New From Illamasqua - Precision Inks.

The promo images released so far for the up and coming "Art of Darkness" A/W 2010 collection from Illamasqua look fab. The range includes two new liquid liner pens - the Precision Inks. They are available now on the Illamasqua Website, retailing at £16.50, and come in two shades  - Abyss, which is a classic black, and Alchemy, a gold shade.

I was kindly sent a Precision Ink in the shade Abyss to review.

The liner is packaged in the standard style Illamasqua black and white packaging, and has a screw on lid with a long handle - the long handle is a real plus point for me, as I find liquid liner to be the most tricky to apply - the handle helps stabilise the product making application that little bit easier and also making the product easier to control...

The actual applicator is a spongy tip, with a fine end, which I find a lot easier than a brush applicator...

As you can see in the picture above, the liner is quite "wet" looking. I did have a little gulp moment at this point, as I have (and always have had) quite liney/crepey looking skin on my eye lids. It's almost like there is too much skin there. I blame my father, he has the same type of lids. Yes, I have checked... and I realise how much that says about my depth of character. And I'm not ashamed.

Anyway, the point is, often liquid liners don't really work for me, as the liquid can "seep" into all of the fine lines and look very feathery on me, a far cry from a nice sharp line which is the look you really want from your liner... So it was with some trepidation that I swatched...

The picture above shows a swatch on the back of the hand - I literally swatched, and then switched on my camera, and took the picture. In the time it took to do that (about 10-20 seconds?), you can see the liner is almost dried, and also, joy of joy's... NO FEATHERING!
*HAPPY DANCE*.

So I put on my steadiest hands, and had a play...

I'm impressed with this product - yes, my application technique ain't perfect, but like I said, many other liquid liners have passed through my hands, been applied once and then never used again, because of the feathering problem - this is one of the first I have encountered that hasn't had that issue. To me, that alone, makes this product worth its price tag.

Also, when Illamasqua describe this as long lasting, they ain't kidding. That swatch I applied to my hand stayed put despite washing the dishes and washing my hands several times after serving cat "food" to Coco and Ren. You need an oil based remover to get this baby off.

I'll be buying the gold version ASAP (That'll be tomorrow then - its payday, another reason for a happy dance!) - I love unusual colours, and the idea of a nice gold line with a coloured smoky eye really appeals to me.