Review: Tarte EmphasEYES Inner Rim Brightener

I've been looking for a neutral coloured eyeliner to use for brightening my eyes for a while now. At first, it seemed to be a difficult task. White was easy to come by, but I find that white can look too harsh and unnatural. Nude, skin tones however, look not only natural when worn on the lower water line, but they can brighten the look of tired eyes and even make your eyes look a bit bigger. Definate plus.

Once I found one nude liner, I found a bunch. Doesn’t it usually work out like that? I ended up choosing the Tarte version over the others because it claimed to be both long wearing and natural. Good claims, but would they hold up?

"This multitasking pencil liner gently glides along the lower inner rim and inner corner of eyes for a wide-awake effect. It can also be used to highlight the brow bone to give brows added shape and definition."- Sephora

While I had high hopes for this liner, it just didn't work for me. The texture of the liner is creamy enough that it glides on rather easily, but a bit patchy. A few swipes and an opaque line is easily created. A line that disappeared far too quickly. The pencil itself makes the 'long-wearing' claim, but after an hour or two  I was hard pressed to find any trace of this liner. I should add that the lackluster staying power might have a bit to do with the fact that this liner also did a number on my eyes. In my day I know I have used some questionable products on my waterline, and I've never had any sort of reaction, but this liner left my eyes feeling sore and watery.  This coming from a product that is formulate without parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances or dyes, petrochemicals, phthalates, GMOs or triclosan. Say that ten times fast.

Aside from the fact that the formula doesn't last on me, or agree with my eyes, I found that it really didn't do too much in terms of brightening my eyes. On the waterline it looked fine, it blended in and didn't look out of place, but when I tried to use it just outside of the waterline (since it did aggravate my eyes a bit) it looked very strange. The pencil itself is retractable, so no sharpening worries here, but the bottom of the pencil does not come with a tip sharpener. The bottom pulls off, giving the illusion of one, but nothing lives in there.

Overall I do wish I had kept my $18 USD/ $23 CAD (from Sephora) and tried one of the other options available as this one just isn't for me.  Have you tried this liner? What did you think of it?