Eye Liner Comparison: Charlotte Tilbury, MAC, Giorgio Armani, Hourglass & Kevyn Aucoin

I love a good basic neutral eye liner. I use it more than eyeshadow now a days. I have swatched the two THREE eyeliners I have which are my sparkly more non basic liners. This is the rest. I split them into browns, and blacks.

For the browns I have Charlotte Tilbury Rock N’ Kohl in Barbarella, The Classic in Sophia, Armani Smooth Silk Eye Pencil in #2 and MAC Eye Kohl Teddy.

L to R in same order:

Charlotte Tilbury Barbarella and Sophia are both dark matte browns. Sophia has a powdery texture, is easy to blend and pigmented. It lasts an average amount of time. Barbarella is a long last style pencil. It has a smooth texture and is a little harder to blend than Sophia. It lasts a long time, but can be smudged so it’s not smudge proof. I wish there was a black in the Charlotte Tilbury Powder Pencil but Sophia is the darkest there is. Giorgio Armani Smooth Silk Eye Pencils glide on like butter, blend easy and have average lasting power. #2 is a medium matte brown that’s now discontinued. MAC Teddy Eye Kohl is a shimmery medium bronze brown. MAC Eye Kohls have an average wear time. It has the hardest texture of the bunch and needs a bit more work to blend, it’s also not as smooth to apply. It has the hardest feel to it of the bunch. MAC Teddy was my Holy Grail for years, I think I went through 3 at least. Until I discovered MAC Raven. I probably won’t re purchase it now as I reach for the matte browns more or Raven if I want shimmer.

The blacks I have are Hourglass Obsidian Mechanical Gel Liner, Armani Smooth Silk Eye Pencil in #4, Kevyn Aucoin The Eye Pencil in Basic Black and MAC Raven Kohl Power Eye Pencil.

L to R in same order:

The Hourglass mechanical gel liner, is a deep matte black. It’s supposed to be a gel eyeliner in a pencil form. It doesn’t need sharpening and is thin at 1.5mm wide so you can get a thin line, or thick. It glides on easy and blends well. It doesn’t twist up and down, so only twist up what you need at that moment. It lasts well, but is not smudge proof or as long lasting as a regular gel liner from a pot. Armani Smooth Silk #4 is a matte soft black. It glides on smooth and blends easy, it has average lasting power. The Kevyn Aucoin was in my Barney’s gift bag. I wouldn’t have bought it, but I’m trying it now. It’s a deep matte black. It’s pigmented, blends well, glides on easy and has average lasting power. It has an almost powder texture. MAC Raven Kohl Power has a soft black base with red shimmer. This is my Holy Grail eye liner currently. It’s not quite black black or harsh, but it’s enough to define. The shimmer is not prominent. It goes with a lot of eye shadow colors or is great alone. Raven is a bit softer than Teddy so it glides easier and blends easier, but not as easy as the others I have. It has average lasting power. MAC Raven is limited edition, but luckily they release it every holiday season it seems so I stock up and get a few.

4 Comments

  1. Do you have the Sophia confused with the Audrey? Sophia is a metallic shimmering brown and Audrey is dark brown which is what yours looks and sounds like. BTW since it’s 4 years later I’m curious if you still use any of those?😊

    1. Who knows perhaps. It was six years ago actually. I can’t even log in to see what shade I ordered as I used to order from her UK website and I can’t see those orders anymore. Actually no, minus Armani #2 yes I still use that one like daily almost. I like TEddy and used it for years but Armani is fab.

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