I don’t use it that much myself, since I tend to use pencil eyeliner. I like how smooth gel eyeliners can be, and I also like that you can get very precise, crisp lines with that type of formula!
— Christine
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Love: They usually have very good staying power.
Hate: They start to dry out fast once you’ve opened the jars. I’ve heard about adding eyedrops or oil, but I wonder how that would affect their waterproofness.
Seraphine, I know what you mean about them drying out! I got turned on to Inglot Duraline by Christine. It won’t affect the waterproof quality at all, and it does revive a drying up gel liner! (Just don’t add too much at a time, or you’ll have a pot of eyeliner soup!)
Thank you, Nancy T! I will definitely check that out.
It also bumps up staying power!
Has anyone tried MUFE Aqua Seal? I’m wondering how it compares to Duraline.
Or plain, ordinary isododecane. Not truly sure what the rest of the mix does. Isododecane is in virtually everything, and has little allergen potential. The main ingredient is much cheaper by itself on amazon, etc. than ingot duraline.
Right? I got some Isodecane from TKB Trading to press my custom eyeshadows. It does the trick for so much. I put a drop on my eyeshadow brush to foil pigments too.
Yes! I use Duraline too for my Inglot gel liner, just a drop and my dry eyeliner is revived! A little bottle will last a long time, and it extends the life of my favorite makeup.
It gives you the best control, but I hate cleaning the brush…
I use a little drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid and it works really fast and well.
Yup, I use dish soap to clean my synthetic brushes. They don’t dry out like natural hair.
Gives nice, rich, dark liners and gives you maximum control with a fine point brush.
And yes, I hate cleaning the brush. It’s not like you can skip cleaning it every day or two or it gunks up to a hard grossness.
For me personally, it has been a huge game changer! I have very hooded, almond eyes. As a direct result, doing my cat-eye liner had been quite the challenge before I switched over to gel liner. One *slight* blink could ruin my entire eye look if my liquid liner wasn’t dry yet! And even waterproof liner would sometimes transfer to the hooded area by day’s end. So yeah, you could say I’m a major fan of gel liner!
What’s your favorite gel liner to use?
Same here! Very hooded eyes… Before gel eyeliners came in, I couldn’t make pencil eyeliners last more than five minutes, literally! I love love love gel eyeiiners and I have about thirty shades.
Rave: I love the creative possibilities, and how you have the ability to implement some really cool designs. They can be very precise.
Rant: Bulkier than an eyeliner pencil because you need the pot and a separate brush. They dry out easily. There isn’t as much of a color selection as there is with pencil liners. There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to learning how to use them.
The only kind i use! It’s the longest lasting on my severely hooded oily almond eyes! I also use it on the waterline as well!
Which one do you use? Mine transfers even though I try to “set” it w a shadow. I don’t do much liner looks anymore cuz of it. Such a pain because a few hours in and my makeup isn’t holding ?
I like them, but I much prefer cake/ liquid liner. I learned how to do winged liner with the aforementioned products, and I find gel liners don’t apply as evenly using the techniques I’m most comfortable with.
I like that it goes on the waterline extremely easily. I prefer cream (elf cream eyeliner is unbelievably amazing and it’s only $3!) or pencil for everything else… and half the time I just use shadow on my lid instead of actual eyeliner.
I don’t like them at all, never use them . I use powder eyeshadow as eyeliner for top and bottom, its a much softer look ion me, I will use pencils eyeliner too. Don’t like the obviously look of gel eyeliner on me.
Never had it never will. Find it too harsh for me. I’m liking using matching powder or none matching from palettes than even pencil eyeliners which I do have in the rainbow colors.
They are a must for me; I have oily hooded lids and they stay on really well…pencil eyeliner, especially creamy ones, tend to migrate for me.
I hate that they dry out long before most of us can finish them. And I hate that they can be finicky and look harsh on me…. partly (largely???) that’s due to my lack of skill in using them. It’s like pie crust….I struggle to make good pie crusts (sometimes they’re great but more often than not, they’re not so great) and because I struggle, I tend to avoid making it and so, I don’t get any better. Because I’m not great at applying gel liner, I tend to avoid it too, and therefore I don’t get any better. Julia Child once said, quite rightly, with regard to Americans and their desire for success when cooking, that what Americans need is more of the French “je m’en fous-tism” (I don’t give a darn)…..and it’s that desire to have everything turn out successfully the first time that defeats many of us in cooking. Well, I guess I need more “je m’en fous-tism” with gel liners (and pie crusts).
This is my favorite eyeliner type. It’s easy to use with a fine brush, and I prefer the finish to that of a liquid liner. This is an absolute staple for me.
What about gel pencils? These are my favorite. They go on creamy and then last, but they don’t get all dried out like the jar eyeliner does.
Mine too! There are some cheap ones nowadays too. My physicians formula one is great.
I fell in love with this type of eyeliner when I was looking for a cheap black liner for my purse and found NYC at Walmart. After trying it, I went back and bought all the colors, including a second black one. Alas, they don’t sell them anymore, but NYX makes a ton (16?) of colors in their Slide-on, and Maybelline has one too, in 12 shades. I’m so all about it.
I used to always use gel liner, and I loved it! However, my makeup routine has changed a lot over the years, especially with having an 8-5 job, and not always having the time to put together a full face of makeup! Now, I normally use eyeshadow to use as liner, or if I don’t use eyeshadow, I use a pencil liner to quickly line the eyes! I need to get back into using a gel liner, because I did like it so much!