Tosowoong Makeon Bronze Spectrum Waterproof Gel Pencil Liners

The problem with color eyeliners is this - when you have tried a high quality one, you are never going to be satisfied with a budget version.

And basically, this could be the end of my review today.

After the disastrous Etude House Play 101 pencils, instead of giving up on cheap Korean liners, like any other reasonable person would, I listened to the advice of web people and bought more.

This time, I chose Tosowoong Makeon Bronze Spectrum Waterproof Gel Pencil Liners. And I didn't mess around. I chose all of them. Yep. All 12.

I found them on Rose Rose Shop and because they were reasonably priced, and the colors looked nice, and they had good reviews on the internet, and the shipping to Japan was cheap, I bought the whole set. I should have known better.

If something is too good to be true, then it probably is.
Now, as of today, they are even cheaper than when I bought them. Just take a look - Rose Rose Shop.

You may wonder if there is a reason why they're so cheap.
Yes, there is.
Here it is:

Yep, that's right.
The expiration on these Tosowoong Makeon Bronze Spectrum Waterproof Gel Pencil Liners is like tomorrow.

That also should put to bed the question of whether some Korean companies print the expiry date on their products.

So yeah, there you have it.
Luckily, it's a pencil. I've had some old eye pencils from other brands. They didn't make my eyes fall out. But those were high end western brands. Not sure what kind of damage an expired eye pencil from a Korean budget brand can inflict. I guess we're about to find out.

And needless to say, I will not be shopping at RRS anytime soon again.

Ok, back to the Makeon pencils.

The full name of this product is a mouthful:

And because I am too lazy to type it up each time, I'm just going to use the copy-paste function for it from now on - Tosowoong Makeon Bronze Spectrum Waterproof Gel Pencil Liners.

They came highly recommended and had good reviews on line.
Lani liked them and her eye makeup always looks better than mine, so I had no reason to doubt her.

The colors are indeed very pretty.

They are sparkly, but a lot less glittery than the gold and silver Etude House Play 101 pencil disasters.

I knew they were not retractable and required sharpening, so no big disappointment here. My Shu Uemuras are not retractable either and I'm not complaining.

They claim to be waterproof. Hmmm... Let's just say, they are possibly waterproof under normal circumstances. I had them on during a typhoon. They were not waterproof. Not even close. I had sparklies all over my face and smudges around my eyes.

They're easily removable with any old micellar water. I've been using A-True Cleansing Water (because I'm out of Bifesta and I haven't been able to go shopping recently), and they come off with 1 or 2 swipes, depending on the color.

Here are the swatches of Tosowoong Makeon Bronze Spectrum Waterproof Gel Pencil Liners:

Unedited photo taken in natural light.
They don't look too bad, right?

While the colors are lovely, the overall quality is hmmm... how to put it gently... lacking.

Tosowoong Makeon Bronze Spectrum Waterproof Gel Pencil Liners are a step above Etude House Play 101 pencils, but a few notches below Maybelline Vivid & Smooth Liners.

And to think that I used to consider Maybelline junk! Ha! It took a couple of Korean drugstore brands for me to realize how good I had it.

Having said that, Tosowoong Makeon Bronze Spectrum Waterproof Gel Pencil Liners are perfectly serviceable for low-maintenance daily use.

In the morning I just blindly grab any two, or three, draw something in the general eye area, and I'm out the door (I usually put on mascara in the car, I'm bad, I know).

The glittery particles tend to travel around even under normal circumstances and in the evening there will invariably be sparkles in the bags under my eyes.

Of the entire bunch my favorites are: Gold Glow, Sun Blonde and Metal Tan.
I thought I would like Blonde, but it turned out to be too brassy, trailer park yellow. Reminds me of badly bleached hair.

Here you have the entire lineup:

Final thoughts:

Pros:

• affordable
• mostly pretty, wearable colors
• did not cause an allergic reaction (suitable for sensitive eyes)

Cons:

• low quality
• need sharpening
• some colors are quite dry (though it might be due to the fact that mine are nearly past their freshness date)

Would I recommend them?
If you can find them for 4 bucks a pop, then by all means, go ahead, try them. You might find them satisfactory.
Personally, especially around my eye area, I prefer better quality products.

Having said that, guess what?
I have more of those damn Tosowoong Makeon pencils!
What in the bloody hell was I thinking? (Not much, apparently).