Ultimate Liquid Eyeliners!

Amy Winehouse annoys me endlessly, but I can give her credit for bringing liquid eyeliner back into fashion and making it the product that every cosmetics company is pushing at the moment. Until this year, liquid eyeliner was generally pretty dull. It only seemed to be available in black, "black" (supposed to be black but is actually grey), navy and brown. Occasionally a wussy attempt at purple would appear on the cosmetics counters, but I was not impressed or inspired. I went to my local shopping centre today and was really excited by the array of options. Glitter! Colour! Black that is seriously BLACK! I tested several, and I have the results to share with you, in reverse order of quality.

Note: I was not paid for this review or given free samples. I went to the shopping centre and used the testers. Opinion on this blog is 100% honest.

4. Bourjois Liner Clubbing (tried looking everywhere for the RRP, can't find it!)

Unfortuntely there were a limited amount of testers (none for the purple - woe), but I tried both '01 Absolute Black' and '02 Black Fever'. 'Absolute Black' is BLACK. Serious, hardcore, delightful, BLACK. It's even more black than the Liner Pinceau in '21 Noir beaux-arts' that I already own. I didn't think that was possible, but apparently it is. 'Black Fever' is more of a navy, there are definite blue tones and it isn't as dark as 'Absolute Black'. The brush is nice and thin, although the packaging is a bit dull. I like my makeup packaging to be sensually shaped or sparkly. This washes off easily in water.

3. The Body Shop Metallic Liquid Eyeliner (£9.00)

I tested both ' 01 Bronze Brown' and ' 02 Gold Dust'. If you look on the website, the little circle shade guide thing is not a good guide to what they look like on your skin. The colours of the bottles is better. They are not glittery at all, they are 100% metallic. I prefer the gold just because it is brighter, I wouldn't buy either for myself because I don't suit or wear those colours, but I did get '02 Gold Dust' for a certain female relative! This washes off easily with just water and a little bit of rubbing. The packaging is pretty, the lid has a sort of distressed metal effect.

2. The Body Shop Glitter Eyeliner (£9.00)

'02: Diamond Night' was nowhere in sight, which was quite disappointing, but '01: Star Light' I tried and it is so pretty I'm getting it for Xmas! It's a silver glitter gel which is easy to use and lightweight. It stays on until you rub it off with water. The packaging is the same as for the Metallic Liquid Eyeliner, and the brush is nice and small so you can get a really thin line. I think it will look really great over black eyeliner as well as on it's own.

1. Boots No7 Stay Perfect Eyeliner (£8.50)

This is amazing. I tested 'Sapphire', a bright electric blue, 'Jewel', which is a gorgeous turquoise, and 'Midas', which is shimmery white. 'Midas' kind of sucks on my skin, as I am practically the same colour as the eyeliner, but it could look great on other skin tones. 'Sapphire' and 'Jewel', looked lovely, and I think I might get 'Sapphire'. But the most amazing thing about this eyeliner?

It is not the packaging, which sadly is really plain.
It is not the brush, which is as good as the others I have tried.
Oh no.
It is the fact that this stuff DOES NOT COME OFF.

Seriously! I tried hot water. I tried soap. I tried soap and the scrubbing brush. I just tried make-up remover, and then I tried olive oil and a hot flannel (which is how I usually remove all make-up). It hasn't been affected at all! And yet it is hypo-allergenic. What the hell did they put in this stuff? It's not stiff like nail varnish, it's perfectly comfortable to wear. Apart from the colours I have already mentioned, they do 'Gilt' and 'Star', which are gold and silver respectively. They should make it in black, then I probably wouldn't need to re-do my make-up for a week, or at least between showers! I wonder if a shower would get it off? I'll find out tomorrow morning!