It's Party Time! Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner Review

So I was at Ulta the other day, feelin' a little frisky and looking for something unique and different to try. I wanted something I would normally not wear, seeing that I've been having success with my "out of the box" kick this season (refer to my Guerlain purchase and my new Lancome lipgloss). I decided I would jump off the cliff with a new eye look or two this time, and started a-hunting.

Lo and behold, before my eyes did appear the most sparkly, shiny, colorful eyeliners I've ever seen! Stila's Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eye Liners literally jumped off the shelf at me. As in, one of them fell off the display as I was passing by, and when I picked it up I was transfixed. This must be a match made in heaven, right?


Stila's Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eye Liners in Royal and Electric

Stila's Sparkle eye liners come in a pen form and are just what they say they are...sparkly! They come in an array of vivid, metallic colors and claim to be completely waterproof. Full of fun, right? I mean, you have to love an eyeliner that sparkles AND survives crying, partying, and the hot, humid, Atlanta summer, right? Right.

I chose the colors Royal (a vivid purple) and Electric (shockingly intense teal) as my first foray into these lovely little pens of glory. I chose Royal because it was a relatively safe choice considering my brown eyes, and Electric because...well, did I mention I was feeling a bit frisky?

Now, if you're looking for good color payoff, Electric is right up your alley. One swipe results in completely opaque teal shimmer. The Royal is not as densely pigmented and can take a second swipe, but it, too, packs plenty of punch. As a matter of fact, you need to be careful when applying these, as they set pretty quickly and are so colorful and opaque that you don't have much room for error.

Here's a swatch of the colors:

Taken in direct sunlight, you can definitely see all their sparkly goodness!

In indirect light, still sparkly and vivid!

The applicator is a felt-tip pen design with a nicely tapered end for fine line application: 

So, how do I like my gem-toned little eye liners? Well, I'm going to have to give them a mixed review. The colors are very vivid and sparkly, as you can see. The applicator swipes color on easily and thoroughly with very little need for a second coat. However, if you do go for the second coat, be aware that these liners will literally peel off your eyelids if you touch them too much or scratch at your eyes. This only happened to me with the Royal since I gave it a couple of coats, but it was distressing since I suddenly ended up non-sparkly over part of my eyelid...an odd look, at best!

These are incredibly waterproof...I wet them down and rubbed them and they didn't budge. But again, a caveat...without pretty significant rubbing, my skin was literally stained teal. This didn't happen with the purple, but did happen repeatedly with the Electric, so be aware that you need to be willing to rub your eyes to get it off (and yes, I used waterproof eye makeup remover). That, or you can have a faint teal line on your lid for an extra day. Do with it what you will.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that I'm a young-looking 41-year-old, and although I can get away with a LOT of color, this was a bit too much. I'm thinking it may work better for a certain 23-year-old I know who likes to throw down with the best of them on the weekends. I chose them during a moment of temporary madness during which I imagined that my husband would actually take me somewhere hot/hip/cool to go dancing some night, and then reality hit me like a ton of bricks and I realized that an exciting night for me these days involves adding tuna to the mac-n-cheese for an extra added punch for the kids. For me, it was just a bit over-the-top.

I did tone the colors down by going over them with dark shadow:

This technique helped dull the sparkle and the vividness of the colors a bit...but who wants to go to all that trouble? Really.

Bottom line: These are great for younger women (or women who like really vivid, glittery eyes). They go on smoothly, stay put once they set, and literally don't wash off until you remove them (vigorously). They stay in place all day as long as you don't make the mistake of layering them too thickly. The colors are truly gorgeous, and the shimmer is such that it's visible even in indirect light. However, for me (and most of my less-adventurous and mature counterparts), they're a little, well, much. Off to the swap pile they go!!