Prior to my discovery of beauty blogs, I've always been a pencil eyeliner gal. I've always found it the easiest and most convenient to apply. Although, I made the biggest crime in beauty by tugging and pulling my eyelids to get that nice and clean line on my upper lashes, but now I know better to avoid doing that... ever... no matter how much of in a hurry I am.
Eyeliner is an eyeliner right? Maybe, but then it all depends on the look you're trying to achieve. Maybe some of us are a little more simpler when it comes to makeup that either a pencil, gel, or liquid will be suffice in one's makeup bag. Not in my case. These days I find myself using three different eyeliners. It may be two at the time or just one kind by itself. Whether it be out of convenience or depending on my mood or look I'm going for, there's always still a reason for me to reach out for all three of them. I thought having more than one type of eyeliner is ridiculous, but they do serve their purpose.
Pencil Eyeliners
It's the basic little black dress of makeup. Looking a little dead or tired? Slap this baby on your face and it can make a difference in the world. Pencil eyeliner is what got me started with makeup. A little effort of lining my waterline and I look awake almost instantly.
Pencil eyeliners are great for lining your waterline or using it to create a smokey eye by lining your upper lashline and then smudging it. My favorite pencil eyeliner of all-time will have to be MUFE Aqua Eyes in 0L. It stays put in my waterline with minimal to zero smudges at the end of the day and it easily glides on my eyelids without tugging it.
However, since I do have oily-lids, I'm not a big fan of pencil liners when it comes to lining my upper lashline (not unless I'm using it for a smokey look). It'll start to get messy at the end of the day as the liner travels up to my crease even after applying primer on my lids. It's also more challenging to get a sharper or defined line with a pencil eyeliner not unless it has just been sharpened. It's not as cost effective though if I have to keep sharpening it. So if I want a more precise line, I either reach out for my gel or liquid eyeliners.
Gel Liners
Gel liners are excellent for people with oily lids. Gel liners have a better staying power than pencil eyeliners and are pretty easy to apply. It's also easier to adjust thickness of your eyeliner depending on the brush you use. The best eyeliner brush would probably be an angled eyeliner brush since it gives you better control in lining your eyelids and it gets really close to your lashline while giving you a precise line that you want without ever having to tug your eyelids.
What's good about gel eyeliners is that it has the look of a pencil which is a little more natural but with the precision you can get with liquid eyeliners. It's great for creating a catline. Excellent for long nights when you're dancing your butt off since it has awesome staying power. My biggest gripe about gel liners is having to cary a separate brush for it. You won't be able to easily stow this away in your purse if you need to touch-up.
Gel liners are also good your lower lids but not your waterline. Use this on your waterline and you'll see it gone within minutes. But, I've also found that using gel liner is a good practice if you want to transition into using a liquid liner. My favorite gel liner is MAC in Blacktrack.
Liquid Eyeliners
Liquid eyeliners are probably the most difficult to work with out of the three if you don't have a steady hand or you're just not use to it. There is very little room for error when using this since the liner dries almost instantly and it's a quite difficult to fix once it's on your lids. But, it gives the most dramatic and defined line which makes this your best bet when creating a catline.
I've always shyed away from liquid liners because they were pretty intimidating. It wasn't until recently when my love for it grew exponentially since I've been rocking out catlines almost everyday. Sometimes when you're just in a hurry... all I really need on my face to look a bit fixed up is eyeliner. Liquid eyeliners takes a lot of practice in some getting used to, but once you knock that down, you might be reaching out for this more often.
Since liquid liners can be really dramatic on your eyes which is excellent for nighttime looks, it might look a little too strong during the daytime.
My favorite liquid liner is Revlon ColorStay liquid liner. It's inexpensive but it does the job and lasts the whole day without smudging.
See what I mean about owning multiple eyeliners? They do serve their own purpose. Which eyeliner do you frequently use?
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