Today, I bought Bettina Cosmetics Long Wear Gel Eyeliner in Onyx. I've always been curious about gel eyeliner since it seemed so much easier to apply than liquid eyeliner, but I could never find a cheap drugstore alternative. I've heard good things about the Wet n' Wild gel eyeliners, but those retails for around $6-7, which is a bit more than I was willing to pay for something I might not like. I saw these ones being sold at Walgreens for $4, and I thought the price was right. They were a bit hard to spot though, they were at the very bottom of a narrow and easy-to-miss Bettina Cosmetics display (although the nail polish display is quite prominent). Bettina Cosmetics is a local brand from Puerto Rico, though it's also starting to be sold in some parts of Florida. Their nail polishes are popular and the quality of this gel eyeliner seems to be pretty nice too, but I haven't actually tried anything else from the brand. I want to though, since it feels great to be able to support a local brand.
The pot it comes in is quite small, as you can see here, and it comes with an eyeliner brush. I was surprised at how small it was, but it contains 3g of product, same as a MAC Fluidline. I suppose this is the size most gel eyeliners are, then. In fact, the other day I went to a Sephora for the first time (the closest one is 2 hours away and I've only recently been interested in cosmetics), and I was surprised by how small all the eyeshadow palettes were. They seem a lot bigger in pictures without anything as a reference. Anyhow, here's how it swatched on the back of my hand:
It's a pretty nice, dark line. Here's how it looked after I rubbed back and forth with my finger for 10 seconds:
Well, it's not the best ever, but it didn't completely rub off, and it didn't degrade much more than this after I continued rubbing. It didn't smear after it set, which is important. I try not to rub my eyes while I'm wearing makeup, so I think it will do just fine though everyday wear.
One bad thing about this is when I went to go wash the eyeliner brush. I washed it with regular soap and water (I know, I know, I shouldn't do that), and holy moly, the eyeliner got all over my fingers and I had to scrub to get it off! Some of it decided to stick around on my nails, too. I guess I put way more eyeliner on the brush than was actually needed. It didn't completely come off the brush, either, so I suppose I'll only be using this eyeliner with the brush it came with. That, or invest in a good brush cleanser, which I guess I should be doing anyway.
I haven't worn this yet, but from the rudimentary "testing" I've done, I don't think there should be any problems with wear. Oddly enough, I have a harder time removing my Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows from my skin, though they wash out just fine when they're on my eyes. I'm guessing it could be the same with this. All in all though, it seems like a promising product and for $4 it's worth a try.
Update: I did a wear test; you can read about it here.
