Victoria Beckham vs. Lisa Eldridge eye pencils

Victoria Beckham’s eye pencils have a reputation to stay on no matter what, and Lisa Eldridge is known for her stellar and thoughtful formulas. So let’s see how their eye pencils fare when in direct competition in the showdown: Victoria Beckham vs. Lisa Eldridge eye pencils!

I need a truly long-wearing eye pencil. I’ve not only hooded eyes, but a long history of nothing staying put on my lower waterline and lower lashline. I’ve had the best wear time with Sephora’s old 24h pencils before they reformulated them, and since then, I’ve been on a quest.

(Spoiler: none of the two pencils did stay on my waterline for longer than a few minutes, but that’s not unusual for me, so I didn’t rate it at all.)

Lisa Eldridge Seamless Glide Eye Pencil

‘Renaissance Gold is a blackened metallic gold with cool champagne pearl. The eyeliner of dreams. A luxurious, unbelievably silky smooth, long-wearing gel eye pencil with intense colour payoff. (…) budge-proof, waterproof and fade resistant finish that will last all day, with 16-hour proven wear.’

NET WT. 1.2g / 0.04 oz Made in Germany
€29

Lisa Eldridge Beauty

The brand

Lisa Eldridge grew her brand almost like an indie brand: with small drops and frequent relaunches. The whole line-up is still relatively small, although she recently branched out into skincare.

More Lisa Eldridge reviews: her book, matte lipstick and foundation, lip gloss, eye shadows, and highlighter

Line-up

The newly launched line of eye pencils is small: there’re three matte and three sparkly liners in classic, neutral colours.
‘Infused with soothing Chamomile Flower Extract’ made me laugh – ok, so my lashline will be soothed. Great!

3/5

Ordering process

I ordered during the launch of the liners, and it was absolutely hassle-free. What I always love about LE’s site is the inclusion of swatches on very different skintones and ages.

5/5

Shipping

The packages come from a warehouse in the Netherlands, so that after Brexit, there’re no additional fees. I have to pay a very reasonable 4€ shipping. Usually, it takes about four workdays to arrive.

4/5

Packaging (and extras)

I love that you can always order one sample card of four foundation shades for free with every order. I also got a skincare sample – very appreciated! The products always arrive safely, packaged in paper. The pencil itself comes in a paper box, and itself has a very elegant design in a matte black, with a simple stripe at the end indicating the colour of the pencil. The pencil itself has a very tight-fitting metal cap that protects it from drying out – none of those plastic drugstore pencil caps that fall off all the time!

No sharpener, though, not even build into the pencil.

4/5

Performance:

Application & blendability

Application is incredibly smooth. The pencil feels nearly wet and glides over skin, with a rich colour pay-off after just one pass. You can easily smudge and blend it, or even use it as a one-and-done shadow in a pinch. I tried that and didn’t like it a lot: it looks like a lot of shimmer particles over a weak base, like those satin eye shadows with glitter that Urban Decay used to do. The pencil takes absolutely ages to properly set, during which it transfers easily to everything.

I don’t know how they come up with colour descriptions at the House of Eldridge TM, though: this is a warm-toned taupe with golden shimmer particles that are quite pronounced: not quite glitter yet, but also not far away from it. It gives the liner its warmth.

3,5/5

Wear

My first wear test went south quickly: I wore the pencil over eye primer immediately when I fished it out of the post. It was a super humid, hot day, and then I watched a comedy, and cried tears of laughter. The liner didn’t stand a chance.

With a proper look (eyeshadow base, powder eyeshadow and concealer) it held up reasonably well for three hours. Better, actually, than I thought it would, given the emollient texture of the pencil. But then it wore off gently on my undereyes, without leaving dark streaks or glitter on my cheek bones. Pics show the fade after 7 hours.

Is it particularly long-wearing? Absolutely not. 16hrs? Please. Is it smudge- and water-proof? Ehhhhh – no. Wouldn’t the brand not have these ridiculous claims, I would feel more lenient with my rating.

3/5 (22,5)

Victoria Beckham Satin Kajal Liner

A highly-pigmented, ultra-creamy pencil with waterproof wear that lasts all day.

– Delivers rich, true colour payoff with a single stroke
– Glides on with ease and blends seamlessly
– Sets for smudge-free, waterproof, longwear staying power
– Infused with Vitamin E, hydrating pro-vitamin B5, and calming chamomile
– Sharpenable tip for precision application

Smoky Quartz is a molten mink with golden glimmer

NET WT. 1.2g / 0.04 oz Made in Germany
€30

Victoria Beckham Beauty

The brand

VB Beauty started as a fully-fledged beauty brand in 2018, one year before LE. It’s a supposedly ‘clean’ and ‘sustainable’ brand in luxe packaging and mostly neutral colours. It’s the epitome of ‘clean girl makeup’, and thus, not really interesting to me.

Line-up

Right now, the liners come in 15 shades in three different finishes (matte – shimmer – jewel). I’m a bit lost what differentiates shimmer from jewel, and the site doesn’t tell. Also, there’s a real lack of good swatches on different skintones.

Again, the (kinda) pretentious ingredient list made me laugh: chamomile extract, panthenol and Vitamin E will keep my lashline soothed and protected. What would I do without my VBB liner and its trusty antioxidant protection for my eyelids?!?!

4/5

Ordering process

The site ALSO doesn’t tell me that products are shipped from the US. The ordering in itself is very smooth.

5/5

Shipping

I’ve to admit that I was pushed to order with the promise of free shipping, which is usually 5€. I was really surprised to see that estimated shipping time was nearly two weeks as stated in the confirmation email, but then I realized the products were shipped from the US. I was surprised that VBB doesn’t have a warehouse in Europe. Still, the company takes care of taxes and fees, which is a big plus. Surprisingly, my package arrived after one week.

4/5

Packaging (and extras)

Wow, impressive: The package comes with a little linen bag for your goodies, a thank you card, and an extra sharpener. The cardboard packaging of the products feels very, very luxe. I was a bit sad that there weren’t any samples included: I’d have loved to get a sample sachet of her famous primer collab with Augustinus Bader. Also, the sharpener doesn’t sharpen. At all. Fail.

The pencil itself comes with a little smudger at the one end, and a seriously tight-fitting cap protecting the pencil from drying out: so tight, actually, that I struggled when I wanted to open it for the first time.

3/5

Performance:

Application & Blendability

This is a more conventional formula that actually feels like a pencil. For full opacity, you might need to do a few strokes. It’s easily smudgeable for some time, but then, it sets in place. I might not be tempted by the formula to smear it over my whole eye, but it yields a great result as a simple liner.

The colour is very similar to Renaissance Gold: a warm taupe, but the shimmer particles seem a tad smaller and cooler. If you have one, you don’t need the other.

4/5

 Wear

This one performed like a good pencil should in my experience, and it does that no different than some other good pencils perform on me. It stayed more or less pristine for two or three hours, and then gently diffused on my skin until only a shadow of colour and shimmer remained on my lower lid, while it stayed nearly perfect on my upper lashline until I removed it after nine hours. It wore off patchier than LE’s pencil, though, and tended to ‘pool’ in the corners of my eyes.

It’s on par with my experience of other higher end brands and I can’t fault it. Does it perform as advertised? No.

3,5/5

THE WINNER!

VBB wins with 23.5 vs Lisa Eldridge with 22.5 points. I find it very hard to pick a favorite here: both pencils look and perform really similarly. If you like a very emollient, soft formula, Lisa Eldridge is for you. (Take care, those super soft pencils dry out quickly.) If you want a variety of shades and textures, Victoria Beckham is for you. Is one of them a must-have?! Absolutely not.

Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.