Rant & Rave: Black Eyeliner
This Week’s Topic: BLACK EYELINER!
Your Mission: Tell us what you love, hate, or are otherwise indifferent to about black eyeliners. What drives you bananas? What makes them necessary?
Explore Temptalia
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Compare Any Two
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Enjoyed this? There's More
67 Comments
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
Comments on this post are closed.
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
the only thing I hate is that UD’s Perversion isn’t permanent!
Agree with this time 100000! They should chuck Zero and keep Perversion.
I actually prefer zero. I’m not sure if there’s just a problem with my perversion liner, but it seems to run every time I use it. It definitely doesn’t stay as well as my other 24/7 liners. But I do like how black it is.
It’s part of the permanent liquid waterproof liner line now – but with UD – nothing seems permanent – look what they have done to all the individual eye shadows!!! I am so upset – some of my all time fav shades – gone. And I agree with Jessi – chuck Zero and move in Perversion to the pencils.
I love black eyeliner, I have black lashes and very dark brows naturally (my hair however is naturally blonde :S) so if I wear brown it looks odd on me having such dark lashes, but what I hate with black liner is that when I buy a black liner, I want it to be BLACK, not grey, not off black, not charcoal, pure, jet black!
I couldn’t agree more!! It’s just irritating when you get a black eyeliner and it either isn’t dark enough or has a funky cast to the color.
wow i agree.. and i thought only i found that frustrating… black liner should be BLACK…. epitome of jetness!!!
Totally agree! Actually, I got relly dissapointed when I tried Zero… :/
Always have to have black eyeliner, can’t say I would use any other color for eyeliner!
I find that eyeliner can look increaobly harsh on poeple with fair skin and hair.
I personally tend you use smokier shades of brown, green, burgundy and blue if I’m not doing a dramatic look for this reason as well but ultra fair skined. ^_^
I agree. I’m fair-haired, blue-eyed and VERY fair-skinned, and black can be too harsh — IF I wear too much. A thin line of black liner on the top lash is usually OK. I’ve just learned not to go crazy with it, with the exception of a dramatic night-out look here and there. I wear brown and navy eyeliners a lot as an alternative.
Yup, I have light brown hair that’s highlighted blonde and Casper skin, and black liner looks really harsh unless I use it only to tightline my upper lash line or to use a really thin line of it only on the upper lid. Otherwise it looks harsh.
I stick to varying shades of brown or plum colors instead. Plus I enjoy using colored liners and find they’re more fun to play around with.
I love liquid eyeliners for the top, I prefer something with a felt tip instead of a brush for more precision. I like something that I have to DIP in the eyeliner as opposed to something like NYX’s Fat Marker which gets dry over time.
For the bottom, it’s always a pencil, I love something that is creamy and doesn’t need much pressure like Prestige. I need something that allows me to sharpen it (instead of twisting it for more, because those never end up being as sharp as when they first started). It needs to be dark, as black as black can get (Master Drama by Maybelline, is DARK but it has that ‘twist-for-more’ aspect to it which I, as stated above, HATE).
It needs to all be waterproof, I find no purpose for non-waterproof eyeliners. Your eyes are practically made of fluid and if you’re gonna put it on, it at least has to last! Anyway, that’s what makeup remover is for, right?
Couldn’t live without it!
And does this include tattooed eyeliner? Because if I had the guts to do it, I sooo would!
I’ve heard that the tattooed eyeliner eventually turns blue. Plus, what if you want to do your eyeliner in a different style? That’s what I love about makeup – how it’s impermanent and one can try different looks! 🙂
or purple… yeah, my mother in law did it and now she weaks up with purple eyeliner, can’t leave the house without putting some black eyeliner on which kind of defeats the purpose of getting it done in the first place!
It’s true, it does turn blue, unless you get it touched up, but that’s if you can stand the pain time and time again. Also, it’s not versatile 🙂
My mom first got her eyebrows tattooed on a few decades ago. It turns purple after several years, so when she was younger, she had to go in for touchups every so often. Now she just lets it be, so it’s faded to a light purple-taupe.
My aunts have tattooed eyeliner on both the top and bottom lashlines. I’m not sure if it’s the artist, or the medium, or their personal preference, but it just looks so thick and severe. It ages them at least 5 years and makes them look really tired. And now it’s faded to this bruise-looking color…
My mom has liner tattooed on both her top and bottom lashline and it actually looks really good. She has a very, very thin line done (and only about 3/4 of hew lower lashline), so it’s not really harsh – just enough to define her eyes a bit. She does have to get it touched up once every few years, but she has a crazy pain tolerance 😛 I don’t think I could do it just because of the pain!
Ooh, that makes sense. My aunts have a uniform, thick, severe black line running along the lower lash line from the tear duct to the outer corner. I guess their tattoo artist didn’t have the finesse that your mom’s artist does, or maybe they specified that look. But yeah-I freak out around needles (especially thinking about them coming so close to my eyeball!), so this technique is not for me!
I know someone who got tattooed liner, and it faded quickly to a bluish colour and then soon after became unnoticeable. Perhaps this isn’t the case with everyone, but for her it wasn’t worth the pain! A good liner ftw.
dont really use black eyeliner in general….to harsh looking and I have dark hair, brows, and eyes…..and if I add it to the waterline, it makes my eyes even smaller and I look way too old.
I love it! I’m very fair with light hair also but I wear black eyeliner anyway. On myself I feel that if I apply a thin line to my upper lash line it looks awesome. I don’t wear it underneath my eyes though.
I love black eyeliner – it’s a staple. I went through a phase where I thought it was too harsh, but I’ve been wearing it differently lately from the raccoon eyes I sported in high school. 😉
Black gel liner is a must – most of the time applied precisely on the upper lid, and on the bottom I wear it smudged over a line of eyeshadow that corresponds to my EOTD.
I also wear dark brown liner when I’m in the mood for it – it’s also striking in a slightly different way.
I love black eyeliner! I used UD Zero for years and now I’m trying to get into the gel/cream liners for a different look. Any suggestions?
INGLOT #77.
Thanks!
Get Bobbie Brown Black Ink Gel Eyeliner. Don’t like her brush. I use a BE brush that is called flat edge liner brush – looks shape wise like a brow brush only way softer bristles of course. It lines perfectly and lets you do a cat eye little, lots, none.
I love how easy it is to emphasize your lashline, but hate when it smudges. Fortunately, I found Milani Liquif-eye Black liner 😀
I love black eyeliner, if I don’t have it on, I look like I’m very sick! My only wish is that I wouldn’t get those black eye boogers in the corner of my eyes 😀 Totally agree with another poster hear that mentioned that UD Perversion should be permanent, I just ordered my eyeliner set through UD’s site and can’t wait to try. If I fall in love with it, I don’t know what I’m going to do. But Perversion is the blackest eyeliner out there.
A classic must have for everyone!
I’ve always loved black eyeliner, but lately I’ve been in a brown eyeliner mood…
Same here! I’ve also recently been branching out to olives and purples for night looks..
I wear black eyeliner for dramatic evening looks but it’s way too harsh on me for an everyday look (I’m very pale with red hair). It does look amazing on some people (especially those with naturally dark hair) but I think too much during the day can look “cheap and trashy” on pale people.
I think it’s over used and can look really harsh. I use it if I am doing a dramatic or dark look but other than that I use purples, blues, greens, and browns.
I almost always wear black eyeliner. I have natural black eyelashes, brows and hair. I really like powder black eyeliner but haven’t found one that doesn’t fall down. Dark brown isn’t dark enough for me to not look like having swollen eyes. The only exception is Chanel Expresso.
Love black liner. I have many colored liners, but wear black on most days on my upper lash line mostly. My eyes are too small to wear it on my lower lash or water line.
I wish all black liners were jet black, instead of “soft black” or charcoal gray. If I wanted charcoal gray liner, I would have just bought that.
REVLON COLORSTAY EYELINER IS SO GOOD
(FAVORITE OG MARLENA(MUG)), AND SHE’S RIGHT!
(TALKING ABOUT NON-EXPENCIVE ONES)
I found that often I look better without eyeliner, mascara only. But tightling – always good… Its esay to do it – with eyeliner, especially with Revlon “Colorstay”.
I love it on my lash-line(s)when I want my eyes to be intense, but I hate that I can’t use it in my waterline or for a smoky eye as most people do. My eyes aren’t very small, but black liner on the waterline makes them look that way. Plus I’m blonde, so lots of black liner just looks trashy on me unless a makeup artist does it.
Black eyeliner is my staple product, if i had to live only with one product it would be my eyeliner. You can do so much with it. You can smudge it on your lid to get a smokey eye, you can just line ur eyes or waterline it. Its so versatile, i even know people in my parents home country who use it as a lip liner! (which is strange but cool i guess)
I’m Asian with sparse, puny lashes. Tightlining with black eyeliner was easily the BEST makeup trick I’ve learned within the past year. Along the outside lashline though, I prefer colorful eyeliners. Even with a cat eye, I prefer jewel tones rather than black.
I LOVE black eyeliner! I usually use black liquid liner on the upper lash line when I want to do a cat eye look. I use a pencil black liner to do smokier looks. All in all I love black eyeliner, it just seems to pull my whole look together!
I love that black goes with everything. Simple, but true.
i like black eyeliner but cant have it too thick otherwise my eyes look funny-because of its shape..
love blackeyeliner…i use infallible/Loreal in Carbon Black…i tried to convert myself to ZERO, but i want to try PERVERSION…..i’m trying to find the PERFECT one for my waterline!!
I hardly ever leave the house without jet-black liner on my waterline, it gives my eyes just the perfect amount of definition (I have fair skin and very dark hair and eyes). However I hate how it drifts into the corners of my eyes.
I LOVE black eyeliner but I hate when I use it to line my waterline and it peals off and gets in my eye. If that makes sense.
That happens to me too! I mean, it doesn’t hurt, but I get so creeped out by it!
I love black eyeliner. I can give or take any other colour but I couldn’t be without a decent black eyeliner. My favourite one so far is the Bold Waterproof Eyeliner by Barry M. The only problem is that it’s not really waterproof, although it does last much longer than other pencils I’ve used in the past. It’s proper *black* so I can’t complain. Avon Supershock is also good but not as good as Barry M. The new Grow Luscious eyeliner by Revlon looks promising!
My problem with black liner is that the good cheap ones are always sold out. I’ve been to Walmart, Target, etc. looking for the Maybelline Eye Studio gel/cream (my fave), Maybelline Master Drama, and L’oreal Lineur Intense and the black is never in stock.
Love black liner though, it’s pretty much the only color I wear. Brown looks bad with my brown eyes, gray makes me look tired, and I only like brights on occasion.
This vintage-loving corpgoth would die without black eyeliner. I wear it daily, usually winged out on my upper lashes a la Dita Von Teese. That said, I’m becoming increasingly frustrated that so many “black” liners and shadows are mislabeled navies and charcoal greys!
Favorite liquid liner EVER- Urban Decay Perversion! I love it sososo much
Pencil liner- Makeup forever aqua eyes or milani liquify. I like the look of the milani one better but it tends to run on me
I love black eyeliner! I love perversion and zero but with any liner, it ALWAYS smudges! Ugh I leave the house with a perfect top line and by the time I get to my destination, it’s smudged all below my eye! I end up removing most of my concealed in trying to clean it off… sigh… It’s a love/hate relationship!
I wear black pencil in my waterline since i was 14. I feel naked without it! The most intense black I have is MAC smolder but it runs soooo much. I dont like MUFE aqua eyes, maybe I will try MAC chromagraphic.
Oh and I hate some black liners that you have to drag them back and forth in order to get some colour -I mean in the waterline? drag?-.
What would the world be like without black eyeliner?! lol. My go-to black eyeliners are MUFE Aqua Black (gel) or MAC Graphblack Technakohl (pencil). My only gripe with black eyeliners is that the best ones out there don’t work for me! The ones with a softer formula smudge like crazy on me, so no UD Zero or Perversion or MAC Feline for me 🙁 I love MUFE Aqua Eyes 0L Pencil, but it isn’t very BLACK compared to the others. Boo! Aqua Black is PERFECTION however!
I’m pretty meh about black eyeliner. I just don’t love it. I prefer a more understated brown eyeliner, or a dark blue/purple if I feel like being dramatic. Right now I’m seriously loving Urban Decay’s 24/7 Liquid Liners in Smog and Sabbath.
my favourite eye liner that I’ve found so far is the pixi endless silky eye pen in black/noir. it’s super pigmented and creamy and applies like a dream. it looks like liquid liner on my upper lash line, PLUS it’s waterproof and therefor smudgeproof, but still removes easily with eye makeup remover! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
I wish I could find a black pencil eyeliner that doesn’t move on the waterline. I’ve already tried drug store brands and UD zero, they all melt away to my lash line, it’s not pretty. Avon NEEDS to start selling the SuperShock Gel Eyeliner pencil in the United States. The lady on Pixwoo are already raving about it.
I really love Boots No. 7 black liquid eyeliner to the top lash line. The applicator make extremely easy to draw a thin line and to wing eyeliner.
I love black eyeliner, it is one of my favorite makeup products. I can say it goes with everyone. Eyeliner can be worn different ways. Love it can’t live w/o it <3
I LOVE black eyeliner-gel, pencil or liquid it doesn’t matter. I have to have at least one at all times. I couldn’t live with out it. I have jet eyebrows, eyelashes, cat shaped eyes and medium skin so playing them up is so easy with one of these products for day and night.
My only complaint? I can never find one dark enough. What’s the darkest eyeliner you’ve ever used? I’ve tried MAC’s Smolder, which is dark and soft enough for my water line but it smudges away so quickly 🙁
I love gel liners.. but it gets irritating if they dont come with brushes! and if they do they aren’t really helpful!!!
I find it to be a must when I really don’t have the time (or the will) to do anything else. Just eyeliner and blush and I’m ready to go 🙂
I read an article in Allure over the summer that said buy eye liners made in Germany and it is very true. Urban Decay 24/7, Stilla smudge stick, and Maybelline Master Drama are all made by the same manufacturer in Germany and they are all extremely smooth and pigmented. Hope this tip is helpful!
I don’t really like black eyeliner. I have very fair skin and red hair with green eyes so plummy to dark browns look best on me. I don’t even really use it for more dramatic look, it looks super trashy. I love deep purples and emerald greens on me:)
I have a problem with UD Zero. No matter what I do to make it last it just doesn’t work! It always smudges even if I set it with a black eyeshadow. It’s my first pencil eyeliner! Then I found Milani 🙂 it works for me. But i love my Bobbi Brown long wear gel liner more! It stays for 8hrs on my waterline! love love love it! lol