I used to be ALL over black eyeliner but find I actually prefer colored eyeliner these days! I like how dramatic black eyeliner can make a look.
— Christine
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Same here..I used to use black liner exclusively..and the more the better. As I get older, it looks worse. I prefer dark brown or even taupe now.
I almost never wear black eyeliner! I think i’m too light-toned to pull it off unless I really go for a dramatic look, which I generally dont; I usually go for a dark brown for my everyday face, and other colours for special occasions, both deep and bright. and I find it sometimes hard to find eye looks that dont rely heavily on black winged liner which can be a bore.
LOVE: how smokey it can make an eye look without adding liner to the top lid. It can be used as a base for many other eyeshadows as well, if it smudges nicely.
HATE: if it smudges nicely, that can also be an issue lol
Transfer from the tightline to the lower lash line is one of the most annoying things for me. I have yet to find a liner that will actually last longer than 2-3 hours
Love it for tightlining upper lid, but that’s about it. I have semi-hooded eyes so winged liner is not very special on me and bloody tedious to apply properly. Black around my eyes in general is too harsh for my preferred look at this point in my life. For special occasions I might grab black eyeshadow and push brush it into the lashline rather than actual liner itself.
As someone with thick black lashes, black eyeliner is my everyday pick as it’s the most natural and versatile on me.
I do like coloured eyeliner to mix it up occasionally though – moss green on the waterline is my favourite.
I don’t use it all that much (except for a cat eye) because i find it looks harsh on me, especially on the bottom lash. I only use it if I really want to smolder at night. I agree that I’m more into colored liner for the water line and lower lash. It’s an easy way to sneak in color that doesn’t require a lot of technique.
It can define but it can also look really harsh, especially on people with lighter complexions. I prefer dark gray or dark brown these days.
I think black liner is great for a dramatic look (all smoky and dark) or added to a very nude look for a touch of sophistication. These days for everyday looks I tend to gravitate towards dark brown or deep gray though, it’s a little less intense than going full black and I find it easier to wear, especially if I’m wearing it smudged on the lash line with very little color on the lid.
At my age, it’s just too harsh and aging. I prefer warm browns now. I loved it when I was younger, I just can’t pull it off anymore. I hate that just about every eye shadow or face palette includes black eyeliner. I end up giving them to my much younger cousins.
Rant: Black pencils more prone to smudging and transferring on oily lids. I don’t personally have any other issues.
Rave: I love black eyeliner, and it’s my most used shade. It can be used for any kind of look, from soft to dramatic to sophisticated to sexy. I think it really defines the eyes, and pulls a look together. Eyeliner formulas have gotten good enough there are plenty of options that don’t smudge and transfer. It’s easy to find, as every brand has at least one black liner.
I used to basically always use black liner, but nowadays I’m being drawn to more subtle shades like brown or aubergine as they define without it being like “BAM, LINER!”. I like black if I’m going for a more smokey look, and for summer or more specific looks I am starting to use more color, albeit sparingly. I feel like it used to be the end all and be all of liners, but as more shades have become more widely available, that’s no longer the case.
I am STILL a black eyeliner junkie! Although these days, it’ll sometimes only be on my upper tightline, but with a color like purple or plum, deep teal, warm deep brown or bright blue on my lower lid and winged up and out on my outer upper lid line.
Most days, though, it’s gotta be black on both upper ( outer half only! ) & lower!
There is absolutely nothing I could ever hate about black eyeliner: I’ve been wearing it in thick lines with a flick practically every single day for the last 25 years, it’s part of my face, same as my nose or my eyebrows. Coloured eyeliners to me are just not as satisfactory.
I’ll be devastated the day I start to develop wrinkles around my eyes… I’ll probably draw my flicks across them nonchalantly! 😛
I love the way winged liner looks on other people but it makes my eyes look small and close set, so I avoid it. Pencil liner looks really nice smudged along the top or bottom lash line, and tightlining the top lash line is very nice to intensify the effects of mascara.
If I have to have a rave, I suppose it would be that it’s an easy product to come by for “free” via GWPs, etc. Of course, that’s also my primary rant point…
I have sensitivities to black pigments. Therefore, I don’t wear black eyeliner. At all. I’m okay with eyeshadows, so if I want a black look, I’ll layer powder over a dark brown / green / blue / whatever, and I’m okay with some deep grey charcoal type shades in liner. But no black. So the fact that everyone and their mum throws a black eyeliner in as a supposed bonus is really, really annoying.
Ditto for mascara. I can manage black mascara if I’m very careful layering it over top of a good coat of primer, and if I’m also careful when removing it. Frankly, that’s more faff than I want to deal with very often, so I only bother with that technique for special occasions and the like, where I want a really dramatic look.
I love using a black pencil for my upper waterline and a black cake liner on my lids at the base of my lashes. I like how thick it makes my lashes appear.
However… I hate it when it transfers to my lower waterline. That’s not a good look for me. The amount of transfer varies depending on how watery my eyes are when it’s applied.
I love it on my upper waterline (tightline) or smudged just into the roots of my lashes. Even with very little else on my eyes, it really makes my eyes look better, brighter, more noticeable. While brown shadows (especially if there’s any red tone to them) can make my eyes look irritated and grey can make me look sort of washed out, black, used judiciously as a tightline, never fails to look great. Black liner when overdone, though, can look so harsh and aging.
I think black eyeliner can look too harsh on most complexions. I prefer coloured eyeliner to blend with the colours I am wearing.
Black liner is great for tightlining and for contrasting with a bold pop of color. Also since my lashes are so pitch black and intrusively big, black tends to blend into my lashline the best. But like you I mostly wear color. I just adore colorful liner and love that I can find colors that are even hard to find in shadow formulas (like super pigmented mints). Plus, it’s so easy to create a beautiful look when you don’t necessarily have time for a full eye shadow design. While I do like the contrast of black with my super light eyes/skin/hair, I prefer grays of all stripes for everyday since it complements my tone better.
It makes me look washed out and tired. I’m fair with hooded eyes, so darkness around the eye just makes me look sick, lol. It’s too bad because it looks really cool on a lot of people, but not me!
I don’t use black liner very much, but I like how sharp it can make a look! Winged black liner and red lipstick can make you look dramatic but not over the top and I like that. I don’t like smudged black liner very much though, mostly because I already look kind of tired and smudgy black liner only enhances that especially if it’s on both lids. Yikes.
I’m starting to be drawn to almost-black colors like dark brown, forest green and aubergine – they still make an impact but they have a depth to them that black tends to lack. Still though, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to ditch the black for good!
i used to not be able to leave the house without eyeliner and in the last two years i can only remember wearing eyeliner about three times??? for some reason i absolutely hate it now
I rarely use black eyeliner. I only reach for it if I wearing a dark shade on the lid and need something even darker along the lash line. Most days, dark plum is my eye liner color of choice, though I’m also fond of navy, chocolate brown, charcoal and dark teal liners. I do have a sparkly black liquid liner from MUFE that I love (#14) and use pretty regularly, but the colored glitters make the color more of a soft black or dark charcoal brown than a true black.
Rave: it’s the easiest way for me to show I put effort into my look and always looks flattering.
Rant: it needs to be super waterproof because I have oily lids and it’s not cute when they smudge on me.
Rant: I’m an ashy blond with yellow skin; black eyeliner makes me look dead. I’ve tried, I really have, but my eyeliner has to have COLOR — deep purple, navy blue, burgundy-so-dark-it’s-almost-black, etc… The only way I can use black eyeliner is if I set it with eyeshadow of another color, basically, turning it into another color.
Smudged black liner is great for smoky bedroom eyes, but when it melts, I look like a giant panda!
My only rant is figuring out which black liner to wear on a given day… Seriously. I have no less than 20 in rotation on any given day, and at least one in every available medium. Black eyeliner may seem “basic”, each one has its own distinct look. Even on days I don’t feel like a full “look”, I at least wear a coat of mascara on the eyes, with a very fine line of black liquid liner, as it just makes my lashes appear fuller, and has a similar effect of tightlining, only easier.
Honestly, it’s “colored” liner I don’t care for. With the exception of taupe, plum/purple/aubergine, or red on occasion, I don’t really wear anything but black… I’m pretty fair, but I have extremely dark brown eyes, dark hair, and always wear black mascara, so black liner just works best. I’ve also been known to wear a “brightening” shade on the upper lashline, but only when absolutely need to look completely conservative, and/or don’t feel like wearing eyeshadow…
I adore black liner. My everyday look is a soft beige/brown eye with winged black eyeliner. I’ve got loads of black pencils, gels, liquids and the pen types of liner. Literally obsessed.
I absolutely hate it when they’re not really black though, when they’re more of a grey because the pigmentation is rubbish, or they flake or transfer. I want a deep dark true black that stays where I put it and doesn’t move until I take it off.
I almost always use black gel liner on my top lash line when I do a more neutral eye look. I stopped using black liner on the bottom lash line a few years ago as it began to look too harsh. If I absolutely feel I need more definition on the bottom, I use a powder grey-black. I love the look of colored eye liners with most of my eye looks. Kind of exciting to see all over color liner (esp. blue which whitens your eyes) trending for Spring 16!
I love how it defines and intensifies my eye looks. Hate how the only true black one I have ( UD Perversion) smudges on me like crazy.
I have full dark lashes so if used in a thin line to amp up my lash line, which is what I use it for the most anyway, black can be the most natural for me. I tightline with it every day and that plus mascara is all I do for my eyes.
I don’t wear eyeliner all that much on its own – just for tightlining, maybe a thin line on top of my lashes, or to darken the base of my eyeshadow look when I’m doing a strong smoky eye. Most of the time black is best for all of those things. I have somewhat hooded lids and terrible transfer issues so strong eyeliner looks don’t really work for me outside of those contexts.
I do have a bunch of colors though. In the summer I love turquoise just casually lined over my eye. That can work.
I began wearing makeup in the late fifties and so black eyeliner will always be on my radar to one extent or another. Right now I love the softer, smokier look of using dark eyeshadows to line my eyes. An intense color is just so gosh-darned pretty smoked around the lashes. But, I always use black to tightline my upper lashes. It adds definition to the eye shape, makes my naturally black eyelashes look thicker, and easily closes the gaps between eyeliner and eyelashes.
I love black liner, in pencil, liquid, cake form. Love, love, love it.
The goth in me will never let go of my black eyeliner obsession. I prefer the sooty blue-black of Guerlain loose kohl though, it’s not nearly as stark so it looks nicer with pale skin.
I still use black liner for thin lines, tightening, or a cat eye though.
I use black liner 95% of the time. I don’t think my eyes are even there if I don’t. I have hooded eyes, so I don’t do much of a flick. I rarely use dark liner under the eyes, as I think it makes my already smallish eyes look like small pigs eyes.
I really can’t say anything against my favourite of all colours.