I was lucky enough to be selected to trial this product.
Let’s start with the packaging. Love the design of the liner and great having a felt tip liner for easy application. The lashes themselves were nice, gently flared at the outer edges and not too over the top which I like. (I’m a fan of lashes that actually look like lashes).
Application: after having used the magnetic liner I assumed you would need a thick liner to ensure there was enough for the lashes to adhere to, so I went for a nice big ole winged liner. I felt the application of this liner was much smoother and easier than the magnetic liner so we were off to a great start. It did bleed a little bit but Not as much as the magnetised liner.
Alas, it all went a little down hill for me after the liner. It took a bit of adjusting to get the lashes applied correctly and I had to be careful not to smudge the black liner in the process as it was still quite tacky. One lash applied perfectly in the end, the other I had difficulty getting to stick down in the inner corner, I ended up adding extra liner to the inner corner to get the lash stuck down. I liked the look of the lashes on, they definitely added a little drama to my eye look. (Have uploaded a pic on the photo wall if you wanna see)
Off I went to work with my lashes secured. (Day 1 of lockdown but I work in a pharmacy so am in essential services). I was at work for about 20mins when alas, the lashes had popped out on both eyes. More so on my perfectly applied side than the side I had trouble with! I had to take the lashes off, there was no way to fix it quickly while working.
Unfortunately my liner looked a little messy once I took them off so I attempted to use a regular felt tip liner to correct the issue. The adhesive liner stays tacky which made this very difficult. Also, because the liner is so annoyingly sticky my hair kept getting stuck to it all day.
Now, I do have to say that when I test products I usually test them a couple of times just to make sure but I have only had a chance to test these once due to all the covid-19 stuff going on.
I’ll give them a go again when I don’t have to be anywhere (pharmacies are very busy right now so no isolation for me!) and maybe look up some tips and tricks with them to see if I can find a way to get them to adhere better. Honest opinion, I don’t think the adhesive is quite strong enough and I don’t think the liner drys down enough, I don’t imagine any tips or tricks would change that.
I will add any new findings to my review once I’ve had a chance to have another go with them.
APPLICATION Be warned it is a very metallic smell as I expected but it goes away as soon as you put the lid back on. The eyeliner is a felt tip so is more controllable than a liquid eyeliner. Though due to the felt, you need several layers for it to be secure and it is not opaque. It’s not messy but quite buildable. You can add more layers without it being patchy but doing a wing is not so smooth. I normally would use magnetic eyelashes with barely any makeup to a full face, but with this eyeliner you need to have several layers and they are not effective with a thin natural looking line, so I would bear that in mind.
I got the most natural looking lashes which I liked as I can wear them day or evening. They are light and wispy and do not have miniature magnet/s to try and connect or match up. It is a thin unnoticeable magnetic lash strip, which makes it easy to trim.
I have tried a few brands of magnetic lashes, some with a thick magnet strip, some with mini magnets dotted around, the last Glam liquid liner lash kit and I personally found this particular one the least effective. I added little-many layers, played with the thickness of the eyeliner, shook well before use, lightly cleaned the lash strip, applied dry, applied wet etc and I could not get the whole eyelash to stay on. I trimmed the eyelashes several times, slightly curved them, added more layers on the inner corners and it only lead to frustration. I only wore them at home as I took them off when going out because they could not magnetise to the curve of my eyes and would be straight across, not touching the inner corners… I’m not vain but that is embarrassing.
The eyeliner is long-wearing and if you take off your eyelashes, it doesn’t take the eyeliner off anywhere near as much as the liquid did. It was quite hard to get off and probably more so to the amount of layers and thickness I would test hahaha but it is durable.
OVERALL Overall I won’t be using this product and I wouldn’t recommend it to others, purely because I couldn’t go outside hahaha I was even trying not to laugh when I would speak to my husband because he would just look at them instead of my actual eyes. I have bought a range of budget - what I would call expensive, and even the cheapest ones I got around 50 effortless uses (as this one is 30 uses but that depends on how much you use).But I would like to say that maybe I had a dud and everyone else that has tried it absolutely loved it. But if mine isn’t a dud, it is not worth even putting in stores as this product did not work at all for me.
RECOMMEND Glam by Manicare. I recommend trying out an adhesive/magnetic mascara (if you haven’t already) or if you are really keen to make the eyeliner thing work, how about a roll on application? Maybe curve the lash line more or have the lashes in three small parts (though that defeats the whole Xpress thing). Thank you for this opportunity and I would love to try out what you have next.