MAC Fluidline is a great gel eyeliner which I bought just over a year ago in Selfridges, London when I was visiting to attend London Fashion Weekend with my coursemates in February 2012.
Like most people, I've experienced my eyeliner drying out quite a lot, as you can see that it's come away from the edges and when trying to use - it was a nightmare, and hardly any product went onto my brush!In an attempt to revive my liner (MAC stuff's not cheap so didn't want to just repurchase, my fault for forgetting I owned the product!) I googled and found various options.
Some people added eye drops, MAC Fix+ (didn't use it for this purpose, but absolutely LOVE this product, even if it sounds like glorified water), submerged it in a sealed plastic bag in a bowl of warm water...
but me wanting a lazy and quick result. I put it in the microwave! Yes, I microwaved my eyeliner... for a bit too long perhaps - but don't worry it sort's itself out.
Now, all that is needed is a 5-10 second blast. I say nearer to 5 seconds as you don't want to tub to get hot, just enough heat to warm the product. You'd be surprised how much 5 seconds does with this product. I left it in for 10-12 and it was too much, I had a puddle of fluidline in the middle which then hardened onto my brush.. not cool Rachel!
However, it did really make the liner so much smoother and easier to apply! Obviously if you do overheat it, don't put it straight onto your eyelid, leave it to cool as I don't want my advice to leave you with a burn!
I use a MAC 266 brush for applying, and for using any angled eye brush when applying gel liner - here's an extra tip for you!
Don't just dab your brush in the product and then put straight onto your eye!
Lots of people experience harsher, not so clean lines with MAC Fluidline and it's because there's a little tip which makes application much sharper and smooth.
After applying product onto the brush, wipe BOTH sides of the brush on the side of the pot to remove excess product, and repeat several times. This helps you achieve a cleaner, sharper and more defined line!
You can see from my image above that the lines of the 'revived' liner and the new brush technique (Okay, apart from when I went a bit crazy in the middle!) look sharper, blacker and have much straighter edges than without the technique on the dried up liner.
I hope this post helps out any of you who have got the same issue and are also searching for a solution to save wasting such a good (but pricey) product! Of course, this could probably be done with any gel liner product and not just MAC.
Before I love and leave you, one final tip! Always store your gel liners upside down on their lids! I'm not exactly sure how, or why, but I have seen many posts where those who do this don't experience the horibble drying out of their liners. If it works, hey, why not?!
P.s In case anyone wonders - my nail polish is 'Bluebell for Instyle' by Nails Inc ;)
Much love,
Huh, interesting. I've been wondering about gel liners drying out since I recently bought one. I usually use liquid which doesn't have the same problem. Thanks for the tip! I'm surprised that microwaving it is the solution, it's almost too easy! I think when mine starts drying out I'll try adding an eye-drop or two and seeing what happens there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
I was surprised too, I was at first a wee bit skeptical of the whole microwave thing - but I wanted to try it there and then to sort my liner so just went for it!
DeleteEye drops are supposed to work great too, some people mix it up and some people have left it to work its way through the product itself. Though, tip! Don't use contact lens saline soloution, it supposedly doesn't work as well :) xx