Eyeliners: The Art Of The Fine Line

Drawing cat eyes has always been such an ordeal for me.

It’s a ritual which involves closing my doors, clearing clutter off my desk, taking a deep breath… and going crAY-zy!

Usually it’s frustrating and a major timesuck. But when I do get it right, I’m full of self-congratulatory surprise.

Over the holidays, I purchased a set of Stila eyeliners and vowed that if I am gonna be a crazy cat lady then I should up my cat eye game!

Fortunately, these liners have made playing around with different looks really fun and easy.

The Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner Set comes with four liquid eyeliner pens in a tin box packaging; one full size at 0.5ml and three half size at 0.25ml.

The tin box reminds me of a pencil case and upon opening, makes me feel like a schoolgirl opening my first set of prisma colors.

The range of everyday colors is great. While the intense black is a great staple, it’s not the one I use the most because it really is intense. It’s nice to able to choose other down to earth colors.

It’s very pigmented and easily buildable. Swatch colors from left to right: Moss, Dark Brown, Midnight and Intense Black.

Here’s another photo of different strokes and pressures applied. From thickest to thin. When dried, the color gives a matte finish.

One of my favorite things about these pens is they are really easy to manipulate!

The precise felt tip brushes are flexible and taper out to ultra thin points. It’s really easy to draw fine lines and get under the lash line, then build it up to super thick lines.

The negative point here is that the brushes are just ever so slightly starting to fray at the tips.

Here I’m wearing the green moss liner. It’s not as bold of a green as I would have liked, but it’s still an interesting alternative to the pure black.

Another great point is that boy, do these liners STAY. All day. I mean, literally all day. I had it on for twelve hours and it was just starting to flake off, though still managed to retain its overall form.

A tip for those with hooded eyes: after applying, close your eyes and fan at your lids to speed up the drying process. You’ll feel very silly, but this will prevent the color from sticking to your top lids.

Some people say that it’s easier to use the short pencils, but I actually find the longer pencil has a more even weight distribution and easier to handle.

Although these liners are waterproof, they are not that difficult to take off at the end of the night. It just take a few swipes of a cotton pad and some Bioderma micellaire water.

And I didn’t get a photo of me wearing the midnight blue liner, but it’s my favorite! Such a rich blue ocean color.

Ok, let’s sum up what I love about these eyeliner pens!

The Pros
- Easy to apply, even for the clumsy handed
- Long lasting. It really does stay all day.
- Great range of everyday colors.
– Highly pigmented and buildable.
– Waterproof, but easy to remove at night.
- A pretty good deal. The whole set cost me around $25, while the full-size liner alone is $20.
- Fun reusable packaging.

The Cons
- Brushes are slightly fraying at the tips.
– That’s it, really.
– Do the fanning thing with your hands if you’ve got hooded eyes?

So overall, I’m quite pleased with the Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner Set!

What about you?

What are your favorite eyeliners? And have you tried these Stila ones?