Sedona Lace Black Liquid Eye Pen - Swatch and Review

I have been testing this eyeliner that I got as a free gift with purchase with my Sedona Lace Black Friday haul and I'm ready to tell you what I think of it.

Packaging

• slim dark liquid eyeliner with a spongy felt tip. The felt tip was very pointy but neither stiff or flimsy, which allows you a decent amount of control to create thin to medium size lines. 
• .07 oz

Product

• When I first swatched this liner, it was very black and juicy so I thought that was nice. When I lined it on my eyes it has the tendency to skip so it's difficult to make a straight line in one swipe. It works best if you do a few short strokes at a time. 
• What annoys me a bit is that I have no control over the flow of the product. The first stroke is always the most pigmented and wet and then it feels a little dry and dragging afterward. It's not completely hopeless but it takes a little time to get some juice going. If I'm only wearing the eyeliner, application isn't too bad but if I'm wearing eyeshadows, it drags and skip a little more. With that said, it is also a big more complicated to get that nice curved flick at the end. 
• The formula isn't too thick or thin and is rather quite pigmented. It has a vinyl shine to it when it dries and it dries almost instantly after applied. 
• Once it sets, it won't budge and is quite water-resistant. I experienced just a tiny bit of transferring to my lower lash line after a few hours of wear. But other than that, it doesn't flake or fade throughout the day and wears strong until I take it off.

Final Thought

Most liquid liner of this kind tend to be drying or dry very quickly on me. It's not the best but it certainly isn't the worst either. I love the fact that it is long-wearing and is quite pigmented. The main trouble I had was the inability to control the flow of the product which made the liner skip and drag a bit so application takes a little more work because it isn't juicy enough to create a perfect line with just one stroke. 

Rating: 8/10

Price: $4.95

Availability: Sedona Lace

Sedona Lace Black Friday Haul

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen that I posted the Black Friday sale for Sedona Lace. I think I mentioned it on Twitter as well. All their products were 50% off. That was awesome but the shipping charge was a lot higher than the typical shipping fees I'm used to. They charged me $12.00 shipping for a medium size box. A box like that should only be about $6 or $7 shipping. Last year, they had free shipping for orders over $50. This year, I ordered way above that and they still charged me this much. Anyways, 50% off on all items was still a good deal not to pass.

Ever since the Sigma brushes went up in prices, I've lost interest in them. I discovered the Sedona Lace brushes last year and ordered during Black Friday as well, which is the best time to get them. I can tell you that I have been very pleased with the brushes I've gotten from them, you can view them HERE. They are well made, do not shed, and have retained their shape trough the year. On top of that, I couldn't resist the pink/black gradient bristles. That's just too cute!

I didn't really "need" anymore brushes but it's more like upgrading some old brushes, adding some back ups, and picking up some gifts, that I waited on a sale to go for it.

This year, I decided to go with the Synthetic Large Paddle 919, $15.95 regular price. It's very soft, flexible but not flimsy, and is about 2 inches wide. Great for applying finishing powders and even contouring.

Tulip Contour FB 03, $14.95 regular price. I've always wanted an egg shapped brush like this one, lol. It's tapered at the top but the one I received isn't nearly as pointy as the one pictured on their site. The cut was a bit uneven but I don't think that will affect the performance of the brush. The bristles are soft and I believe they are natural hair but it doesn't say so on their site. This brush has a good density to it. It would work great for applying blushes or bronzers.

Synthetic Flat Top 928, $14.95 regular price. I needed to replace my ELF Studio Powder brush. Sure I could've just bought another one since it only cost $3.00 but all the ones I've owned always loosen up at the ferrule and no matter how much super glue I put there, it still wobbles so I got tired of it. I previously own the Synthetic flat top brush so this is also a back up. I also own the Sigma Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki F80. It is similar to the 928 brush but much denser and cleaning it is a pain to remove all gunk and soap. It also takes longer to dry. The 928 although not as dense, it is still dense enough to apply liquid foundation flawlessly. It has a density similar to the ELF Studio Powder brush but with shorter bristles. Honestly I do like the 928 more than the Sigma F80. It's prettier, cost less, and easier to clean. It's made better than the ELF Studio brush and definitely worth the extra cost.

Synthetic Eye Shading Brush 305, $9.95 regular price. It wasn't really what I was expecting when I received it. It's thinner and flatter; however, it is quite firm. It would be ideal for cream eyeshadows. I'm not sure how well it will work for powder eyeshadows but we'll see. 

I received a free Liquid Eye Pen (retails for $4.95). I was pretty excited when I swatched it because it was very black. I need to test it for a few days before I can do a review on it.

I took advantage of the sale to also grab some brush sets that I will be gifting. I didn't included the pictures here because I don't want them see what I got them, hehe.

What's your favorite brand of brushes? Did you purchase any on Black Friday?

Black Friday Haul - Sedona Lace and MAC

Hello lovelies,

I'm so excited to share with you what I purchased during Black Friday. My ordered arrived on Thursday but it was left at my apartment office so my kids picked it up for me yesterday after they arrived from school.

I was pretty exhausted from work last night but I still made an effort to open up my packages, inspect them, and get a feel for them.

Because I had done quite a bit of hauling during the Sephora VIB sale and picked up some stuff at Ulta last week, I did not want to go overboard with the Black Friday deals...well at least as far as makeup/beauty goes, these are the only things that I bought.

Sedona Lace had a 50% discount on their entire site and I had been eyeing their Midnight Lace brushes for a little while so I just couldn't pass up on the deal. Granted I already have a ton of brushes, I couldn't help myself because these brushes look so ADORABLE in black and pink! I googled and searched reviews and all the reviews were great, which makes me want to own them even more.
Makeup brushes are definitely something I recommend that you invest on because if you buy a good quality brush, it will last you a very long time and make your makeup application look flawless.

So I bought two sets. The first one here is the Midnight Lace Synthetic Brush Set. These are currently sold for $49.95 but with the Black Friday deal, I paid only $24.98. For four gorgeous brushes, can't beat that! That's like paying $6.25 per brush. Such an amazing deal, I still can't believe I only paid that much.
I didn't care too much about this set because I have a few of the Sigma HD face brushes, which looks very similar to these so I didn't really need them, so to speak. But I figured what the heck! It wouldn't hurt to have more! LOL. I'm pretty happy that I got them to be honest. One thing I can tell you from first impression is that they are super soft, look and feel like very good quality brushes, and are quite comparable to Sigma HD brushes. They are less pricey, significantly prettier, similar in quality, and shipping cost is wayyyyy better than Sigma. It's free if your order is $50 or more. Watch out Sigma, you've got a pretty good competition here! I still can't get over the fact that Sigma only offered free shipping for their Black Friday deal...Sedona Lace was definitely the way to go for me. I was getting more bangs for my bucks.

This set comes with:

• 480-a round top powder brush
• 602-an angled top powder brush
• 928-a flat top powder brush
• A kabuki brush
• A pretty sheer blue bag
• A pamphlet with tips and tricks

The second set I purchased is the 7 piece Midnight Lace Synthetic Brush Set. These are currently sold for $59.95 but with Black Friday deal, I only paid $29.98! This was the set I originally wanted and caused me to place the order but since shipping is free if your order is $50 and over, I went ahead and also ordered the other set. Honestly, before I saw this set, I really wanted to order the Sigma Synthetic Precision Kit 5 Brushes but when I saw the deal I was getting with these, there is no question about which set I'd pick.

This set includes: 

• 872-Synthetic Small Flat Top 
• 312-Synthetic Small Round 
• 773-Synthetic Small Angle 
• 224-Synthetic Small Tapered
• 847-Synthetic Small Round Flat 
• 217-Synthetic Small Round Dome 
• 618-Synthetic Small Angled Flat  
• A pretty sheer blue bag

The brushes on this set are in my opinion perhaps too big to be used for applying eyeshadows unless you just want to use them to blend harsh edges or apply an all over wash of color. I can still see them being more useful for face makeup application.

Each of the Sedona brushes came with a plastic guard and plastic cover on their handles. They were beautifully packaged in a gorgeous sheer fabric bag. They all have a holographic signature and a brush number. I think this is such a nice touch! So overall, even though I have not tried these brushes yet I am super impressed with the way the brushes look, the quality they appear to  have, how incredibly soft they are, and how much less you'd pay for them as compared to the Sigma HD brushes. Don't get me wrong, Sigma does make good brushes and I love the ones that I have but with the quality and value I am getting with Sedona Lace Midnight brushes exceed what I get from Sigma. I received my order within 5 days from placing it and that's during their Black Friday promo, which I'm pretty sure they were super busy. So I'm very pleased with the saving and service! My grand total was $54.96 for these two set. That's and unbelievable deal! No tax. Free shipping. They even provided me with a tracking number.
I highly recommend you check these Sedona Lace brushes. Look up reviews. I have not come across any bad reviews.

And finally, this wasn't really a Black Friday deal, since I pretty much paid regular price on it, however I was able to use a code for free 2nd day shipping to snag MAC Grey Friday lipstick. Ok, perhaps most of us won't wear a grey lipstick but I just thought it was so cool, unique, and definitely something I do not have in my collection. I already have a vision of this awesome makeup look in mind I want to pair with this lipstick. I'll share with you a swatch but stay tuned if you want to see how it looks on my lips/face and if you are curious about the makeup look I plan to do featuring this lippie :)

Ok, I hope I didn't bore you to death but that's pretty much all that I bought as far as beauty. I did get two other non-beauty items that I plan on briefly sharing with you on a different post :).

What did you haul on Black Friday??? I'm curious to find out what you got. Let me know on the comment.


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