Kleancolor Smokin' Gel Eyeliner - Smoky Black Swatches & Review

Hey lovelies,

I should preface this review by saying gel liner never works out well for me. I've tried and destashed Napoleon, MAC, Coastal Scents and Maybelline's gel liners, so it wasn't reeeaally logical for me to buy this. My lids are super oily and my eyes are somewhat hooded, a combination that invariably ends up leaving a line of gel liner above my crease over the course of the day. Not so pretty.

But I missed the smudgability of gel liner, using it as a black base for duochrome shadows and tightlining, and I wanted to try my new Real Techniques silicone liner brush for its intended purpose, so I picked this up at Postie.

Kleancolor's Smokin' Gel Eyeliner comes boxed with an angled brush, which I really like. I could never really figure out the tiny brush that comes with Maybelline's one, the angled brush is definitely my preference.

The gel eyeliner comes in a little frosted jar with a screw-top cap, simple and functional.

Kleancolor Smokin' Gel Eyeliner - Smoky Black brush

I really like the brush - it's PINK! It's also firm enough for lining purposes, but soft enough not to be scratchy.

Kleancolor Smokin' Gel Eyeliner - Smoky Black swatch

The pigmentation of Smoky Black is a little sheerer than I'd hoped for. The top swatch is one swipe with the brush included, the bottom swatch is several passes to build up the colour. On the plus side, I can see the slight sheerness making this liner a little easier to smudge out and I do like the softer look it gives.

When I tested the wear on Smoky Black, I found that it started to leave a line above my lids between 1 and 2 hours of application (1 hour on my left eye, which is slightly more hooded than the right). The intensity of the colour also faded around the same time the creasing began (expected, since the colour was transferring). As I've hopefully made clear, this is a consistent problem for me with gel liners, so if you don't have any issues with any of the other brands I've mentioned, the Kleancolor liner will probably work just fine for you.