Exactly the Same...Except Different

I have a friend who is the makeup Anti-Me.

By this I mean that she has the exact opposite coloring from me. I am pale, rosy and blonde with light eyes, and she has dark brown hair and eyes, in addition to olive skin.

She is also tall and wears heels, which makes me look like a member of the Lollipop Guild when I stand next to her in flats, but I digress.

Therefore, every cosmetic color that looks good on her makes me look like death warmed over or like I am about to join the circus. We love to shop for makeup, and often use the same products in different shades. We get a big laugh out of that. We are also huge nerds.

But there is one color that resides in both our makeup bags. Oh, yeah, FYI, she has a perfectly neat and gleaming all-white bathroom where cosmetics are stored alphabetically, whereas mine are relegated to an old makeup bag on top of my dresser. See what I'm saying? The Anti-Me.

Vincent Longo's Eyeliner in Silvertaupe.

















We figured this out by accident once at the Barney's in LA. Anti-Me brought me there because she was obsessed with the Vincent Longo foundation. Upon trying it out, the makeup artist also used a pencil as an eyeliner and to fill in my brows. I was quite taken with this product (apparently I also was British, soon I will start saying that I "fancy" things) and immediately added it to my growing heap of purchasables.

But Anti-Me was looking at it curiously. She then fished around in her purse and produced the same pencil, saying that she bought it the week before. The makeup artist recognized her, that's when you know you have an addiction, by the way. She looked at the artist and said, "But you used it as a lip liner on me!"

Apparently, the pencils do double as both eye, lip and brow pencils (okay, triple). I tried it on my lips later that day as an experiment and I looked like I had just visited the mortician. See? The Anti-Me.

Anyways, I have continued to use the pencil as a perfect everyday neutral eyeliner, both by itself or topped with a variety of brownish eyeshadows. But if you run towards the Anti-Me colors, maybe try it as a lip liner.

Oh, we also never went for the same guys. It's a very symbiotic relationship.

I've joined in on the Great Eyeliner Hunt, started by JilBean. Look for more reviews of eyeliners to come, or check out an old one of mine on the Gel Eyeliner by Bobbi Brown.

photos courtesy of Jilbean and Sephora.com