Is Your Eyeliner Ghosting You?

Are we breaking up?

I’m a single woman, but I am capable of having a long-lasting relationship. In fact, I have been in a relationship for the last 20 years. It happens to be with my black eye pencil, Smolder from MAC. It was love at first smudge. Smolder has been my ride or die eyeliner since my first smokey eye way back in 1999. Through the years, my eyeliner has been the one constant item in my makeup bag. Lately, my eyeliner bestie and I can’t seem to communicate. Suddenly, I have raccoon eyes by mid-morning. Sometimes, Smolder pulls a disappearing act by lunchtime. My all-time favorite move is when Smolder decides to relocate without warning from my lash line to my crease. Has this ever happened to you? It’s so frustrating! It may drive you to commit the ultimate act of betrayal on your beauty BFF - to give up and quit wearing eyeliner. The horror!

uh-oh, we have issues

The truth is our eyes change as we grow older. A new allergy causes your eyes to frequently water. You have switched from occasionally wearing glasses to wearing them every day. Your eyelids have become oil slicks while the rest of your face is dry as the Sahara desert. My personal favorite is how my eye shape has changed. As we age, our eyes become more sunken in or recessed. If you have deep-set eyes like me, you have probably wondered, “how much deeper can my eyes go?” Here is how I see my future self. For other women, they notice their eyelids have become droopy and wonder if they are starting to resemble their friend’s cuddly Shar-Pei. We must face the truth that we will encounter some issues along the “aging” highway. However, today is not the day to quit wearing eyeliner. Let me teach you 3 ways to keep your eyeliner from ghosting you.

3 GHOST-PROOF EYELINER TRICKS

1. Pair Your EYe Pencil with a matching eyeshadow

My beloved Smolder eyeliner is a kohl eye pencil. What does that mean exactly? Kohl eyeliner is soft enough to apply to the eye without tugging the skin and easy to smudge for a more smokey, dramatic look. It is also likely to disappear off your eyes the fastest. Most of us have been using kohl eyeliner since high school. It’s your trusty smudge and go eyeliner. However, this formula won’t work if you have watery eyes, oily eyelids, or a liner that easily transfers into your crease. I know, I get it. You are a creature of habit. Loyal to your brand. If giving up your favorite eyeliner is not an option, then try adding a matching eyeshadow on top of your pencil. The eyeshadow acts as a barrier and holds the kohl pencil in place, providing a long-wear option. Check out some of my favorite kohl eye pencils.

MAC Eye Kohl in Feline, a carbon black eyeliner. Great for a smokey eye.
Jillian Dempsey Natural Kohl Eyeliner in Jet Black. Intense black kohl in a clean beauty formula.
Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencil in Stormy Grey or Black Violet. Both shades look amazing on blue or green eyes.

Click here for my must-have pencil sharpener that won’t eat up your eyeliners! Seriously, I buy them by the dozen!

2. Switch to Gel Pencils or pots

Imagine if a kohl pencil and a long-wear pencil had an eyeliner baby. You would end up with a gel eyeliner pencil. These hybrid pencils glide across your eyelids like a kohl eyeliner but have the staying power of a long-wear pencil. This means you can ugly cry while watching The Notebook for the millionth time, and your eyeliner won’t budge. It’s a perfect option for women who are experiencing watery eyes or oily eyelids.

Here are 3 gel eyeliner pencils that I keep in my pro makeup kit:

Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon in Blacquer
Charlotte Tilbury Rock ‘N’ Kohl Eyeliner Pencil in Bedroom Black. This is my absolute favorite pencil.
Maybelline Tattoo Studio Eyeliner in Deep Onyx

Although you can smudge this eyeliner for a long-lasting smokey eye, you need to do so quickly. You have a short amount of time to smudge before the pencil sets into place and becomes budge-proof. I recommend applying and smudging the liner one eye at a time.

Gel eyeliner pots offer the precision of a liquid eyeliner with the ease of a gel-based formula. What I like best about using a gel eyeliner pot is that you can quickly create a solid line of color without having to layer on the product. When using a finely tapered brush like this one, it is easy to create a precise thin line or a dramatic wing. The Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Liner in Black Ink is the OG of eyeliner pots. My one gripe about gel eyeliner pots is they dry out over time, so you will never fully use it up. That’s why the Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Blackest Black is my go-to gel pot. It’s a smooth long-wearing formula priced under $10.

3. go for it! try liquid eyeliner

I know this option probably scares you most of all. We have all had a bad experience with liquid eyeliner at one time or another, involving lots of q-tips, makeup streaks, and a few tears. Some women might be intimidated by its intense color and hard to control brush tip. Others might fear they will look like they tried to copy their teenage daughter’s look. You can master liquid eyeliner. I have complete faith in you.

Let me dispel the myth that you can only create a wing with a liquid eyeliner. I know you have seen it used this way in countless video tutorials and Instagram posts. Believe it or not, you can use it for more than a cat-eye. I like to use it to hide the lash band on strip lashes, draw a simple straight line across the eyelid or line underneath the upper lash line to fake fuller lashes. Sometimes on hot, humid days, I dot it along the lower lash line instead of using an eyeliner pencil.

My hands-down favorite liquid eyeliner is the Maybelline Hyper Easy Liquid Pen Eyeliner. The name says it all “hyper easy.” Super easy to hold and control, a fine, precise applicator tip, and totally affordable.

Are you experimental? Do you like wearing color? Then you will love the UZU Eye-Opening Liner. These fine tip liquid eyeliners come in 13 different colors! I l love the shade Brown-Black. Softer than black and suitable to wear every day. I know it’s basic, or should I say “ringarde.” Leave a comment below if you know the tv show reference. :)

Ok, my friends! Knowledge is power. I armed you with 3 new solutions to try in your fight against your disappearing eyeliner. You can win this battle! Comment below to let me know what solution worked best for you. Have your own eyeliner trick? I would love to know! Share below and/or IG. Tag me @FacingForty and use hashtags #longweareyeliner and #facingforty.