MAC Eye Kohl

This eye liner is one of my go to products for creating nightime smoky eyes but recently I have been bringing it out into the daylight.  This product is MAC favorite and some shade of it is recommened to me every single time that I go to the counter to buy eye shadow.  Many of this company's fans consider this product the only liner that can be used to make a smoky eye look and will not use any other product in the eye makeup collection.  In addition, I feel like some version of this liner is released in almost all of the MAC limited edition collections because it works well with every eye look.

The MAC website gives an overall description of the product and the reasons that an eye kohl is different than a traditional eye liner.  "A soft-on pencil liner that lines, defines, and shades the eyes with rich colour and a silky smooth, matte/pearl finish.  Ophthalmologist tested."  An eye kohl is softer than a traditional eye pencil and therefore is easier to smudge and make the smoky eyes.  A traditional eye pencil provides more of a sharp line and is much harder to use to create that type of eye look.  I do have both types of liners in my collection since I don't really believe that one type of liner provides all the eye makeup looks that I carry out.

This product features some shades that are best for the night and some that can work during the daytime too.  The shades are...

- Fascinating - intense matte white
- Minted - vibrant mint green with pearl
- Rosemary & Thyme - mid-tone olive gold with shimmer
- Powersurge - bronzed-brown with golden shimmer
- Costa Riche - rich coffee bean brown
- Teddy - intense bronze
- Tarnish - blackened forest green
- Smolder - intense black
- Blooz - intense blue with blue shimmer
- Prunella - shimmering black-eyed plum
- Phone Number - smudgy charcoal

I currently own two shades of this product, Smolder and Rosemary & Thyme.  Smolder is the shade that is used to create the dark smoky eye and I believe is their best selling shade of this product.  This is the darkest, deepest black liner that I have ever used, with the exception of liquid liners.  I bought this shade to create smoky eyes and that the best use for it.  The other shade that I have is actually the more versatile of the two shades.  I first boiught Rosemary & Thyme when it was released with To The Beach last last spring and I will confess that I pretty much bought it only for the beautiful packaging.  But this ended up being one of my favorite purchases from MAC ever.  It is a deep olive green with the gold shimmer and it creates some of the most beautiful day or night eye looks.  It works in the day with a golden eye or a subtle neutral olive eye.  But at night, I pair this with vibrant olives and golds and it creates the most unique eye looks that I have ever done. 

This product is very easy to use.  I soften it quickly between my fingers and then apply it right to the upper and lower lash line.  I smudge it only on the upper lash line since I prefer a tightline on the lower lash.  The formula is easy to smudge but you must do it quickly because it will set within minutes.  After the smudging, I use whatever shadow I am following it with right over the line and then smudge shades into the gradiation.

Since I am so happy with this product already, I feel that I should add to my collection with some browns.  Powersurge and Teddy will work with all my bronzes and golds to create my gilded eye looks.

photo courtesy of MAC