When Quality Beats Quantity: Stila Smudge Sticks

Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner Lionfish ($20.00 for 0.01 oz.) is a twist-up waterproof eyeliner available in eight shades: Blue Ribbon (slate blue sheen), Lionfish (deep bronze sheen), Moray (golden olive sheen), Purple Tang (dark purple sheen), Silver Dollar (metallic silver), Stingray (jet black), Peacock (vibrant teal sheen), and Koi (metallic gold).

Ever since learning that twist-up eyeliners give you such a TINY amount of product (the average is about 0.01 oz., can you believe it?), it’s been painful to find myself gravitating towards any of them. Stila’s Smudge Sticks are incredibly creamy, rich in color, and apply like butter on the water line or lash line. Their vibrancy is what really makes them worth checking out, because it doesn’t take much product to get an opaque line.  It’s also soft enough to apply gently to the lash line without tugging, but it’s not so soft that it just melts onto the lash line.

• Stingray is a deep, dark black with a little sheen.
• Peacock is a aqua-blue with a slight metallic sheen; it’s not really the teal I imagined of the shade–much bluer.
• Koi is a metallic medium gold–very high sheen.

My experience wearing these has been fairly positive; they really stay put on  my lash line, even after twelve hours.  They’re budgeproof, smudgeproof, and waterproof, but I find if I apply it to my water line, I do get some irritation (which may just be my sensitivity) and it does seem to slide off after two or three hours.  I don’t really feel the irritation, but when I look in the mirror, my eyes are redder than usual.  So I’ll probably stick to wearing it just on the lower lash line rather than the water line (even though it lasts so well in comparison to most eyeliners), because red-tinged eyes are way un-sexy.

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• Product: 28/30
• Value: 7/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

RECOMMENDATION: If you’ve had trouble with eyeliner staying put and feel as if you’ve exhausted all of your options, Stila’s Smudge Sticks just might do the trick.

AVAILABILITY: Sephora, Stila

Stila Smudge Stick Eyeliner: Stingray, Peacock, Koi

Stila Smudge Stick Eyeliner: Stingray, Peacock, Koi

Stila Smudge Stick Eyeliner: Stingray, Peacock, Koi

Stila Smudge Stick Eyeliner: Stingray, Peacock, Koi