Friday 7 September 2007

Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Eyeliner



RRP: £2.49/6ml
# of shades available: 5 (black, silver, purple, blue and gold)

--Packaging--
The package is very small - probably only 6cm all in, so it's very dinky and fits nicely in your makeup bag. It consists of a small pot (black with the collection 2000 logo on it in silver) and a long thin lid which has a chunky base as it meets the pot but tapers out very thinly towards its end. Despite this, the overall packaging seems secure with no risk of the lid unscrewing itself in your bag. The lid is the same colour as the eyeliner itself. Overall it's a sleek-looking thing, though the writing on the front of the pot seems to fade quickly.

--Application--
Applying liquid eyeliner is in itself an art, so I'm not going to pretend this is simple. Put the pot down on a stable surface and unscrew the pen/lid thing. Hold one eyelid down with the fingers of your 'weakest' hand, and use your 'strongest' hand (normally the one you write with) to follow the line of your upper eyelashes with the pen. Keep that eye closed for a minute or so to let it dry fully, and then do the other eye. You can then do the lower lashes if you're feeling particularly gothic, but I think this looks over the top so I tend not to.

--Appearance--
On the pen the liner appears slightly watery, but there's no need to worry - on the eye you get an excellent, bold line.

--Longevity--
Lasts very well throughout the day, unless it rains...but then again it hardly claims to be waterproof.

--Product life--
I'm making a special note of this for this product to serve as something of a warning: liquid eyeliners never 'live' for very long, but it seems mad that I only got a couple of applications out of this before it dried up completely and became unusable.

--Value for money--
It's hardly expensive and it's going to be even cheaper if you buy online. However, on the whole I'd say that despite the good line you get from it, it dries up too quickly to be viable and that there are consequently probably better liners out there.

--Other comments--
This is still a very good 'starter' product for younger makeup users and it's widely available throughout Europe, mainly on ebay, Crosby Cosmetics and Direct Cosmetics (all websites show up on google). And though the Boots and Superdrug websites are pretty useless, I'm sure I've seen this product on their shelves recently, so go to your local branch and have a look.

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