I am not much of a lipliner person. I like one-step lipcolor. I also tend to prefer sheer lipsticks, a low-maintenance category as far as lips go.
But MAC’s 2010 holiday collection (Tartan Tale) offered a lip set with a new lipliner shade — Draw Me Close — and I just fell in love with it. It’s a peachy beigey pink (when so many lipliners are mauvey). The pencil was only a mini, not available in full size, and it seemed silly to buy the $36 set just for the pencil. So I started wondering if I could match that shade in another brand.
Naturally, my thoughts turned to Make Up For Ever. I find their Aqua Eyes pencils to be creamy, soft, and wonderfully long-lasting — and the brand has a reputation for making every color under the sun. Time to swatch their permanent line of Aqua Lip pencils!
My Sephora had the display arranged in color (rather than numerical) order, and it made sense to swatch them that way.
1C is a rosy, brownish natural (I don’t think it’s a perfect match, but this one seems to be the closest to Draw Me Close). 3C is a little more brown. 2C is more pink, and it’s the only shade that has a bit of shimmer. 4C is an orangey, rosy, “redwood” brown. 5C is more tan. 7C is deeper, a reddish chestnut. 17C is emergency orange. 18C is a bright coral pink. 14C is mauve. 15C is medium pink. 16C is hot pink.
I really wanted to fit all of these on one arm, but I didn’t want to make the swatches so narrow that you couldn’t see the colors.
8C is cherry red. 9C is deeper, bricky red-brown. 11C is still deeper, and more berry. 10C is a red-purple. 13C is deeper, more blackened. 12C is a very black red-plum. 6C is wood brown.
These went on smoothly and easily, but the most remarkable thing to me is that after I’d taken my picture, I rubbed my finger over my swatches — not gently, either — and nothing moved.
Generally, I wear a lipliner only with a bold lipstick (red). I apply the lipstick first, then clean up the ragged edge by lightly drawing over it with the pencil.
I’m seriously wondering if I could wear these all over my lips — and if they’d still stay put when I chapsticked over them. I have very high hopes.
Make Up For Ever says their Aqua Lip Lipliner pencils are waterproof, smudgeproof, and fade-proof (and so far, I believe every word). They’re $17 each, available at Sephora and Sephora.com.
16C needs to come home with me
Woa! 4C reminds me of the lip color my Grams used to wear.
I like 9C… Retro red. (:
How does 8C compare to MAC’s Cherry?
I own 16C and 12C and need to get more of these. I even use these on their own sometimes without lipstick and they last forever!
I have 18C (I’m obsessed with corals) and it really does last all day. Thanks for the swatches, I might pick up a few more next time I’m at Sephora.
-xoxo-
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I am so tweeting at you in a minute to see how the full lip/Chapstick combo went! I’ve been looking for a new brand of lipliners for my kit, it would seem as if I’m gonna need to pick up at least one for a test-drive soon!
I am completely obsessed with these liners! I picked up 1C and 18C to fill in missing shades in my kit. But I may just have to pick up more even if they are dupes because of the extreme long wear! Oh how I wish I could get a bundled discount!
do you think 11c would be the best lip liner to use with mac’s lipstick Diva? help me, please? =)
I tried the 15C in sephora yesterday and now I really think I should buy it :p
Let us know how they go! I love the shades they’ve included. 10-13 in particular. I LOVE Berry reds.
These are by far my favorite lip liners. They don’t tug and they lasts for hours without smudging. I also like that they don’t smell like a wood pencil how some mac pencils do. They’ve added new colors. Have you seen them yet?