Alexandra Anele has put a lot of eye makeup through its paces. She approved 27 of the 37 products she reviewed, gave 3 mixed takes, and skipped 7. Two products stood out enough to earn her top spot: NYX Lift & Snatch! Brow Tint Pen and Lisa Eldridge Liquid Silk Eyeshadows. That is a strong record, and her takes are specific enough to be genuinely useful.
What does Alexandra Anele recommend in eye makeup?
When Alexandra approves a mascara, it tends to do one thing well: hold a curl without weighing lashes down. She praised the Clio Mascara for being waterproof and curl-holding, and said the L'Oreal Mascara was the blackest black she had tried and stayed put without feeling heavy. She likes building up coverage in layers, so mascaras that let her do that, rather than dumping product all at once, tend to land well with her. Beyond mascaras, she lit up over the Lisa Eldridge Liquid Silk Eyeshadows, raving about how beautifully they blended and that, unlike a lot of cream eyeshadows, you can actually build on top of them without the formula thickening up and going patchy. She also called the Sweed Lash Serum life-changing for lash growth, which is about as strong an endorsement as she gives.
In her words
"Thanks to the Sweed Lash Serum, I have these long lashes now. Holy crap, I can't stop talking about it because it's just changed my life. If you're trying to grow your lashes, it's literally life-changing, I can't believe it."
"Beautiful color. Watch this. Have you ever seen anything blend out so beautifully? Like a cream eyeshadow blending out into like the most beautiful, like sheer wash of even stunning gunmetal. [...] And you can also build on top of it. It's not like those [...] cream eyeshadows or eye paints that just thicken up and then you can't build on top of it. Look at [...] what is happening on my hand. It's so beautiful. I'm obsessed with it. [...] They're so gorgeous. [...] This was the color that really spoke to me when I first tried it because it's just not your typical shade. When I look at the pearl it looks like there's little bits of lavender pearl in there which just gives it this something a little bit different. It's not like a strictly [...] dark gray black base and then [...] a silver pearl. [...] And then the matte ones are just as beautiful."
"I'm going with Clio Mascara. Has Clio ever done us wrong? No, this mascara absolutely not, it's super waterproof, long, curling, so good it holds the curl, it defines your lashes. This is always [...] my base mascara, always. So waterproof, [...] I'm going in like quite a bit, I'm not dipping it back into the tube though. [...] That's typically what I like to do, a waterproof light coat and then build up definition with a thickening mascara."
"I've been loving this new L'Oreal mascara I got. This is the blackest black I think, love it, it's so good. [...] It's not waterproof but it stays on and it really holds your lashes."
"I'm going to use the Buxom [...] Lash Extension Lift mascara. [...] I'm going to coat all the lashes, but as I get to the outer part, I'm going to pull them to the side to make them kind of like spiky and angled, which just looks kind of [...] cool with this more angled look."
"This is Robert Welsh's palette with Blend Bunny, the Divination Palette. You have two really beautiful options here, one is more of a duo chrome, but this shade right here is really, really beautiful and would look really stunning on deeper skin tones."
How many eye makeup products has Alexandra Anele reviewed?
Alexandra Anele has reviewed 37 eye makeup products, for a Guru Score of 73%. 27 approved, 3 mixed, and 7 skipped.
What has Alexandra Anele skipped in eye makeup?
The skips mostly came down to formula feel and application problems. She found the Huda Beauty One Coat Wow Mascara too heavy and wet, and said anyone whose lashes lose their curl easily should avoid it. The Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Mascara got a similar verdict: the wand was too big and fluffy for her lashes, and she found it clumpy. The Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Matte Liquid Liner kept drying out mid-use, which made application frustrating. And the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze did not keep her brows in place, full stop. Across all four, the pattern is the same: she skipped products that looked good on paper but failed on actual wear.
"I currently use Benefit Precisely My Brow, Benefit Gimme Brow, Benefit Brow Setter, and Anastasia Brow Freeze. Nothing keeps them in place, girl."
"The mascara is a no for me. I don't like the wand. It's too big and fluffy. [...] If you have really skinny lashes that have a lot of length and you're looking for volume, it seems to provide volume, but on my lashes, it just kind of got clumpy. I do like that it's super black. The brown color is fine. [...] But I just don't like it. [...] It gave me a very messy application on my lower lash line. I have much better mascaras that I use. It's definitely a pass for me on the mascara."
"It's a heavy formula, it's very wet, and when I put it on my lashes, a lot goes down. So it is very thickening, but it's extremely heavy and wet. If you are like me and you have a problem with your lashes falling flat, not holding a curl, or just being weighed down, you're not going to like this at all. If you already have curly lashes or you don't have a problem with mascaras weighing your lashes down, it is very thickening, so if you have really skinny lashes and you want extra volume, it might be worth looking into. But I just know that it does not work for me at all."
"I'm not a fan. It felt like it kept drying out really quickly. I [...] had to keep flipping it upside down and shaking it out because it kept drying out very quickly. [...] I do think I've used it in the past and it was fine, so maybe I got a dud, I don't know."
What should you take from Alexandra Anele's picks?
Alexandra Anele is a reliable guide for eye makeup because she is direct about what works and why. Her approved list is long and varied, but her skips are just as informative. If a mascara makes your lashes heavy or a liner dries out, she will say so plainly. Her two named winners, NYX Lift & Snatch! Brow Tint Pen and Lisa Eldridge Liquid Silk Eyeshadows, are worth a close look if you want to start with her strongest recommendations. Her Guru Score here is 73%.
Watch Alexandra Anele say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- NYX Lift & Snatch! Brow Tint PenNamed a winnerWatch at 5:45
- Lisa Eldridge Liquid Silk EyeshadowsNamed a winnerWatch at 9:06
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow FreezeSkipped itWatch at 16:29
- Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes MascaraSkipped itWatch at 37:13
- Huda Beauty One Coat Wow MascaraSkipped itWatch at 2:00
- Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Matte Liquid LinerSkipped itWatch at 37:05
- Hung Vanngo Passionate Purple Eyeshadow PaletteSkipped itWatch at 5:19
- NYX Micro Brow PencilSkipped itWatch at 9:36
- Tower 28 MakeWaves MascaraSkipped itWatch at 10:40
- Sweed Lash SerumRated itWatch at 10:36
- Clio MascaraRated itWatch at 21:36
- L'Oreal MascaraRated itWatch at 16:23
- Buxom Lash Extension Lift MascaraRated itWatch at 117:51
- Blend Bunny Divination PaletteRated itWatch at 47:36
- Danessa Myricks Eyeshadow PaletteRated itWatch at 0:23
- Makeup by Mario Ethereal Eyes Moonlight PaletteRated itWatch at 45:55
- ColourPop Stone Cold Fox paletteRated itWatch at 17:43
- ColourPop EyelinerRated itWatch at 6:31
- Doll 10 Give 'Em LashRated itWatch at 23:50
- Charlotte Tilbury PaletteRated itWatch at 13:52
- Maybelline Colossal Bubble MascaraRated itWatch at 53:06
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow WizRated itWatch at 25:10
- Lisa Eldridge EyelinerRated itWatch at 17:52
- Ardell Lash triosRated itWatch at 17:19
About this expert
See everything Alexandra Anele has reviewed
Related guides
This guide reflects what Alexandra Anele said across their videos about 37 products in eye makeup, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The Guru Score is our read on how warmly they talk about them. It is general information, not medical advice.