Bare Escentuals BUXOM Smoky Eye Stick — Launching Next Month!

If you ogled at the vast array of holiday gift sets from Bare Escentuals, you were likely seduced by the BE BUXOM Samantha Smoky Eye 4-piece collection, which features a Big & Healthy Lip Polish in Samantha (a sultry nude hue), a BUXOM Smoky Eye Brush to smudge and manipulate creamy liner along the lash line and lids, a tube of BUXOM Lash Mascara in Blackest Black, and — drum roll, please! — the new BUXOM Smoky Eye Stick in Smokin’ Pistol (a coal black hue). The Smooth Operator in this detective-themed set, then, was the chunky BUXOM Smoky Eye Stick, a retractable shadow-liner hybrid with a slightly creamy consistency.

And here’s the best news: not only will the BUXOM Smoky Eye Stick in Smokin’ Pistol be sold individually, but it will be available in seven additional sumptuous shades come February. Each retractable Smoky Eye Stick is packaged in a sleek silver-colored tube bearing the 3D BUXOM logo and features a removable tip along the bottom that indicates the shade of the liner within the tube. When you remove the bottom tip, you’ll find a sharpener tucked inside (sneaky, right?) so you can keep the liner’s tip as pointed as you’d like.

The BUXOM Smoky Eye Sticks glide on with ease, so that you can line your upper lashes without irritating the delicate skin along the lids, plus you can make the look a bit more subtle by using the BE Buxom Smoky Eye Brush to smudge the color. Because the liner pencils are so thick, however, I wouldn’t suggest using them to line the lower lashes — unless, that is, you’re going for a theatrical effect. If you want the liner to operate as more of a creamy shadow, you can use the BUXOM Smoky Eye Brush to diffuse the color and blend along lids.

At first, I was hesitant to use the liner since my experience with chunky eye pencils has been that they tend to smudge, leaving a nasty arch of color residue along the brow bone,  the NARS  Soft Touch Eyeshadow Pencil being a prime example of this unfortunate phenomenon. To my surprise, however, the BUXOM Smoky Eye Pencil did stay in place — even without applying primer to the lid surface or mattifying the skin’s natural oils with a sweep of eye shadow or powder. It’s also waterproof, so don’t expect a little tear in your eye to ruin your smoky eye look.

As mentioned, the BUXOM Smoky Eye Sticks will be available in eight shades:

• Smokin’ Pistol: a tar-like coal black
• Two-By-Four: a sooty black-brown
• Brass Knuckles: a brass-y maroon with a metallic sheen
• Nunchucks: a midnight sapphire blue with a hint of silver and gunmetal sparkle
• Silver Sword: a creamy light charcoal
• Ice Pick: a silvery, sparkle-saturated black color reminiscent of an asphalt road illuminated by a street lamp at twilight
• Bow & Arrow: a blackened, Green Pay Packers-esque shade of green
• 5″ Stiletto: a deep, bruised purple plum with a dash of blackened reddish sparkle

Below, you can check out what the Brass Knuckles, Nunchucks, Silver Sword, Ice Pick, Bow & Arrow, and 5″ Stiletto shades look like on the skin. I’m in love with the Brass Knuckles and Nunchucks colors, and the Ice Pick shade is the perfect way to put a finishing touch to a dramatic smoky eye.

Below, you’ll find more images of these shades.

The photo below shows the shades in a well-lit environment, whereas the photo beneath it illustrates what the colors look like in more of a shadowy atmosphere. As you can see, then, the sheen is augmented when white light hits these colors, making them pop a bit more.

Bare Escentuals Smoky Eye Stick, $18 each. Available at Sephora stores, Sephora.com, and BareEscentuals.com in February 2011.