PRODUCT REVIEW/COMPARISON: Smashbox Waterproof Shadowliner Pencils

As you probably read in my original reviews, way back when, I am a lover of the Smashbox Waterproof Shadowliner. Well, I love the real stuff, not these new imposters in pencil form.

In this image below, See: IMPOSTER!

IMPOSTER!

The original came in a little glass jar, like the Jet Set liners do still. Unfortunately, in yet series of poor decisions by a cosmetics honcho, in this case Smashbox, they discontinued the dream product, my beloved WP Shadowliner jars and brought them back as pencils. The formula is similar, though not the same because it's drier to work in a pencil now, and the vehicle is horrible, moreso for the fact that they have no sharpener option available, and they don't really sharpen well with other brands without destroying the whole thing and wasting a ton of product. The little smudger thing really doesn't smudge well, it just removes the product right back off of the eye and takes any concealer, shadow, other liner products with it. Not to mention scratching up the delicate skin around your eye.

I picked up the Luminous Fig and the Metallic Bronze (special edition "Image Factory") shades and both are pretty, but the Metallic Bronze is loaded with chunks of glitter, some kind of iridescent green stuff. And without it, it would be fantastic shade-wise. With it, it's a scratched cornea waiting to happen. I mean, glitter everywhere including IN your eye. The fallout alone on the pencil version of this product is absolutely ridiculous. It goes everywhere else but where you want it. And then it stays there. So at least it's waterproof and budgeproof where you don't want it!  I even tried drawing on a line and then using the original shadowliner brush to smudge it out and that worked better but the product is so dry compared to the real deal in the jar that it just does not create the same look at all.

Here's a couple swatches of the two new shades next to the original Metallic Bronze called Hollywood, and the original "Luminous Fig" called Starstruck, which came in jars, and should go back to being in jars. Oh how I miss the jars. I tried to get shots of packaging and labels so you could see what was what in order.

Here in this pic you can see some of the glitter fallout on my hand from that Metallic Bronze pencil IMPOSTER! which has spread kind of everywhere.  The color of the fig in the two left swatches doesn't show as well so I took one with flash bec it does show the purple more. The jar shades are on the outside, the pencils on the inside. I didn't really smudge the pencil for the Fig much bec I didn't want to mess with the  color. But I did on the Bronze bec I was hoping the glitter would stay better if I did. It didnt. It was everywhere.

 More views of the same...for posterity.

The pencils retail for $22, and are available at QVC and Nordstrom and also I believe at Sephora. I also went to Ulta tonight, and they had them as well, as well as a Tarte variant which I picked up in jar and fat pencil form, they even had skinny pencil form, but that I didn't love as much.  I am returning these Smashbox IMPOSTER pencils as soon as the holiday drama is over, because I am so not dealing with those crowds. I tried to return some stuff at JCPenney tonight and get some pants for my husband while I was there...That was a horrific idea. I have no idea what the hell I was thinking. But since I got in there, I just stayed. And waited. Forever. He better keep at least one pair of these damn pants!

As much as I wanted to believe this stuff was the same as the original beloved, it's not. So I guess when my huge stockpile of my beloved runs out, I will have to find another product from a different brand. (Maybe the Tarte?)  *cries* First world problems, I suppose. This is a big $22 fail from Smashbox.