The Line Up Project: Clinque
Review by MUA's Cavewoman

I posed a question not too long ago on the makeup board at MakeUpAlley. I was looking for the blackest black eyeliner, and I knew where to go to get the answer. It was BarbItalia who recommended that I run to the Clinique counter and get the Brush-On Cream Liner called True Black. She said it was the blackest, and lots of other people agreed with her. And so I ran.

I'm pretty sure that this Clinique cream liner appears very very black because it is matte. That means that it absorbs light, and reflects very little light due to the finish. As a photographer, this principle makes sense to me. When I would be photographing a still-life or doing portrait work, I always had some black velvet fabric with me. It is the one thing that reflects as little light as possible. I had high hopes for the Clinique.

The first thing I noticed is that this cream formula is very soft, and much easier to work with than some of the gel types I have already tested. Loading the brush is a breeze, and since this liner didn't come with its own brush, I chose to use the Shu Uemura brush 5F (the one I think is actually supposed to be a lip brush) and the Sonia Kashuk bent-angle liner brush. I started with the Shu. Just a teeny dip was enough to cover the brush and make swift work of lining one eye. That brush is great! It's flat but it's narrow, so it is easy to get very close to the lashes. I've found that the Kashuk brush generally gives a thicker line, but I'm getting pretty good at this cream/gel liner stuff, and I was able to get an equally thin line on the other eye with that brush. However, I did not seem to get the line as close to the lash line as I was with the Shu. But wow, did I see black! Blackest black! Serious, velvety black. I was really happy with the way this applied and how it looked. I was eager to see how long it would last.

About three hours later, I checked the liner in the mirror. The eye with which I had used the Shu brush showed more wear than the other eye. I don't know why. I had applied equal thickness to each eye. The liner was still showing very well just at the lash line and even in between the lashes, almost as if it had slid down into the lashes. Odd. The eye with which I had used the Kashuk brush still looked almost as good as it did when I first applied the liner, but it did show a little flaking on the lid.

An hour later, I checked again, and now the liner had pretty much disappeared on both eyes, flaked a bit under the eye and onto the lid, and was just only visible in the lash root areas.
Four hours isn't very long for a liner to last. I suppose I could go over it with a dark eyeshadow and try it again, but that would skew the testing a bit, and I'm not doing that with any other liners right now. I may try it in the future.

In terms of removal, well, there wasn't much to remove, and the remainder came off easily with the Benefit Gee That Was Quick eyemakeup remover and a little flat cotton pad.

The Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner in True Black was very black indeed (thanks, Barb!) but I sure do wish it had lasted longer. I'm giving it a 4 rating because it was a great black, and was easy to apply, but in terms of performance, it flunked. And performance is what I am seeking with these liner testings.
On to the next one!

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this review were purchased by the reviewer.