I bet you’ve been seeing a lot of reviews of that popular gel liner by Benefit lately, haven’t you? Well, I’m not going to review that one today simply because I don’t have one and don’t intend to get one. I guess after you’ve seen it talked about in every other blog, you’ll tend to want to try something else, y’know what I mean? 😛

However, I do want to talk about a very similar gel eyeliner today. I picked up the Lasting Drama Pen Gel Liner by Maybelline when I was in Japan. At that time, I didn’t know about the Benefit They’re Real Push Up Liner. I didn’t even intend to buy any beauty products from international brands like Maybelline, Revlon, etc in Japan because I thought we might get them here too. However, the Lasting Drama Pen Gel Liner intrigued me so I decided to get one to try. I didn’t actually use it until I saw the Benefit eyeliner that I thought, hang on, they’re pretty much the same thing!

Well, a very similar sort of gel eyeliner anyway.

For those who can understand Japanese. All I got was “made in China”.

Now I’ve only swatched the Benefit eyeliner in store and don’t actually have one with me so I cannot compare the two. I can only tell you what I think of the Maybelline gel liner. On first impressions, the tip looks similar to Benefit’s. It even has the small hole cover to keep the gel liner from leaking or drying out too.

The gel liner comes out of the rubber tip by twisting the end of the pen. A dry black substance is squeezed out of the tip and that’s when you’ll quickly draw it on the lash line lest it dries up. The gel liner leaves a matte finish on the skin. There’s no doubt about it; it’s incredibly similar to the Benefit gel liner upon first impression.

There are a few things I don’t like about the gel liner:

1. It dries very quickly. You have to work the gel liner on the lash line very quickly because when it dries, it’s difficult to glide the pen on the lash line.
2. The tiniest twist of the pen produces a lot of product. If you don’t wipe the tip off prior to applying the gel liner, you’ll end up drawing on a lot of “ink” on the lash line.
3. It’s difficult to draw a very thin line. I don’t like to pile on a lot of eye liner and this one produces so much product that I ended up creating thicker lines. I have to wipe the tip every time I use it thus wasting product.
4. It’s difficult to create a flick at the outer corners of the eyes when you have fine lines. I’m no spring chicken and have fine lines at the corner of my eyes (hello tiny crow’s feet!). The tip jerks and drags over the fine lines creating tiny gaps over the tiny bumps.
5. The pen doesn’t glide on my skin smoothly. It doesn’t give me a smooth line hence making my application very messy.

Having said all that, I have to give credit where credit’s due because this eyeliner does last a long time without smudging. The reason you see smudging in the swatches was because I didn’t wait long enough before doing the smudge test. Plus I squeezed a lot of product out at the top bit of the swatch which meant that it would take a while for that part to dry. When I managed to produce thinner lines with less product, this gel liner will not budge. However, I do have oily eyelids so I had to use an eyeshadow primer prior to using the gel liner. Without the primer, the oil on my eyelids did smudge the eyeliner a little. With the primer, the gel liner stayed on with barely a smear.

I also used a lot of elbow grease to rub the heck out of the swatch (hence the redness of my skin in the photo) and even when used with a micellar makeup remover, not all of the product was removed. You’ll need an oil-based makeup remover to fully remove this eyeliner. When using micellar water, you’ll have to really rub the skin to remove all of the eyeliner. I don’t recommend using that at all due to the very delicate nature of the eyelids.

This gel liner is already available in the UK and some parts of Asia. I’m not sure if we’re getting this in Australia although I have a feeling we might. If we do, it’ll be cheaper than Benefit’s Push Up Liner. I’ve never been a fan of gel liners and due to the finicky nature of the pen and tip, I’m not a fan of this either. However, if you love gel liners and find that the Benefit’s Push Up Liner works well for you, then I think you’ll enjoy this one too.

By the way, a lot of reviewers for the Benefit Push Up Liner recommended to keep the orange rubber cap with the pen and not throw it away. I’m very glad I read those reviews prior to taking this out of the packaging and trying it out because I would have chucked the orange tip if not for those reviews. The orange tip helps to keep the gel liner from drying out. However, before you fit the cap back to the rubber tip, wipe the tip first or else you’ll be pushing more product out.

Having tried this and not liking it, I don’t think I’ll be trying the Benefit gel liner any time soon either.

As I purchased this in Japan, it retailed at 1404 yen including tax (approximately AU$15). I’ll update this post with the Australian retail price if we do get this in Australia.

What I like about it: Smudgeproof, very intense matte finish. If we do get it in Australia, it’ll be cheaper than the Benefit gel liner while getting similar results.

What I do not like about it: Dries very quickly, hard to work with, need a lot of practice to get it right.

Have you tried this or the Benefit Push Up Liner before? Did you find it easy or hard to work with? If you’ve tried both gel liners, which do you prefer?