So, last night was the Sixth, and final, season premiere of "Lost". And, as usual, the question of whether Richard Alpert, played devastatingly well by Nestor Carbonell, wears eyeliner or not. To the point that it was suggested that Richard is Egyptian, referring to the hieroglyphs on the show, and that he smudged his eyes with kohl. (*Intriguing thought, right?) Turns out, Richard's eyeliner is quite the puzzler, as more than 39,900 results (*as of this morning) for the seach Richard Alpert eyeliner. Well, thanks to the fab beauty blogger, Amber, from Beauty Blogging Junkie, we have the DEFINITIVE answer. She had a chance to chat with the Makeup Department Supervisor, Emily Katz, for the show and ask her that very question:

Beauty Blogging Junkie: Spill: what eyeliner IS Eyeliner Richard, a.k.a. Richard Alpert who is played by Nestor Carbonell wearing? Emily Katz: Nestor Carbonell who plays Richard Alpert has no makeup on his eyes! He is of Cuban descent and is naturally blessed with the thickest set of lashes I have ever seen in my career. Women should envy him. It's truly unbelievable; we have to try to diminish them ! And yet, he is the NICEST man as well.

And with that, I leave you with a coupla things. 1) A picture of Nestor as Batmanuel in "The Tick and 2) The delicious rumor that JJ Abrams has picked Nestor to play Kahn in the Star Trek reboot sequel. Of course, at this point it is strictly a Rumor, with a Capital R, but I'm pretty sure I could buy Nestor as Khan, just as easily as I *know* he could convince me to buy a car with "fine Corinthian leather". P.S. I lied - I had to share this vid from Comic-Con 2009 showing behind the scenes look at Nestor getting ready for the "Lost" panel:

Tail end of last year I heard about kohl being used as an eyeliner in commercial products, specifically from Guerlain . So, I went and checked them out and passed as soon as I saw the $34 price tag, esp since I had no idea how to use it. (*Loose powder is not my friend.)

Luckily, I went to Walgreen's and came across the L'oreal HiP Kohl Eyeliner, and it was only $11.99 - big diff from the $34 for the Guerlain. I figured it was worth that to try and see what all the raves for kohl were all about. First I needed to learn what to do with it, as you *can* use it to line your lids, but it tends to drop powder everywhere and not really have much staying power. However, if you use it on the waterlines, it can make a difference in making your eyes pop for a night out.

I turned to youtube for a tutorial on how to apply the Kohl in a way called "tightlining", where you line your upper water line, and you can line your lower water line at the same time, too:

(*Yes, I know she is demo'ing with the Guerlain, but it's the same process as the HiP has the same type applicator wand).

With this demo, I was able to apply it first try. I thought it was beginners luck, but I have been able to do it sucessfully since, so it really was helpful to see someone else apply it first.

Now, I have been using the Burgundy color the longest, but I have also tried the Navy and Gold now. The Navy really makes the whites of my eyes brighten, but the Gold just wasn't as bright as I would have thought and seemed kind of flat on me. But, all three of these just last and last for hours on end. In fact, if for some reason I fall asleep wearing this, I wake up in the morning looking like I am going to do the walk of shame home, even if that walk is only from my bed to the bathroom. It's still there, and doesn't disappear like so many liners do when applied to the waterline.

You can get these at any CVS, Walgreen's, or anywhere L'oreal HiP is avail. But, I would wait for a BOGO sale at the drugstores and pick up a coupla colors. Since you won't wear these for everyday, they will last you a long time.