Hello everyone!

Sephora Singapore just held their bi-annual Beauty Pass Sale and in a bid to retain my Black status (as you could probably tell from the drop in my beauty reviews, I hadn’t really been shopping for makeup), I made some obligatory purchases which included a pair of peculiar-looking eyeliners born from the collaboration between Sephora and Stabilo! Yes, you read me right – Stabilo, as in the stationery brand of highlighter fame (they had their chance to release face highlighters but they blew it!).

This partnership might come as a surprise to some but considering that even Crayola has ventured into cosmetics, it goes to show that the lines between the beauty and non-beauty industries are blurring. It also makes perfect sense for Stabilo to ink the agreement because as girls transition to women (or boys to men), the need for stationery supplies diminishes thanks to electronic devices. One possible way to win this demographic back would be to appeal to their needs and I’m sure everyone needs makeup at some point in their lives 😂 Sprinkle a dash of nostalgia and we have a winner!

The eyeliner comes in 4 shades (Ink Splash, Back to School, Chocolate Break and Summer Holiday) and retails at S$15 each, or S$12 during the sale. Since I already have a staple black liner, my money went to the brown and blue (and I regret not getting the grey one now). Like the tip of your typical highlighter, the applicator is bevelled to allow for an alternation between thick and thin lines with an uninterrupted colour intensity and evenness from the start to the end of the application. The packaging is modelled after the original design of chunky Stabilo highlighers but maybe only two-third of the size (super cute!), making it convenient to bring around!

Call me bias but I don’t always have a good impression of merchandise sold under house brands so I had my reservations about these claims being translated into reality. (But eyeliners in the form of highlighters? Who can resist?!)

Pardon my unkempt brows

Chocolate Break

Don’t laugh, but the name reminds me of how Ms Yeah created her makeup with cocoa powder in one of her many ingenious videos.

But unlike the sheer payoff of the makeup that she had concocted, Chocolate Break is highly opaque and pigmented. It has a darker undertone as compared to the colour reflected on the packaging, so it appears almost like black which makes it ideal for those who do not wish to deviate too much from wearing the standard beauty look.

There was no bleeding, and attempts to rub this matte dark brown swatch off my hand were largely unsuccessful. Even after 8 hours, the colour still remained reasonably vivid despite wetting my hands on a few occasions! This little wear test took me by surprise, so I decided to wear the eyeliner on my upper lash lines and run 5km around my estate to confirm its longevity the next day. Surely, my oily lids coupled with my acidic sweat would be able to melt the makeup away?

And you guessed it – the eyeliner budged quite a bit. But even though it barely survived the run, I was glad it didn’t transfer onto my lower lash line and give me panda eyes (throughout my run, I was so paranoid that my eyeliner would smudge and I’d attract a lot of unwanted attention from other park users!).

Summer Holiday

A trip to a faraway destination might not be an option right now because of the coronavirus (I could have been in Bangkok 😭) but that does not mean you can’t feel like you’re on holiday at home (or while heading to the supermarket, whatever)! Transport the sea to your lash lines with this calming blue hue and you’re all set for a Zoom summer party (be sure to use a poolside virtual background while you’re at it)!

When tested on my hand sans primer, Summer Holiday revealed a pigmented coat of matte dark periwinkle colour (which is true to the colour of the packaging). It was mostly smudge-proof (but not as resistant as Chocolate Break to rubbing) and had a consistent product payoff. Again, the sceptic in me wanted to see if it could held up on where they were supposed to be, so I painted on the eyeliner and went for a run on another day.

Either my body had produced more sweat than usual on that day or this shade couldn’t really withstand humidity because it smudged more easily than Chocolate Break. There was hardly any product left on my lids after most of it migrated into the creases, or simply melted away with my sweat.

Based on my experience, both eyeliners yielded great results until they got exposed to moisture, so I wouldn’t want to wear it to watch tearjerker films, y’know, just in case. I also wouldn’t consider myself to be a fan of the bevelled tip as it really takes some getting used to. Even as a seasoned eyeliner user myself, angling the tip correctly to draw straight thin lines (especially those feline flicks) posed as a challenge to me 😩

It’s a pity that only a limited amount of colours was released because I could see how popular this would be if there were more to choose from! Perhaps if this is a success, Sephora might consider working with Stabilo again to come up with more interesting shades – this time, hopefully with a touch of fluorescence just like the highlighters 😁

Unfortunately, I don’t think this range is released in the U.S., so if you’re living in the States, you might want to get someone to ship it to you from Asia or Europe (wherever Sephora has stores in).

What do you think of this collaboration? Let me know your views in the comments below or take a quick poll!

Sephora × Stabilo Felt Liners are now available at Sephora Singapore.

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