Milani Fierce Foil Eyeliners
The new Milani Fierce Foil collection is just one of the overwhelming numbers of new drugstore releases that are hitting the shelves now. These are said to be "long-wearing" with "rich intense metallic foil finish." The idea of metallic liners sounded novel and fantastic so when I stumbled upon this collection, I gleefully grabbed both the Black Gold Foil and the Brown Foil eyeliners.
I'll cut straight to the chase; these items fell far short of the mark.
Milani Fierce Foil Eyeliners in Brown Foil and Black Gold Foil
Truth be told, I was underwhelmed when I saw these liners in person. The Brown Foil in particular lacked any sort of metallic appearance. It just looked like a mostly matte deep dark brown. The Black Gold Foil, on the other hand, clearly had gold flecks interspersed through the black base, though not enough for it to look metallic in the pan. I figured that these might prove to be metallic upon application with a dampened brush since most foil finish products work that way, so I took a chance.
When I got home and swatched these, I was again disappointed to find that the Brown Foil largely looked on the skin as it did in the pan. It did have the subtlest touch of shimmer running through it but it was hardly noticeable. The same was true of the Black Foil in that it looked just as you would expect from looking at it in the pan. The gold shimmer in it was more obvious than that of the Brown Foil but not enough for a foil finish. I again gave it the benefit of the doubt by assuming the finish might improve with damp application.
Brown Foil
Black Gold Foil
I put Black Foil to the test this morning. It was a disaster. I dampened the liner brush that it came with with a bit of MAC's Fix Plus and proceeded to apply the liner. From the start, it was clear that the black seriously lacked in opacity as the color was very much gray upon initial application. I had to go over the line several times before I built up enough intensity for it to be black. Even then, it was not as dark as I am accustomed to with the products I normally use. Worse yet, there was still no metallic finish!
It didn't stop there. The worst of it was, within at least 30 minutes of application (but possibly sooner), I found that the liner had already stamped and smudged onto my upper lid. I cannot remember the last time I had to remove and redo my makeup but today's situation necessitated just that. Who normally has time to deal with that? Thankfully I was up far earlier than I needed to be today, but this would have made for an embarrassing look on any other day.
Top row, L-R: Black Gold swatched with finger and eyeliner brush; Brown Foil swatched with finger and eyeliner brush
Bottom row, L-R: Milani Liquid Eye Pencil, MAC Fluidline
In preparation for this review, I experimented a bit more with these liners tonight. I re-swatched them, both wet and dry, and found that the finish is the same either way. Neither one is metallic. Damp application does not improve the intensity. The texture is like a cream but with a powder finish. I let them sit on the back of my hand for a while (at least 10 minutes), then ran my finger over them to see if they had set. I was appalled to find instead that they smudged and rubbed right off. For a proper comparison, I decided to swatch my normal liners (MAC Fluidline and Milani Liquid Eye Pencil) on the back of my hand. I let those sit for 10 minutes as well, and then ran my fingers over them. They did not budge at all. Therefore, I must conclude that these Fierce Foil liners are duds that would never work for me.
Fingers run once over all swatches after 10 min
Sadly, these Fierce Foil Eyeliners fail to live up to any of their promises. They are neither "long wearing" nor "rich intense [or] metallic" in finish. As an Asian with double eyelids and creases that run very close to or on top of my liner, I can't use eyeliners that don't set in place. If you have similar anatomy, then I doubt these will work any better for you. If you have different eye shape such that your lids don't touch your eye liner, then this might hold up better on you. Even so, there would be nothing special about these liners. The end result is a gray-black or a standard dark brown, so why not go for better quality options in the same shades?
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