Estee Lauder DoubleWear Stay in Place Eye Pencil & Shadow Creme

I wrote a feature for the Evening Herald a while ago about longwear makeup, and as the owner of Saharan skin, I'll have to fess up here and say I can't really see the appeal, meself. But if you're a person who's driven demented by reapplication or you've got oily skin that makeup slides off of, then it's a whole other story.

A product that's hugely beloved of sebum-prone gals and anyone with imperfections they'd like to conceal is Estee Lauder's DoubleWear foundation. This stuff is the makeup equivalent of a cockroach - it ain't goin' nowhere without a lot of trouble, and that's why it's so brilliant for people who despair at their lack of base come 11am.

Recently the company has extended the DoubleWear line - it was joined by a light version of the original foundation and there's also mascara, concealer and lip products. Even newer are Stay in Place Eye Pencil and Stay in Place ShadowCreme, eye products with built-in longevity. 15 hours is the claim, and while I'd seriously try to avoid wearing makeup for that length of time, this stuff does stay put.

Both the liners and cremes are pretty versatile too - if you keep the pencil sharp, with a bit of practice you can create decent flicky eyes with it, or smudge for a softer look.  ShadowCremes can be used as a wash of colour;  built to a deeper intensity; used with a brush as a cream liner or to act as a key or primer for powder shadow - the nude version is particularly good for this, while the darker ones are a brilliant smokey eye base.

Value-for-money-wise, you'll get a harder working result from the ShadowCremes, which are a decent size, cost €20 and come in ten shades. Pencils come in seven shades and will set you back €24.50.