Maximize Liner Life: Tip-of-the-Day #268

Eyeliner. Good eyeliner. Is not easy to part with. I've been addicted to Bobbi Brown's long wear cream shadow stick (that I use as a liner) for about a year now. Once it's on, it doesn't budge. It stays put all day. And, it looks fabulous. You can create a smokey eye or keep it more precise by using the edge of the stick instead of the full flat surface.

Anyhoo, I digress because the reason for this post is to tell you how to maximize the life of your liner - be it eye or lip. I should caveat by saying that because I use the retractable liner, I assume everyone does. Who wants to carry a sharpener around or deal with messy shavings?

When I open a fresh new liner there's nothing like the promise of weeks of uninterrupted use. But then, there is that dreaded day, when you reach for your beloved liner and you've run out of runway! No more twisting! It happens to retractable deodorant too, folks. You know that day when it just doesn't roll up anymore. It's terrifying.

So it happened to me on Monday morning. I knew all weekend long that I should get some more liner, but Sephora doesn't carry this one for some (stupid) reason and thus I had to order it online. Monday hit and I. Was. Out. In an act of desperation (and sheer genius), I pulled apart the sleek case that the heart of the liner resides in and there it was! Something that resembles a ballpoint pen mechanism. Lo and behold, there was a good 1/8 inch left of eyeliner just under "see" level! There was probably enough to get me through another week or even two! This picture says it all:

And so, once I tapped that buried treasure I could relax, order myself some more booty on bobbibrowncosmetics.com and wait. My new stick arrived a mere two days later.

This story is to remind you to tap the treasure that always hides inside the case. Even if you need to use a brush to get to it - my lipstick is a good example - you still have merchandise you can use.

Don't get me wrong, if I'm eyeliner-rich and I don't feel like performing surgery on my old friend, I'll skip it. But, if you're in a bind - this'll do ya.