I have been looking for months for a liner to actually stay on my inner rims for more than 4 hours. And when I say looking, I mean searching high and low and talking to makeup artists everywhere. The general consensus from the public is that Urban Decay has cornered the market on this specific type of liner. I have tried their liners and they are very nice. I have a bunch of them and I love them (especially Yeyo, for the inner corner of my eye).
But something in them irritates my eye when used on the rim, causing it to water and ruin the look I was going for. I don't know what the specific cry-inducing ingredient is, but it is annoying. I can't wear them on the rims of my eyes, ever. It's not just UD, several liners cause my eyes to water more than usual (and some liquid liners with glitter burn my eyelid). I have no idea why this happens to me, but it has driven me to try everything on the market. And has hard as I try, I can't dry my upper eyelid rims and put a pigmented eye shadow on them, no matter how many people tell me that is the key. I want to be able to do this, but the klutz in me can't.
After testing almost everything in Sephora (and Ulta, Target and Walgreens) I found two standout liners. One is in pencil form (easy) and one is in pigment form (not as easy). First, the pigment liner.
L'Oreal Hip Kohl liner is amazing. It's not that hard to apply, especially after watching this video, and gives a perfect smokey look that lasts more than 8 hours. It's a loose pigment and flies in the face of my above statement, but it's the applicator makes the difference. It comes in several colors and is almost always on sale at one drugstore or another (Bionic Beauty has great roundups of upcoming sales each week!). I personally love the Navy color.
The second liner is in the form of a pencil and is hitting the shelves this month at Sephora, Studio BeautyMix, Ulta and Stila Cosmetics online. Stila's new Smudge Stick Water Proof Liner comes in 8 colors ranging from gold to teal to intense black. I have only tried Stingray, the intense black, so far but I can tell you it didn't irritate my eyes at all and wore for more than 6 hours with no migrating, smudging or disappearing. It is a dark, deep, rich black. These liners are butter soft and waterproof. Some of the colors are slightly reflective which will make summer eyes pop even more. If I can get my hands on the other colors, I will swatch them for you asap!
I am in love with these new Stila liners. Definitely check them out for summer!
I was sent the Stila in Intense Black for the purposes of review. I bought several of the HiP Kohl liners with my own nickels.
Subscribe and never miss a thing! Disclosure/Disclaimer Statement.