The Perfect Black Eyeliner

Black eyeliner...used for dramatic looks, daytime looks...incredibly versatile, a staple in every makeup collection. Yet used the wrong way, it can become smudgy, causing dark circles. It can make you look goth (unintentionally). It can look disastrous. Every since I got into makeup, I have been in pursuit of the perfect black eyeliner. The first one I tried was the Sephora brand Nano Eyeliner. It was a rich black color. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it on my waterline, it smudged. If I even attempted to put it on my upper lashline, I looked, well, scary. I tried to sharpen it, and it got stuck in the sharpener. That was my first experience with black eyeliner. After that, I (mistakenly) decided never to use black eyeliner again. However, it was unavoidable. I was shopping for a white eyeliner at Rite Aid and picked up one that was called "Vibrant Pearl". Does that not sound like it would be a white eyeliner? In any case, I thought so. I bought it, took it home, and opened it. It wasn't white, it was black. I mentally groaned and then (literally) dropped it into my makeup drawer.

The eyeliner stayed there until about a week later, when I used it to do a look from a Youtube tutorial. Unfortunately, it only made thick lines. It still made me look scary, and it was just plain unblendable. So I decided that since I loved the tutorial look, I would just try a different type of black eyeliner. I decided to purchase a gel liner. I heard the Maybelline one was good, so I got the Maybelline gel liner in "Blackest Black". It was also waterproof, which was a bonus for me because I have fairly oily eyelids, and a lot of eyeliners fade on me. I loved my Maybelline one. I could use it subtly, obviously, whatever, and I could use it to look non-scary. My only issue was that it was ridiculously easy to make mistakes. And since I always put eyeliner on last so I can see it instead of it getting covered by my eyeshadow, whenever I messed up with my eyeliner, I would have to take it off and with it would come all my hard work. Owch. I have since improved my gel liner skills, but still, I prefer pencils. So missglamorazzi on Youtube did a tutorial I loved on how to get an Aria inspired look from Pretty Little Liars. She used a black liner called the Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Black Eyeliner, and so I went out and bought it, hoping it would be my HG liner. It was. It stayed all day, blended and smudged beautifully. And that concludes my thoughts on black eyeliners. I now use my Rimmel liner every time I need a black liner (which is often, now that I know how to use it!). I love my black liner now. :)