Criminally Easy: Review of Benefit's new Push-Up Liner

Me again!

Today I thought I'd give you all a peep at Benefit's new must-have product from their 'criminally easy' campaign. It promises to give you the prettiest, 'visibly larger', peepers in town!

 

In case you hadn't guessed, the product in question is Benefit's "They're Real! Push-Up Liner", which claims to be a "lash hugging gel-liner pen".

I've been excited about the release of this product ever since the hype surrounding it started stirring in the blogger world, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on it!

So far I've been really impressed. The 'accuflex tip' is flexible and slanted, helping the liner to really hug the lash line for a neat result. It just makes it so much easier (some might say 'criminally easy') to apply than your everyday liquid or gel liners, so for someone like me who struggles immensely to get a darn straight line, this product is like a gift sent from above!

I've always liked gel liners, but found the concept of having to carry around both a pot of liner and a brush to apply it with a bit cumbersome. So this product is a bit of a hybrid, a gel liner in the kind of pen form you'd expect from a liquid liner. Hassle free gel liner - I approve! 

It's so easy to use and that's coming from the queen of the unsteady hands - I'm rubbish at applying liquid liner and usually have to rely on eye makeup corrector pens to make me look like less of a klutz/kid caught playing in the makeup aisle. 

Benefit claim that their push-up liner is: long wearing and waterproof. Those claims are definitely not false. The first time I tried this liner I applied it in the morning, got caught in the rain several times, rubbed my itchy, hay-fever afflicted eyes numerous times and still had perfect eye-liner by the time I came to removing my makeup at night. It has some serious staying power! 

It also doesn't smudge! I tried drawing a few lines on my hand to test out the application before I tackled my eyes. I then ran my fingers over the swatch pretty much straight after I'd drawn the lines and they didn't budge at all - seriously impressive!

A smudge-free swatch - that's what I like to see!

 Here's what my eyes looked like with my finished eye liner look, created with the
"They're Real! Push-Up Liner".

Shown in these pictures with They're Real Mascara

 Quite a neat result I think, especially considering I have anything but a steady hand!

So it's smudge proof and easy to use. It's waterproof too. Could this be the perfect product? 

Not exactly...it is definitely as waterproof and long lasting as Benefit claim it to be, and whilst that's great for ensuring longevity of wear during the day, it's not so great when it comes to trying to get the stuff off. My usual combo of eye makeup remover wipes and my face wash didn't touch it - hello eyeliner for life, goodbye panda eyes, this stuff is here to stay! 

Just when I thought I was gonna have to use nothing short of a sledgehammer to get this eyeliner off, I remembered that Benefit have released a new "They're Real! Remover"...I see what you did there Benefit. Clever. "You can use our amazing new eyeliner but forget getting off if you don't buy the remover too". Crafty (this isn't a criticism, I actually think it's very clever marketing)!

I was a prime target for Benefit's sales campaign for the "They're Real! Remover" in that moment and I probably would've hopped skipped and jumped to my local Benefit stockist to buy it if I hadn't come to this realisation whilst taking my makeup off at 11 o'clock at night! Instead I spent a good while scrubbing (unsuccessfully) at my eyes with a makeup remover wipe. I know what my first purchase will be when I next hit the shops! 

Although it sounds like I'm ending on a negative comment, I actually think this is the best eyeliner I've ever tried. I just wish I bought the remover and the liner together so I could've made the most of my first use of the product and not let my judgement be shaded by how difficult it was to remove the eyeliner with my usual methods. I've heard excellent things about the remover so will definitely be investing (you can read a great review of it by Tattoed Tealady here).

All in all I think it's an excellent product and would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves the liquid or gel liner look but struggles to get it right. The "They're Real! Push-Up Liner" really does make the process criminally easy! Here was my finished look:

You can pick up the liner for £18.50 and the remover for £14.50 from your local Benefit stockist. Go on, make a cheeky purchase, it'd be criminal to miss out on products that are this good!