Sale Alert: Josie Maran Mini Argan Liner Pencils

Josie Maran products have better ingredients than a lot of conventional brands, but the company does a lot of greenwashing and their products are rarely what I consider completely natural.  Nonetheless, I tend to keep one eye on the line for the occasional product with fully clean ingredients.  The eye liner pencils fit the bill for me, so when I noticed a set of 5 Mini Argan Liner Pencils marked down to $9 a few weeks ago, my curiosity was piqued and I quickly placed an order.  While I haven't had the pencils long, I didn't want to delay writing about them, in case anyone else wanted to jump on the sale, which is still ongoing as of the time I'm posting this.



The Argan Liner Pencils are, as the name suggests, formulated with argan oil, but what interested me even more is that they contain no palm oil.  I did an entire post on limiting my consumption of palm oil, and while I've basically done away with it in my skin and body care products, it seems impossible to completely eliminate it in makeup, while still using natural products.  So, finding makeup products like this - that are both natural and palm oil free - is always exciting.  

The set comes with five mini pencils: your basic black and brown, plus a mostly matte purple, a metallic green, and a metallic antique gold.  The pencils look pretty small, but I know it takes me just shy of forever to actually use up an entire liner, so I'm okay with that.  Ounce-for-ounce each pencil is a little more than half the size of a standard liner pencil.  

After using them, I can easily divide the colors into two groups in terms of feel and pigmentation.  None of them are the absolute creamiest pencils, but Violet (purple) and Tropical (green) are noticeably firmer than the other three.  These two colors apply a little sheerer and need to be gone over a few times to get full pigmentation and opacity.  Treasure (antique gold), Chocolate (brown) and Black Raven (black) are a little softer and apply fine on the first pass.  

(L to R) Violet, Tropical, Treasure, Chocolate, Black Raven
The Bottom Line
I'm not sure I'd rush out to buy the set for the original $30, but I definitely think it's well worth the $9 price tag on sale!  I'm especially pleased with the three colors as they're unique to anything else in my stash, and black and brown liners always come in handy, so I'm happy to have those too.  Two of the pencils are a little firm, but they're all very workable, so I know I'll be getting my use out of the entire set.  

Have you tried anything from Josie Maran?


7 comments

  1. Wow, what a great deal! How long-lasting are these?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried them in the waterline, but on the upper/lower lash line, they last all day! I never really have problems with liners fading on me though, so I may not be the best judge of that...

      Delete
  2. ahhh! I am constantly on the search for a natural teal eyeliner and the others are gorgeous too :) - jumped on this! thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome! I hope you like them as much as I do :)

      Delete
  3. I love that treasure color, would go so nicely with my neutral style!:)

    Oly | TLV Birdie Blog
    http://tlvbirdie.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's one of my favorites! I wear a lot of neutrals too, so I love that it's neutral, while still being a little more exciting than your standard browns :)

      Delete
  4. I find the shades really original. I've never tried Josie Maran, because her products are not available in Europe but like you said, I'd have to check the ones with the cleanest ingredients. I also try to reduce palm oil in my cosmetics (since I avoid it completely in food) but it's not always easy, because it is quite frequent in beauty products :) xx

    ReplyDelete