Phantastic Physicians Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum: Review

For years, I’ve been using the Physicians Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum.  Initially, it caught my eye because it boasted a Japanese formula, so I figured it had a better chance of being smudgeproof.  It also boasts of having serum properties to enhance eyelash health (implying that it will make lashes longer).  Overall, even though it’s not totally smudgeproof, it’s a product that I recommend and repurchase often.

It comes in a sleek silver pen and has a brush tip that tapers to an extremely fine point.  The brush can do fine and medium lines easily yet is thick enough that you can build up a thick line quickly.  The liner applies very smoothly and is pigmented.  (Shake well before use to make sure the liquid is evenly mixed.)

I’ve tried all the colors.  Deep Brown (featured in this post) is a deep black-brown and only stands out as brown when compared side-by-side to black eyeliner.  Ultra Black is jet black with a shiny finish.  Black is a matte soft black.  There’s also a clear serum version, but I never used it regularly enough to learn whether it works.  (I use another product to grow my lashes longer, but that’s for another post.)  Take the lash-boosting claims with a grain of salt.  After regular use of the colored eyeliners, I did not notice any change to my eyelashes.

After the Blinc eyeliner (reviewed here), the Physicians Formula eyeliner lasts the longest on me without smudging or fading.  It will smudge in very oily or sweaty conditions though.  It’s also unpredictable sometimes.  Most days, it lasts the whole day.  But some days, it starts to smear, especially on the inner corner, after 6 or 7 hours.  In fact, it was doing that so often that at one point I stopped applying the liner to the inner third of my lash line.  And lately, it’s been fine.  But since this problem is sporadic and I don’t recall it happening when I first began using this eyeliner, it’s entirely possible that something else is at fault (e.g., eye primer, formula differences between colors or over time, formula getting old).

Ultimately, I highly recommend this eyeliner.  I’ve tried other pen eyeliners (such as Lorac Front of the Line PRO, Kat Von D Tattoo Eyeliner, and Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner) and they’ve all smeared within a few hours.  The Physicians Formula outlasts them all.