Liner Love - Part 2

“All I want is an eyeliner that will last all day.” Sound familiar?! As truly fantastic as eyeliner is, one shortfall of many liners is longevity. You apply your liner in the morning, check yourself in the mirror and think “gorgeous and ready to go.” You head off to the office, work tote and blackberry in hand, with some pep in your step because you look good, and you know it. A few hours and two skim lattes later, you pop into the ladies room for a mid-morning restroom break. You glance at yourself on the way in and think, “still looking pretty good, no wonder that metro hottie was checking me out longer than usual on this morning’s train.” Then the pre-lunch bathroom break comes and you again, check yourself in the mirror and the look is shot to hell. How did we fall so far so fast?! In disbelief you lean in closer to the mirror almost as if you’ve been duped by disappearing ink, “I know that liner was there this morning.”

It’s happened to all of us. We reapply the lipgloss (because we expect to reapply lipgloss periodically, so we pack it in the work bag) and hope that our glossy puckers will detract the attention from the sorrowful remnants of the liner that once was. Ladies this exact story is why I love crème liner.

Crème liner - let me rephrase, good crème liner, will last all day long. While liquid liners generally pack a good amount of endurance as well, crème liners are easier to use, more pliable (read: if you slip up, you don’t have to wash your face and start all over again), and in general, are softer looking than the lines we create with liquid liners. Don’t get me wrong, liquid liners have a TON to offer liner ladies (which will be featured in part 3 of the liner postings), but for all-day work-wear, crème liner wins out in my book.

Most often, crème liner comes in two forms; crème stick and potted crème. Crème sticks, like the one shown below by MAC, can be applied just like a pencil liner, yet (and this is just so fabulous) this particular product doesn’t require sharpening! With one twist, more liner pops up, ready to use. Because of the relative ease of application, if you’re a newcomer to the eyeliner scene, crème sticks are a good place to start.

The potted crèmes require an angled brush for application. NOTE: If you don’t yet have an angled brush, skip out on this week’s manicure and spend the beauty cash on this product – it's a must have. Simply dip the angled brush into the potted crème, wipe off any access product on the sides of the brush, and apply to the desired area. Do your best to keep your hand steady, but trust me when I say that the brush will do most of the work. If mid-application, it becomes difficult to get more color out of the brush, dip it back into the pot and pick up where you left off. To intensify your look, you may add powdered eye shadow on top of the crème liner.

MAC's Technakohl Liner
$14.50 USD
More colors available at Technakohl Liner


MAC's Fluidline
$15.00 USD
More colors available at Fluidline


Images from www.maccosmetics.com

In summary, crème liners are great for an everyday look. They require little to no maintenance in terms of reapplication, they glide on with super ease, and the result is defined without being super high-impact.