Every now and again I get sent some awesome things through influenster* to try out in exchange for a review. This is one of those times. Although I received these products for free, these are my own unfiltered opinions.
I love makeup. As a teen I would often hole up in my room on school-nights and give myself grand makeovers. Bold and daring lip colors, wild eye-shadow combinations, and trying my hand at the latest makeup tricks from the trendiest magazines. It helped that I had an older sister who paved the way into luxury brands for me. I would often get in trouble for sneaking into my sister’s room to raid her ever-growing luxury product collection in hopes that I could save myself some money but still wear the good stuff. As I got older and my preferences got more defined, I felt comfortable splurging on high quality makeup products, always with the help and guidance from my sister, the lovely Sephora staff, and of course Youtube’s top beauty guru’s.
Now, as I’m gearing up to leave my 20’s and enter my 30’s I feel very confident and comfortable with my makeup skills and product selection. As a SAHM, or Stay At Home Mom, it’s important to me that I still wear makeup because it makes me feel put-together, confident, and normalizes my life in bouts of sickness. I know I can still look decent even if my Cystic Fibrosis makes me feel like an 80-year old chain-smoker. Because of this, I still love trying new brands and new products I wouldn’t normally purchase myself. Sometimes all we need is a little nudge outside of our comfort zone to discover a groove we didn’t know we had!
When I was chosen to review some Lancôme products I jumped at the opportunity. A luxury brand that I haven’t ever really dabbled in. I have used one of their mascaras in the past, but that was about it. So when I was greeted with a bright purple eye-liner, I was ecstatic. Just what I needed to leave the comfort of my daily neutrals and vamp up my everyday Mom look.
My go-to for eyeliners that last all day, have intense color, and glide on your face like butter is Urban Decay’s 24/7 line. I’ve tried quite a few other liners but these still win out every time. Imagine my surprise when I use Lancôme’s Drama Liqui-Pencil for the first time and I had to double check to make sure I didn’t accidentally pick up my UD 24/7 liner. The texture was creamy, easy to manipulate and the color payout was fabulous. It was easy to smudge on my lower line and most importantly it stayed put all day long. I even had my daughter poke me in the eye several times for the sake of the experiment. Okay, so that was purely coincidental, but Emmie really did jab my eye lids a few times since she was pretty enthralled with my new purple eyes. While the purple colored pencil was beyond my expectations, the deep noir color dissappointed me. I had high hopes for a comparable Urban Decay Zero type black, but it lacked the intensity I hoped for. The pencil was also not quite as easy to use when lining my waterline and needed a few passes. Overall, if I’m looking for a colored eye-liner to add to my collection I will definitely be considering Lancôme’s Drama Liqui-Pencils.
Mascara is another item that I am ultra picky about. I have decently long lashes, but they’re pretty thin. I like my mascara’s to be volumizing, dark, and non-clumping. I aim for a very natural look. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s clumpy, flaky lashes. I am also pretty picky about my brushes. I find that the little spiky brushes lend themselves well to my goal of natural-looking lashes. Lancôme’s Définicils Mascara claims to be a lengthening and defining mascara for a natural, yet striking look. It definitely lengthened my lashes but one coat was not enough to cover my need for volume. I swiped on 2-3 coats. There was minimal clumping and hardly any fallout over the course of the day. My biggest gripe was the brush. I found it awkward to use and hard to manipulate my lashes to get an even coat. My final verdict is a pass. I love that it stayed on all day, but it just doesn’t suit my specific needs for fuller lashes. If I needed luxuriously long lashes I would be singing a different tune!
*this is a referral link: if you sign up via this link and I get points. Points for what? I don’t really know, honestly, but I figured if they have a referral link, why not use it? And this has been your honest disclosure statement *