a treat (hello, scheduled post!!), so for actual Valentine's we decided just to have a wee night in. We made our favourite meal - tuna pasta (NOM!) - and got some wine.

What I didn't know was that Scott had carried a little table and chairs up to his loft bedroom and lit candles everywhere to make it into a wee candlelit dinner! So sweet. I'm a lucky girl. Hope you all had a great Valentine's, if you celebrate it. :)

So any recommendations for my eyeliner issue? Do any of you use the Urban Decay one?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

p.s. Sorry for the rant. =p

MUA-mazing? :)

I know, I know, MUA has been around for ages and has long been a favourite of beauty bloggers. There's so many things that I've read about and wanted, but I've not got any particularly large MUA stands near me so they don't have any of the things I've lusted after.

Until, dun dun duuuun! I discovered a big stand in the Superdrug in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. I managed to pick up the Heaven & Earth Palette (even though I have two Nakeds and a Naked2) and also the Primer and 3-in-1 Contour Pen.

I'm sure you've all heard the comparisons between Naked and Heaven & Earth so I won't go into that, but I do know the shades are similarly gorgeous colours and very pigmented. I'm not doing swatches, as I'm going to keep this for part of a wee giveaway I think. But it's preeeetty.

I was actually looking for the eye primer, but couldn't see it, so face primer it is. This is something I've been researching into a lot recently. I currently use 17 Photo Flawless Primer but it's a tiny tiny tube and has nearly run out, so I was looking for a new primer. I had my eye on either Smashbox Photofinish or Stila One Step, but this little MUA one will hopefully do for now!

It was much more liquidy than I expected, and doesn't leave that delicious velvety finish that my previous primer did. However, it absorbed well and left my skin feeling smooth and soft. I've not had a chance to test longevity yet, but I'm hopeful as MUA products all seem good value for money.

The 3-in-1 eXtreme Contour Eye Pen I picked up because I have a new obssession with eyeliner. I'll be doing a post on this more indepth, so I'll leave you now just with a little swatch:

As you can see, the shape of the nib allows you to control the thickness of the line, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately it's not very pigmented so these lines have been gone over twice. It also seemed to smudge quite easily, but that was on my hand. I'll try it on my eyes and let you know!

MUA Heaven & Earth Palette (£4), Primer (£4) and 3-in-1 eXtreme Contour Eye Pen (£1.50) all available instore at Superdrug or online here or here.

What do you think of my very first MUA products? Did I pick well? What else should I try?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥