Stay put eyeliner!

August 18, 2016 6:18 PM

My eyeliner goes alllll over by 2pm. What is the best liner to stay put?

I am really into wearing a brown eye liner everyday. I didn't love the way pencil went on and now gel is not staying put. Having eye liner half an inch below your eye at 2pm is not classy. Will liquid stay put better? Do I need to sharpen pencil liner to get it to go on regularly. I like putting dark eye shadow on as liner but it stays put foe about an hour. Favorite types or specific products please.

posted by Kalmya to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (22 answers total)

Kat Von D tattoo liner and Benedict's 'They're Real' are the longest-lasting eyeliners I've used, to where they don't even budge if I forget to wash my makeup off before bed. The applicator on the Benefit one takes some practice to get used to, but is pretty nice to use once you get the hang of it.
posted by Fig at 6:27 PM on August 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Liquid for sure. I like the Milani Liquid Tech but it only comes in black. You'll want one that dries down more like... a marker I guess is the best way to describe it - some of them dry and start to crack and wipe off easily. They wear fine but they're not my favorite formula. So thinks with more of a felt tip tend to be more thin liquid-y rather than chalky or paint-like. Ones with a brush tip are generally thicker. The almay one is decent.

Also if you use an eyeshadow primer and use a damp brush you can try lining with an eyeshadow and see if it will stick. I always use a eyelid primer because my lids are oily and crease badly. Anything other than a liquid eyeliner will end up smudged on the top of my eyelid.

Really though, eyeliner is one of those that you have to try a bunch. But overall liquid is my friend.
posted by Crystalinne at 6:34 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yep, you need a felt-tipped-pen-style liquid liner (they're also a lot easier to wield than gel liner, IMO). Check out Stila's Stay All Day liner in Dark Brown.
posted by Pizzarina Sbarro at 6:45 PM on August 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion beneath whatever eyeliner (and eyeshadow) suits your fancy. I use mostly E.L.F. potted gel liners and also random Sephora and drugstore buys, but the key is the Eyeshadow Primer Potion for longevity.
posted by vegartanipla at 6:51 PM on August 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is what a "Goth with High Standards" who is also a professional dominatrix says:

"...Maybelline’s Ultra Liner is the way to go. It’s five or six bucks a go, and is also highly pigmented and incredibly indelible -- however it’s harder to apply, takes a little longer to dry and is actually a little too long-lasting. I once made the mistake of using it on a crossdressing sub and nearly missed my next session two hours later because we were still trying to get it off him."

I've seen it at Walgreens.
posted by meemzi at 7:15 PM on August 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon.. Completely budge-proof!
posted by nubianinthedesert at 7:35 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Seconding the Urban Decay primer recommendation. That stuff is sorcery. I've had a lot of success with the UD primer and Bobbi Brown's potted gel liner. Sometimes I'll set it by dabbing a same-color eyeshadow on top of the line, though that's really to make sure it is dark and no skips. I have a face that makeup tends to just slide off, but after the UD primer, seems like my eye makeup could last for a solid two days at least if I didn't take it off.

(The marker liquid liner like Stila or Kat von D or Marc Jacobs all definitely work, too, I just find them harder to apply and build than potted gel.)
posted by HonoriaGlossop at 7:42 PM on August 18, 2016

Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner doesn't move at all once set. Milani makes a dupe, but doesn't have nearly as many colors. (Most eye makeup slides right off of me, and I'm not fancy enough for primers.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:43 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've had the worst problems with eyeliner melting, smudging, wearing off. I'm not good at applying liquid liners, though they look great when they're done right and they really last.

I use a Make Up for Ever liquid called Aqua Seal. A tiny bottle has lasted 7 years already. You put a drop of it at the edge of any powder eye shadow and mix -- then apply like a liquid liner. You can make it nearly transparent or fairly thick to get a dark, solid line. Once you have it the way you like it and let it set, it's not coming off till you want it to. It's only as sparkly as the eye shadow you use.

With this type of thing, you'll need to choose the type of brush you like to work with. The ones I use are an angled flat brush and a firm pointy brush. As examples, MAC 266 and 209 or 211. The MAC 210 brush is too floppy and doesn't give you enough control. Lots of brands make similar brushes -- I'm just showing you what my favorites look like.
posted by wryly at 7:49 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

+1 urban decay eye primer. Been using tarteist double take eyeliner lately and it is also pretty legit.
posted by internet of pillows at 8:03 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

another vote for the Kat von D liner! budgeproof and relatively easy to apply. most liners i've tried smudge because of the way my double eyelids fold/crease, but this one stays put.
posted by aielen at 8:08 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I absolutely love using MAC Paint Pots (I specifically use the color Painterly; I am extremely pale) as a base on my lids, putting them all over the lid w/ a brush. Then I use MAC eyeliner (which is awesome), but even if I use an eyeliner that isn't as good, my eyeliner stays put alllll day!
posted by bookworm4125 at 8:34 PM on August 18, 2016

I picked up MAC Superslick Liquid Eye Liner on a whim at an airport MAC store because I finally got fed up with my regular eyeliner, and my spontaneous purchase actually works quite well. I figure it's because it dries to a sort of...separate layer (like a skin, or like when glue dries and you can peel it off)? So it doesn't smudge or move AT ALL. Of course it's not perfect and I do have one little gripe with it, which is when I use makeup remover it sometimes clumps up in my eyelashes, so I have to remove it slowly and carefully or else I'll lose some lashes in the process.

So far it's been worth that hassle to me to have eyeliner that stays all day--and longer, sometimes! Give it a shot! There are some reviews online that the tube was dry, but honestly I've not had that problem.
posted by sprezzy at 8:48 PM on August 18, 2016

I'll second the stila stay all day liner - it stays exactly where you put it
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 9:04 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

If liquid liner doesn't put you off, I would recommend waterproof Korean liners. They. Stay. Put. I am a fan of Oh m'Eye Line. The downside is that they require good eye makeup remover to take off (I have been using Garnier Simply Essential which is pretty damn good for the price or the Chanel one when I've been feeling flush)
posted by like_neon at 1:30 AM on August 19, 2016

Seconding Maybelline Ultra Liner waterproof.

Any other eyeliner ends up on my cheekbones by 10am. I have watery eyes, greasy eyelids and touch my face a lot. This shit, once it dries (liquid), WILL NOT MOVE. If I'm really rubbing my eyes, pieces of it may sometimes flake off by the end of the day, but hell if it will smudge at all.
If I don't take my makeup off at night I will wake up with it still perfectly in place.
(Coconut oil and a washcloth will remove it just fine.)

It's cheap, too.

Liquid liner application tip: don't use the brush attached to the lid on your eye. Use that brush to smear some onto the back of your hand, then very quickly (before it starts to dry) pick up that color with an angled eyeliner brush to apply it to your lids. I'm pretty untalented with makeup application as a whole; this is the only way I've ever been able to apply liquid liner without making a hot mess of it.
posted by 8dot3 at 5:52 AM on August 19, 2016

The real secret is that you have to prep your lids (which sound oily like mine) first and then anything you put on will stay longer.
Before you put on liner, swipe lids with toner to get oil off, and if you want to be extra prepared, put some eye primer on (smashbox is the gold standard but ELF works pretty well too).

Then use your good eyeliner (Maybelline and Makeup Forever are the best) and once it is fully dry (do your cheeks/lips/concealer before going back to eyes) dust with translucent powder, THEN put on the rest of your eye makeup.
The Makeup Forever eyeliner is really forevvvvver. I had it on for 3 straight days once.
posted by rmless at 8:10 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can't put on eyeliner straight to save my soul, plus I had the issue with it disappearing as well. My solution...I had an eyeliner tatoo. My lady specializes in cosmetic tatoos and it wasn't as uncomfortable as you might think. I went with a fairly conservative line for both my upper and lower, but it sure saves me a lot of time (and grief) in the mornings!
posted by OkTwigs at 8:20 AM on August 19, 2016

Came in to say Kat Von D Tattoo Liner. Best eyeliner on the market. Do NOT confuse this with her ink liner, it's a different applicator. Tattoo liner forever.
posted by Medieval Maven at 9:17 AM on August 19, 2016

Nthing Stila Stay All Day. I left it on once during a sweaty 45-minute run in pouring rain, got back to my house and it was still on there, completely perfect.
posted by augustimagination at 12:14 PM on August 20, 2016

Urban Decay Razor Sharp eyeliner. It's repackaged and renamed from their old 24/7 liner.

I'm a huge eyeliner user and this is my holy grail product. It does not budge and most importantly it has the most precise brush out there. There's a ton of new colours in the new series but my personal fave is the brown, Demolition.

The Kat Von D everyone mentions above is less precise than this and does not last a whole day for me.
posted by Dragonness at 7:29 PM on August 25, 2016

A new product I just discovered: Benefit Push-Up Eyeliner. Most of what's been linked above, including the MUFE I recommended, is liquid liner which gives beautiful precise lines but can't be smudged to make it subtle. This Benefit stuff goes on as a smudgable paste (you only use a tiny bit, it comes up out of a teeny rubber tube applicator with an angled tip) and it IS smudgable before it sets, and then it lasts all day. It's really good. The weird little applicator is excellent; I've never had a product that I could put on this close to the lashline this easily. They need to make more subtle colors though.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:52 AM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]