Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner Review

Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner

Cue the violins. I have a sad story to tell. I can’t wear winged eyeliner. Okay, I can, but only if I want to run the risk of possibly having a nervous breakdown trying to put it on. I was cursed with a pair of eyelids that make it practically impossible to even apply eyeliner just the normal way. Thanks, Dad. In short, I have way too much eyelid going on, so it folds over itself any time I try to drag a pencil or a brush over it, resulting in a jagged line that is less than appealing. I have scoured all of the internet searching for people like me who have figured out solutions to this problem, but there are none. Just forums full of normal folks with normal eyelids who assume this handful of giant eye-lidded humans are probably just using the wrong brush or a product that is too dry. So here I am, yanking on my eyelashes, trying to put on eyeliner. Mad because I can’t do cat eyes.

When I read about the Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner for the first time, I was pretty excited. Could this possibly solve all of my cat eye woes? This was meant to be a game changer. It’s a gel eyeliner in pen form that gets right up to your lashes. It’s the first of its kind, and Benefit spent years working on it under lock and key. Obviously, there has been ton of hype about this product. I got a zillion emails telling me I NEEDED it from every online beauty store I’m subscribed to, and the displays at Ulta and Sephora were pretty hard to miss. I was lazy and missed all of my opportunities to get free samples or buy it before it hit the stores, but I finally wandered my way into Ulta and picked it up for $24.00.

Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner

The gel comes out of a slanted, flexible tip. Just twist the base once or twice, and you should have enough. I find that it’s necessary to wipe off the tip before use and between eyes to keep from making a mess with whatever product is dried out and crusted on the edges. This ensures a smoother line.

Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner Swatch

The gel is an extremely matte and black formula that has a soft consistency, but not so soft that I end up accidentally smearing it all over my face like I tend to do with liquid pen liners. It’s just enough to get it to come out of the pen smoothly. This pen definitely took some getting used to at first. I found it difficult to apply, but it got easier with a little practice. Still, I find I have a lot more control using a brush and a gel pot, especially when it comes to doing the little flick at the corner of my eye. The stamping method that is recommended really didn’t work for me. The quality of this gel is pretty impressive. I love the way it looks and it absolutely does not budge all day. There have been a lot of complaints about it being difficult to take off, but rubbing coconut oil over it makes it simple enough to remove. Overall, I feel this is a very nice eyeliner, but it the whole contraption has not even remotely solved my issues with doing winged eyeliner, which is pretty disappointing. It’s still as tedious and frustrating as ever, so I probably won’t use it very often unless I just decide to take the gel off with a brush and use it that way. If you are looking for something more portable or something that is less maintenance than a brush and pot, this could be useful. Or if you are just looking for something that is a true matte black, it’s perfect. Other than that, I don’t really feel it’s anything especially life-changing.

Here are a couple of ways I’ve worn the Push-Up Liner:

Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner on Face

Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner on Face