I went to buy one black eyeliner the other day and ended up buying eight - that’s what happens when there’s a sale and Ivy’s around. So I decided to do a little experiment and see which eyeliner is the best based on; how long it lasts on my skin and how easy it is to apply. I tested 10 different eyeliners and had them stay on my hand for 24 hours. I figure that’s the maximum amount of time you want your eyeliner on (in those cases when you need to crash at someones house after a night on the town). The last 24 hours have been reminiscent of that Seinfeld episode when George becomes a hand model. Watch the hands!

Before we look at the results though, there’s a couple things you should know about eyeliners. A great eyeliner should draw a thin and unbroken line. It shouldn’t be too dry because this can cause tissue breakage on your poor eyelid. You can avoid this be running your pencil under hot water for a couple of seconds. If your pencil is too “sticky” and doesn’t glide on very easily, a great little tip is to hold the point over a flame for a second or two - but make sure you don’t melt it!

Although you shouldn’t have to heat or wet your eyeliners, you bought a product and you shouldn’t have to improve its quality. In this experiment I’ve applied them on the back of my hand as they are. Here are the 10 different eyeliners from left to right;

1. Australis - Rollar Slate, 2. Avon Hydra Finish Gel Eye Pencil, 3. Constance Carroll, 4. The Body Shop Eye Pencil, 5. Avon Glimmerstick, 6. Coral Colours - Magnetic Midnight, 7. Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eyeliner, 8. L’Oreal Le Kohl, 9. Cover Girl Perfect Point Plus, 10. Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner

After 12 hours, washing the dishes and cleaning my hands several times

After 24 hours upon waking

The Best: There’s a sure winner in this lot - dun, dun, dun-dun! Revlon Colorstay. It definitely lives up to it’s name, as numbers 7 and 10 stayed on the longest even after washing the dishes! Both Revlon products have beautiful fine tips for drawing precise lines and they’re both sooo easy to apply. The Revlon eye pencil is also retractable and self-sharpening - bonus! I’ve also read they’re great for allergies and sensitive eyes. My mother has used Revlon for the last 40 or so years and I can now see why.

The Worst: Constance Carroll (3) seems to be the worst. It was hard to apply and it didn’t last very long at all. Which isn’t surprising as it was the cheapest out of the lot (you really do get what you pay for). Avon Glimmerstick (5) didn’t last very long either, although it did glide on easier than Constance Carroll.

Notable Mentions: Cover Girl’s Perfect Point Plus (9) is cool because it’s self-sharpening and comes with an inbuilt smudger. It really glides on, too, although it didn’t seem to last very long.
L’Oreal Le Kohl (8) was extremely easy to apply, which had me thinking it’s going to be easy to accidentally smudge, but it wasn’t. It stayed put and did pretty well. I’m surprised the quality of The Body Shop pencil was so poor seeing as though they’re owned by L’Oreal.

I’d of loved to have tried MAC’s eyeliner range as I’ve heard great things about them. Apparently they stay put for ages and don’t smudge as easily as others. Is this your experience of MAC’s make-up? I definitely have to buy some and report back to you!

Big love & smokey eyes,