Benefit- They're Real! Push Up Liner Review, Smudge and Watertest

Hello,

I've had this liner for a while as I bought it before going away on my wedding and honeymoon hoping it would be the perfect long lasting liner it claims to be. 

The liner retails for around £18 and after hearing many good reviews on the "They're Real" range from Benefit I was really excited to put this liner to the test.

Packaging and application-

The liner is a gel formula in a pen style applicator. The liner claims to be easy to apply with lash hugging effect. The pen has a rubber nib and the gel is dispensed when the bottom of the liner is twisted.

Unfortunately I find the texture of the gel too crumbly. When applied using the applicator I find the gel tends to crumble off the nib in chunks leaving lots of product being wasted before successful application. I've found the best way to apply this liner is gently squeeze the nib for a tiny excess amount to come out of the nib rather than trying to twist the bottom until more product comes out. In the bottom left picture the top half of the gel had crumbled off whilst applying the liner. The top right picture shows the gel completely crumbled off. In the top left and bottom right you can see the crumbled off gel in the corner of my eye and just above my lashes.  

Swatch and Tests-

The left picture shows the swatch of the liner on the back of my hand. The liner comes out easily on the back of my hand and actually comes out in a dark pigment which is a shame as this doesn't seem to be the same when applied on my eyes. 

The middle picture shows the results of the swatch after being smudged with my index finger. As the photo shows; there is slight smudging discoloration around the line. The liner is pretty resistant to smudging as I did have to rub it pretty hard before it started to wear down the colour. 

The right picture shows the result after being smudged with water. I dipped my index finger in water and rubbed the top half of the swatch and found that the liner was prone to smudging on the edges. 

Submerging in Water Test

I applied the liner to my top lash line and submerged my face in water for a few seconds before swiping any excess water off my eyes. As below results show; the liner had started to crumble off. On a positive note; at least the liner crumbled off rather than smudging and causing panda eyes. Perhaps this liner would work quite well if the your eyes are left untouched after being in contact with water. 

Rating:

Texture: 0/5 - Awkward application due to the texture being far too crumbly to get a precise application on the lash line. Product is also wasted when applying due to the style of the applicator.  

Smudge Resistance: 4/5 - The liner, once applied, seems to be quite resistant to smudging. As above test, the liner needs to be rubbed pretty hard before discolouration, 

Water Resistance: 4/5- I wouldn't class this liner as water proof as water seems to make this liner smudge pretty easily when rubbed, however; I did notice that the swatch on my hand stayed on throughout the day through several hand washes but not rubbing specifically on the swatch. (even though it was slightly smeared from when I had rubbed it underwater).

Thank you for reading!

Amy x x