Ran out of eye-liners? No sweat. A dark eye shadow can do the trick too.

 

Ok, when I typed out the header of this post, I realised I don't have a photo of any dark powder/compact eye colour, simply because I don't use eye shadows anymore. I've totally omitted that makeup step from my makeup routine as I start work at 8am, and I don't have time for that step. Also because I think an eye-liner already does it for me and I'm done for the day.

Looking back, I've not been very dependent on a sole tool for eye-lining. I used to have my favourite one, but when they ran out of stock, I just don't go looking for it as I'd wet my eye-liner brush and dab on a powder eye shadow, and the step just worked. Over time, I've tried the trick on my favourite eye cream pot and walah. I tried using the popular Bobbi Brown eye-liner gel in a pot as I think they were the first brand who made it popular but the thing didn't really work for me as it doesn't stay on my oily eyelids and it was quite an expensive mistake for me. The gel also dried out too quickly and I didn't like it at all. As for those gel-pencil eye-liners I've discovered and loved, I realised they're just too costly as they run out very fast and I always fail to get the same colour for replacement as outlets like Sephora Paradigm Mall and Clinique in 1Utama is poor in replenishing their stocks for this item. So, I have kinda given up on my favourite gel-pencil eye-liner.

But when I started using the eye shadow in cream formula, I realised that the cream stayed put from morning til night time. So when brands started to come out with eye shadows in chubby sticks, I felt that this, was it - I finally found the best eye-liners for me, as they're so easy to use, they last quite long, they don't need sharpeners or brushes and they can also be used as eye shadows, as what they are originally meant to do!

 

(L-R: Marc Jacobs in Twinkle Pop, Bobbi Brown in Bittersweet and Sisley in No. 3)

I discovered this awesome tool when I bought the Christmas set of Bobbi Brown Cream Shadow Sticks. From then on, I've gotten cream sticks from other brands to try and they all work just the same - good staying power and very easy to use. And as I am not a big fan of dark colours like black, I usually use less darker tone like those above. The MJ Twinkle Pop is a tone of greyish silver, BB's Bittersweet is obviously a dark brown and Sisley's No. 3 is a tone of greenish bronze. While the dark brown is a bit flat boring, I would always go to the other 2 shimmering colours.

 

My makeup routine in the morning is cut by a good 1-2 minutes. Timing to me, is everything. If you want a sharper effect, I've tried using the eye-liner brush, slick it on the cream stick and apply on the eyelids. It gives a better effect but won't give you better timing if you're in a hurry.

So, if you're out of your favourite eye-liner, don't worry. I'm sure you'd have a dark coloured eye-shadow somewhere and they work just as well.