MAC Kohl Power

MAC Kohl Power Review: It Sticks!

I applied MAC's Kohl Power in Mystery, a blackened teal, at 2:30 in the morning before going to the Labor and Delivery ward. Yep, I was having a baby but I stopped to put on eyeliner first. What better opportunity to see if a product really stands the test of time and stress than when you're going through labor, delivery, and the rest of a long day of learning how to be a parent?

What It Claims to Do

MAC's new pencil liner is a hybrid of their Eye Kohl liners and their long-lasting Power Point liner. That means it promises to go on as smoothly as a kohl and smudge as much as you'd like initially. Once it's set, it's supposed to stay on for hours and hours. It also claims to go on with intense color and a give a slightly smoky look (for even smokier looks, smudge more).

How I Applied It

I applied MAC Kohl Power in Mystery over one of MAC's new Paint Pots (Bare Study, a shimmery champagne color that can be used as an eye shadow or an eye shadow base). I skimped on the shadow itself since it was, after all, 2:30 AM and the focus of my look was the liner. I added a bit of Cover Girl's Tapestry Taupe shadow in the crease and outer "vee."

The eyeliner itself went onto my top lid without any necessary warming up on my hand. It was soft and smooth, just as it promised. It didn't tug on my lids at all as I slid it across from the inner corner to the outer corner of my top lid and flipped it up a bit at the corner. I put it on the lower waterline as well, since liners never last there for me. Once I put on mascara, my eyes were done and I was ready to go.

The Wear

I got to the hospital around 3:30 and after checking in, verifying that I was, in fact, in labor, and getting hooked up to an IV, I was told to walk the halls for forty-five minutes. Normally, a rapid forty-five minute walk would wipe away most of my liner. In this case, the halls were humid, I was in pain, and let's face it, I let myself get pretty darn out of shape over the past nine months so pacing the hallways was more strenuous than usual.

When I got back into the room, I was a bundle of nerves, anticipation, and I needed pain medication. My husband commented, "The eyeliner's still there, Honey!" It had smudged off of the waterline a little, but the top lid was still going strong. It had already broken the record time for any liner staying put on that part of my lid. By the time the baby was born a little after 1:00 PM, the waterline application was a fond memory but the liner on the upper lid was still going strong.

And at 10:30 PM when I finally got ready to get settled into bed? STILL there. This one's a keeper. It still looked freshly applied, so much so that I felt guilty taking it off.

Available Colors

From the Smoke Signals collection (September 2007):

• Orpheus—black with olive undertones

• Raven—black with plum/red undertones

From the Blue Storm collection (September 2007):

• Mystery—black with teal undertones

• Feline—super rich black

From the Alexander McQueen collection (October 2007):

• Feline (re-release)—rich black

• Black Karat—black with gold undertones

• Jealous—black with green undertones

All of the Kohl Powers except for Feline are black with "pearl" undertones that show up when the light hits. They look mostly black from a distance but are beautiful on, each unique enough to own the whole set.

Unexpected Feedback

Almost every nurse and midwife I ran into during the course of the day had to comment on my "pretty makeup." Since the eyeliner was the main part of the look, I have to believe that's what drew in the compliments. They were all impressed that it lasted that long, too!

My Feedback

Would I buy again? Absolutely—all colors.