Make Up For Ever: MUFE Aqua eye Liner review, swatches, dupes photos

If you love liquid eyeliner, you NEED the Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner in your life - they're the best! There are 15 shades in MUFE Aqua Liner's entire range, of which I own 10, am completely out of two (#8 and #9) and can't find two (#12 and #5) as usual in my messy vanity.
I'm swatching shades #3 and 4, #6 and 7 and #10 and 11 of MUFE Aqua Liner. These are waterproof, high-precision, smudge-proof and super-easy to apply and come in colours as diverse as pink and orange and as wearable as deep brown and deep blue. There is something here for everyone.
I bought my first MUFE Aqua Liner - the red one - in 2011 and have been buying replacements each time I travel. Some of these are at their product-journey's end and they are on my wishlist for my December trip.

Packaging of the MUFE Aqua Liner

You've got to love the thin pens which are spill-proof. You can see the colour on the tube. MUFE Aqua liners come only with shade numbers, no shade names, so I've made up my own, which MUFE is free to use :D These are made in Germany, contain 1.7ml product, and you don't have to store them upside down or anything.

Applicator of MUFE Aqua Liner

The applicator is a tapered foam brush that is surprisingly soft. I must say that none of them has fallen off or been damaged in any way despite rough use - even though the product has got over. My problem with Bourjois Clubbing Liner is, great product, horrible brush that sheds inside the tube. Nothing of the kind with the Aqua Liners. You get just the right amount of product for one eyelid on the brush. And it gives an incredibly thin or a thicker line, depending on how you hold it.

Formula of MUFE Aqua Liner

Very pigmented - but surprisingly thin. Thinner than Bourjois Clubbing. Thinner than Too Faced. But more intensely pigmented than those. Not watery, runny thin, but not the thick, gloopy kind either. The formula of the Sephora eyeliners (swatch-fest another time) is closest to these, though Sephora's formula is thicker. This is one stroke each, brush at a thicker angle, indoors with flash.

Look and feel of MUFE Aqua Liner  

Some of these are rather shimmery shades. There's a story behind the red one. In 2010, when I was newer to makeup and falling in love with coloured eyeliner, I spent the whole of October hunting every Sephora, Macy's and Nordstrom outlet in Seattle and Washington, D.C., for red eyeliner. Every SA I spoke to thought it was a great idea for Hallowe'en. I finally ended up with a red Aqua pencil and wasn't too pleased. MUFE launched the Aqua liquid liners soon after and I picked up quite a few. The red liner can be worn subtly enough if I strictly avoid eyeshadow and red lipstick with it.

Staying power of MUFE Aqua Liner 

There's insanely good staying power here. More than Sephora. More than Too Faced. More than M.A.C. More than Bourjois. More than Max Factor. More than... hold your breath - Lancome. Won't move until you remove it. And I have oily eyelids. On the other hand, it's quite easy to remove, not scary-hanger-on. All it takes for me is a wet wipe followed with Cetaphil Cleansing Lotion. These swatches (to the right) are in natural light.

Dupes for MUFE Aqua Liner

Very similar packaging is sported by M.A.C.'s Superslick Liquid Eyeliner and Max Factor Colour X-Pert Waterproof Eyeliner. Even the rounded top is similar, as also the size and brush. M.A.C.'s entire tube sports the same colour while MF goes in for the customary "X" logo.

 

The differences lie in:

1.  Formula
2.  Staying power and 
3. Color range.

Although the applicators in all three look very similar, M.A.C. and Max Factor are less soft and more frizzy. Bouncy, if you like. The formula is less runny. Equally sparkly. In the pigmentation department, the MUFE Aqua Liners pip the M.A.C. and Max Factor ones by a margin. This is because the latter two are thicker in formula whereas MUFE Aqua Liners don't have the thicker and the less-pigmented, thinner parts that you see in the comparative swatches below.
The horizontal swatches are those of dupes. There is a reasonably close dupe for MUFE Aqua Liner #3 (which I call Olive Green) in the form of M.A.C. Superslick in Treat Me Nice (left extreme. MUFE is vertical, M.A.C. is horizontal). However, M.A.C. is more sparkly, thicker and less pigmented.

There are two Max Factor dupes - Metallic Turquoise and Metallic Lilac - for MUFE Aqua Liners #6 and #7 respectively, on the extreme right. Again, the Max Factors apply thicker and less uniformly. I didn't find much to choose between M.A.C. and Max Factor as the formula, staying power and pigmentation were similar. I own a few other M.A.C. Superslick eyeliners (you can see Pure Show - the yellow gold tube - in some of the pictures above) but didn't find dupes for the Aqua Liners.

I'm getting more MUFE Aqua Liners in December from Sephora. You know how some of those liners give you a bit of a burning/sore sensation when applied? Not here, they don't. Believe me, if you are a liquid eyeliner person, you will fall in love with MUFE Aqua Liners. I'll swatch more from my eyeliner stash soon!