After the deep, dark pit of mourning I fell into last year at this time, upon finding out that MAC had decided to discontinue Liquid Last, THE GREATEST LIQUID LINER EVER CREATED ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH (which, I'll have you know, Itchycoo Snark's own Miss B turned me onto many moons ago) I ventured on an expensive and disappointing vision-quest to replace that effortless, non-sticky, waterproof, inky-slick, magical tube of 60's cat-eye glory with other high-end product. Alas, to no avail. MAC's other liquid eyeliners, whether in pen, brush or gel form, all suffered from the worst pitfalls a liquid eyeliner always falls prey to: tacky and too thick, smearing at the corners, sticking to your upper lid creating a second line, a stiff pen that erases what's been applied as you make new strokes, a brush that strays off line, etc and so forth. As did the gel, brush and pen forms I tried of Bobbi Brown's, Chanel, Lancome and Clinique. Desperate and having nothing to left to lose, while simultaneously recognizing that 60's makeup has finally become all the rage these days, I noticed there was an abundance of cheapo drugstore brands throwing their hats into the liquid eyeliner ring. So I thought, why not? And after much trial and error, I have to say, even the ones that sucked major balls, sucked no more or worse than the high-end ones did at 6x the price. Good to know. But even drugstore brands that a few friends recommended that weren't bad, still weren't good. I think my friend's who are less caring and less deeply invested in the perfect eyeliner than I, have a much higher tolerance for tacky goop weighing down their eyelids. Or that goop sticking to their upper eyelids occasionally. Or having to re-apply what's smeared off a few hours later. Maybe they think, 'well, dem's da brakes' when your messing that stuff in the first place. But they probably had no idea it never had to be that way, courtesy of Mac's Liquid Last. So after checking out everything from Maybelline, Wet n' Wild, Revlon to L'Oreal (which came in second best to my new fave) and finding them all more than completely useless, I stumbled upon Rimmel London Glam Eyes Liquid Liner. $5.99. PEOPLE - this stuff is a dream come true. It's a pen, but with a long, thin, super flexible tip that I've never seen before. It glides on like what! And now I wonder why every brand doesn't provide that tip, versus the standard fat, rock-hard, pointed block that always scrapes off what you just applied should you go back for another stroke. Not this stuff. Glam Eyes is inky soft and light, stays on a solid 12 hours without a smudge or smear and you can apply it as thin and up against the lash-line or as thick and bold as you like. For six bucks! The only downside, it's not waterproof. A sad oversight as I think all liquid liners should be so automatically. No girl going to the trouble of applying liquid eyeliner wants it coming off without some effort! Am I right?! That said, Glam Eyes holds up on sweaty summer days and when it does come off, it's not in rivers of running ink or in a creepy, pull-off sheet of plastic like some others. It's pretty easy peasy to just wipe it off with a q-tip. I noticed Glam Eyes makes this in a 'Bold Line' version as well, so I tried it. Sucks big balls like all the rest in the loser pile.So skip that guy and just make a bold line with the regular Glam Eyes if need be.
My quest isn't over, as I'd like to find this drugstore gem's equivalent in both price and availability in a waterproof version - but have considered that such a vision may indeed be the elusive holy grail of cheap eyeliner. Still, a girl can dream...
-Post by Miss Dolly Mod
