08.04.08
Pencil Me In eyeliners are formulated with antioxidants, vitamins and botanicals.
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The Eyes Have It
Pencil Me In eye pencils feature skin soothing botanicals and other ingredients to nourish delicate eye-area skin.
By Joanna Cosgrove
Online Editor
With more than 20 years of cosmetics industry experience in personalizing private label lines for several major companies, Linda Eisner saw an opportunity to create something truly new and original. Her 30-shade, ultra-colorful Pencil Me In Healthy Eyeliner Pencils aren’t a typical range of eyeliners. Each pencil in this premium range is formulated with antioxidants, vitamins and botanicals to help to protect the eye area from daily exposure to destructive elements. Ingredients include green tea leaf extract, pine bark extract, grape seed extract, lecithin, shea butter, cacao butter and jojoba oil. The color is long-lasting and the application is silky smooth so there is no tugging the skin around the eyes.
Mrs. Eisner’s penchant for eye pencils can be traced back to when she was director of sales for a NY-based cosmetic pencil manufacturer. When the company suddenly closed its doors she started her own private label company, Quality Pencils Inc. While she was making pencils for other companies, she said she yearned to own her own company, a goal the eventually came to fruition with Pencil Me In, located in Oceanside, NY.
Her unique pencils were formulated on the principle that nutrients can be absorbed in to the body through the delicate eye tissue.
“There are only two parts of the body that can up take nutrients and chemicals more quickly than any other part of the body…the eyes and the groin area have the ability to absorb nutrients and/or chemicals much more quickly than other parts of the body,” explained Mrs. Eisner. “Clinical data has revealed that vitamins and antioxidants added to cosmetic products that are used in the eye area help to keep the delicate tissue around the eye area soft and smooth.”
The formulas contain a broad spectrum of antioxidant ingredients. According to the company, green tea leaf extract “promotes good health and longevity;” pine bark extract was used for its ability to “inhibit the growth of cancer cells;” and vitamin C and grape seed extract were key for their free radical scavenging abilities.
The pencil’s skin nurturing ingredients include skin-conditioning vitamin E and shea butter for its ability to “renew, repair and protect the skin,” as well as for “balance, elasticity and tone.” Aloe vera provides “an essential source of water that is both soothing and healing and ideal for sensitive eyes.” Vitamin A was chosen for its reputation as “an essential skin nutrient necessary for healthy skin maintenance and repair.” Similarly, vitamin B2 (or, riboflavin) was used for its role in “normal reproduction, growth, repair and development of eye tissue.”
Because products with such a high natural ingredient content don’t innately have a very long shelf life, the pencils do employ a preservative system to maintain freshness.
“Using no preservatives gives the shelf life of one year or less which is not feasible considering the amount of pencils produced at one time,” she said. “When pencils are stored in a dark cool place, the shelf life is approximately two years.”
The formulas that serve as the base of her 30-shade range took about two years to perfect. Mrs. Eisner was already working with a reputable pencil manufacturer and approached them with her idea for a healthy and natural formulation.
“I asked them to modify our then-current luxurious formula and add specific vitamins and antioxidants to it,” she said. “Once the formula was perfected, it took months to create the right shades. All the colors were tweaked to be different, not the ordinary eyeliner shades currently in the marketplace.”
All of the 30 resulting heavily pigmented glitter and cream-colored shades were custom created for long-lasting wear and to boost ever-changing color styles.
“The shades range from toasty browns and smoky grays to vivid purple to frosted shades of blue and green to metallic bronze to subtle glitter,” she said. “There are sensational choices for people of all races, genders and skin tones. The points are hard enough so they don’t break during application and soft enough that the color glides on without pulling or tugging the delicate skin.”
The pencils also feature a convenient pencil sharpener built into the cap.
Pencil Me In Healthy Eyeliners bear a retail price of $6.99 per pencil. They are currently sold in upscale salons, spas and specialty stores such as Natural Body, a health conscious retail store chain, and through Coastal Scents, a distributor in Florida. The products are also sold online on the company’s website, www.pencilmeincosmetics.com.