Sumita Beauty and Milani Eye Liner Pencils
Project Pan Item #63: Sumita Beauty Kala Color Intense Pencil in Black ($15)
Project Pan Item #64: Milani Liquid Eye Liquid-Like Eye Liner Pencil in Black ($7.99)
Given my early morning work hours, I've been striving to whittle down my morning routine so that it's fast and efficient. In this process, I have rediscovered eye liner pencils, which I had long given up in favor of gel or cream eye liners. I love the control and precision that I get from applying gel or cream eye liners with a brush. I had never in the past found that I could get as sharp or clean a flick from eye liner pencils. Not so anymore. Let me explain.
Sumita Beauty Kala Color Intense Pencil in Black
This all started with the Sumita Kala Color Intense Pencil that I received in a Glossy Box. Like I said, I had not thought to try a pencil liner in ages. This one was a pleasant surprise because it was incredibly creamy, long-wearing, and very black. I found that it was a breeze to swipe this along the lash line because the texture was so smooth. Then, because there was some leeway before the liner set into place, I found that I could use an eyeliner brush (the one shown above) to drag out and shape the ends of the line into a sharp flick. Once the liner set, it was budge-proof. I actually received this item when I was preparing for Coachella last year and trying to figure out a simple yet effective makeup routine. I ended up bringing this with me to the music festival and it held up impressively, through heat, sweat, sand storms, etc. I clearly loved it enough to use it up to the nub you see pictured.
Milani Liquid Eye Liquid-Like Eye Liner Pencil in Black
When I was about finished with the Sumita pencil, I started itching for a replacement. The Sumita pencils are not readily available in stores so I thought to re-try the Milani Liquid Eye Pencil in its sharpen-able form, of which I have owned the brown shade in the past. I remembered it being creamy with good longevity along the waterline, though I don't recall that I ever used it along the upper lashline. Long story short, the sharpenable pencil in Black was not available at my local CVS but the mechanical version was, so I went ahead and purchased it. Much like the Sumita pencil, the Milani Eye Pencil is also incredibly smooth, intensely black, and sets nicely into place. It also is more accessible and affordable! Best of all, you never need to sharpen it!
L-R: Sumita Kala Color Intense Pencil; Milani Liquid Eye Liquid-Like Eye Liner Pencil
(NOTE: hardly any product left in Milani pencil so it was hard to swatch, normally more pigmented)
I will say that since summer of last year, I have noticed more often than not that my liner to tends to smudge or stamp across my lid by the end of the day (right side only, because of the way my lid creases on that side). This never used to be a problem for me. The timing of this phenomenon coincided with when I started using the pencil liners regularly, which again coincided also with when my schedule began to involve early mornings and long days. I switched back to gel liner to see if pencil liner was the culprit or if it was something to do with my skin (perhaps changes in oil production, or maybe increased perspiration from being on my feet for many more hours of the day). I did find that my tried-and-true MAC Fluidline also smudged and stamped, although less dramatically than either of the pencil liners. Hence, while it does appear that changes in my skin are partly to blame, the pencil liners also don't hold up as well on oily lids as a gel liner.
Given that I am experiencing this smudging with both gel and pencil liners, I have just accepted that this is something that is going to happen when I wear liner. I still very much appreciate the ease and convenience of the pencil liners so I am continuing to use them. I will not be repurchasing the Sumita pencil, although I did enjoy it while it lasted. I love the Milani one because it works just as well, is readily available, about half the price of the Sumita pencil. Plus, not sharpening the product means I get to use every bit of it, rather than losing product per sharpening!
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