Top 10 Products of 2011: Lakme Nine to Five Forever Silk Eyeliner in... Well ALL of the Shades

I have a soft corner for Lakme. It does a desi girl's make-up loving soul good to see desi make-up brands. And even if I rant until I am foaming at the mouth because of their abysmal selection of foundation shades (the whole population of India seems to be categorized in all of four shades), I always check out their make-up when I'm in India. I had Lakme's  Nine to Five Forever Silk Eyeliner in Gypsy Green in my make-up travel tote and never looked at it until, well late in December last year. And it instantly made its way to my Top 10 Products posts.

Don't think less of me for typing this but "Oh My GAWD. LIKE, OHMIGOD!" This stuff blows Make-up Forever and Urban Decay out of the water, and Lakme is desi. The pencil eyeliner comes in one of those self-sharpening plastic pens, pretty standard. The application is so smooth, and buttery. After I put it on, I thought there was no way it would last, not with a formula this smooth and non-tugging. But then life is full of little surprises. Lakme's Forever Silk Eyeliner needs about 20-30 seconds to set, but once it does it stays on. Rubbing it repeatedly doesn't even make it budge. It literally comes off only when you take it off with make-up remover or face wash. It lasts really long on my waterline as well, much longer than Make-up Forever or Urban Decay. With the latter two, I find that their pencil eyeliners put up a valiant fight but do not come close in application, smoothness, and wear.

The colour I got, Gypsy Green, is a muted, very dark olive with slight gold  shimmer. It is very sophisticated and is in the same family as Clinique's Eqyptian creamshaper. I believe there are five or six shades available in this range (Lakme doesn't list the shades on their web site). I'm also not sure about pricing as I got this a while back (lakme doesn't also list it on their web site).

If you're like me and love to make pilgrimages to make-up counters in every country you set foot in, do check out Lakme's eyeliners. I'm actually going to get some more as they can't be beat.