Rant & Rave: Waterproof Eyeliner
Tell us what you love and hate about...
Waterproof Eyeliner
I have somewhat watery eyes (depends on the day), so I prefer the longer-lasting formulations as they tend to be truer to wear claims.
— Christine
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16 Comments
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ditto. I can manage waxy and even harder trickier to apply formulas if it means I do not end up wearing liner everywhere..
I have nothing but love for waterproof eyeliners…as long as they do what they claim. I don’t use eyeliner most of the time because my eyes tend to drip, drip, drip from the outside corner. But after years of trying lots of different waterproof eyeliners that don’t live up to their claims, I managed to find some that work ok for me.
For above the lash line it’s KVD Tattoo Liquid Liner. For tighlining or waterline, it’s Marc Jacobs Highliner. I recently picked up Laura Mercier Tightline Cake Liner after a SFA MUA applied it on me. Not sure if it’s technically considered waterproof, but it surprisingly stayed in place all day.
I’m allergic to them, so I never wear them. It’s so hard to find formulas for sensitive eyes, and most of those still bother me. Waterproof liners also tend not to have great color selections.
My eyes are very sensitive and watery. If it’s a little windy or dusty outside, or trees are blossoming, or the temperature changes, my eyes will be watery. I get some eye irritation even with some products that don’t have irritants (if they do contain flagrance or irritants I get burned eyes).
Do I need to say that I `need` waterproof everything around my eyes? 😆 It’s indeed a pain to remove at the end of day, but luckily I love balm and oil based make-up removers, which make removing waterproof make-up remover a breeze.
Ana Maria, your eyes sound just like mine! Anything, and almost everything outside can make mine tear, too. Sunlight, wind, unexpected temperature change, pollen, dust, pollution, etc.
Even THINKING about watery eyes makes my eyes water, lol.
I am open to using any liner as long as it doesn’t migrate so if that means waterproof then that is what I will buy. I always wear waterproof mascara and the oil cleanse that I use removes it without any difficulty so it also removes the liner. Too me it is more important to have a matte look as I don’t care for shiny eye liner, (when I wear black liner), but I do have some liners with shimmer that I like a lot. It seems like if I am going for a look that needs black liner it will be matte.
Deal breakers for me are smearing, flaking, shiny and too wide an application method. I really don’t have a preference between brush and felt tip application tools as long as they are slender enough to be able to navigate my uneven lash line.
I almost never wear eyeliner so I’m biased, and even when I do it’s usually upperlashline only and never in the waterline. I tend to use what I have on hand (mostly from subscription boxes) so I never actively seek out waterproof liner.
The one thing I hate about waterproof eyemakeup is how hard it can be to remove 🙁 I find this is usually more of an issue with mascaras than eyeliner, but I hate tugging too much at my eyes or having to use a whole other set of products rather than my usual makeup cleansing routine.
Pointy q-tips and miscellar water ?. The greater precision prevents tugging.
Rant: What rant? For me, these are a necessary “evil”!
Rave: With my rather teary, allergy prone eyes, I absolutely NEED them! Ever since brands began to manufacture and sell WP eyeliner, I’ve been very grateful for their invention. Certain favorites are: Essence Midnight In Paris Gel Liner, Marc Jacobs Highliner in Blaquer (but I know I’d love many other shades of Highliner!), Sephora Contour Pencils, Nyx Faux Black and Slide-on Waterproof Liner Pencils, also enjoying the plum/black-brown duo from MAC Padma Lakshmi collection.
I don’t wear waterproof eyeliner as it is too tricky for me to apply without my glasses on. I just wonder how easy it is to remove at night.
I do my upper lash line only and I’ve been using Marc Jacobs Highliner. I’m lining only the outer three-quarters of my top lash line, avoiding the inner corner completely. I have pretty big, round eyes but I find that lining from the inner corner closes the eye. I like the Sephora eyeliners but for some reason the staying power is not there (they get almost absorbed into my lids and I don’t have oily lids). No waterproof eyeliner is necessary for me.
I don’t do my waterline, with the exception of an almost-white eyeliner that I sometimes use (the Essence one is a perfect match for my natural waterline colour). When I have time in the morning, I’ve been using a taupe creamy eyeshadow from Mirenesse Australia that comes in a pot with a cap with brush, in order to line the outer one-third of my bottom lash line, right under the lash line.
I keep the lines thin and soft for a natural-looking definition.
I think Mirenesse is on Hautelook, for those folks stateside who wish to try the brand.
kjh – Yes, indeed :). I bought two items from Mirenesse more than a year ago on Hautelook (although as Canadian I prefer buying in CAD and not paying duty taxes). I checked the eyeliner I mentioned above as it’s called Superlong Wear Gel Mineral in 20 Capuccino Froth. Very ingenious packaging (brush included in the cap and it’s an excellent one). The gel can be used all over the eyelid but I’ve been using it under my lower lash line for an ombré effect. I don’t know what they put in the formula, but it doesn’t dry down in the pot and the quality in unchanged.
Second item I bought – Lip Bomb Glossy Lacquer Stain Number 19. Very pleased with it. Interesting formula again – a combination of lip stain and gloss.
I don’t really go for any waterproof eye makeup as it can be difficult to completely remove even with a decent oil cleanser/makeup remover. I think I’d only use it if I had a special event and needed my eyeliner to last really well. For day-to-day, I don’t care if it fades/smudges a bit.
I used bought these new no-name brand off amazon the other day and it worked quite well. Though it is pricey for an eyeliner. It didn’t stay 24 hours because I havn’t tested them that much but it did stay the whole 14 hours I was using it.