Eyeliner Love and Hate

I am a lover of eyeliner. Absolutely without-a-doubt wear it every single day. For the day, I rock lovely thin little lines which set off my eyelashes. If I am going out, it becomes little cat flicks, to open my eyes up. Back in the day when I was a teenager in a bad mood, I loved black kohl to smudge around my waterline and top eyelash line, and I used to rock the goth/tramp look with a passion. Now, I have a restraining order out on my old friend black kohl (I realised he was doing me no favours), and when I morphed into a lady liquid eyeliner came along for the ride, to give me cups of tea and remind me that my bra strap was showing, which is uncouth, of course.

In the years since, I have tried zillions of liquid eyeliners, but always with one fatal mistake. Let me explain. I love the little tubes of liquid with the thin brush that you pull out, gorgeous. I love gel eyeliner in tubs that you apply with a thin brush (I love Napoleon China Doll, but I hear that a new one from Maybelline will be hitting the shelves soon, keen as). I however hate the ones which are like little sharpies/texta pens. Yet, once every three or so months (when my little tube of liquid runs out) I will buy one, because everyone else in the world loves them, which is followed by disappointment, again and again and again.

Let me just place a disclaimer here, I have not used MAC penultimate or any of the awesome expensive brands, as I believe eyeliner is like mascara and has a short use by date (it's near your eyes man, yuck), so I only buy the cheapie ones that I can throw away and not feel guilty about.

The reason that I always get disappointed by the texta-type ones is that every single one that I have ever bought dries out really quickly. I used to buy the Covergirl liquid eyeliner pen, and I could get about three weeks out of it before it dried up. Similar reactions with some of the other brands I tried before I found my Rimmel one (more on that later). Last week, on the advice of a make-up artist friend who loves this eyeliner sick, I bought the Revlon ColourStay Liquid Eye Pen. My friend loves it because once it dries it is very long lasting, will not smudge or leave that strange line on the crease of your eye, and is easy to use due to it's texta like format. I have used mine four times, and it dried up.

Let me repeat that. Four times.

I am guessing that I bought a dud one, or that there is something wrong with my eyes and when ever a texta-like eyeliner touches them it freaks out and coil into itself like a frightened person. I don't know. When I told my friend she was amazed, because she has had hers for about four months and it is still going strong. What. The. Hell.

Anyways, I returned to my old faithful, Rimmel Glam Eyes Professional Liquid Eyeliner. This little baby is one of the ones that is liquid in a tube, with a little applicator brush inside. The reason that I love this eyeliner so much is because the little applicator brush is TINY. It gives the thinnest line of any eyeliner I have ever tried, and on the days when you want defined eyes without looking like you have eyeliner on, it is perfect. Want a thicker line? Just press down on the brush a little more and you get a line which is perfect for heading out eyes/doing cat flicks and such. Plus, the colour is very pigmented and supremely long lasting, usually it comes off in the shower with water but if I have only been wearing it for five hours or so it needs eye-makeup remover to get rid of it. I also find that it is really easy to apply, as the brush is very precise and I can get a perfect line.
This eyeliner is truly amazeballs! I continuously keep going back to it, even after dabbling in other items.

The offender and the winner

See how thin the tip of the Rimmel one is?

Left to Right.
The first two = Rimmel. The first line is thicker, to show how thick the tip can get if necessary. The second is one swipe of the brush, to show how thin and clean the line is, and yet how pigmented it is.
The second two =  Revlon. Note that in order to get pigment I had to draw an enormous line on my hand. The second line is one line with the pen, but I also think that the nib has softened because the first time I used it the line was thin and clean.

Has anyone else had these problems or am I a freak of nature who eyeliners hate?

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