Product Review- Milani Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner

For the past few weeks I have been on a quest to find the perfect liquid eyeliner that will last all day long.  It's getting into my heavy wedding season (my last spring season! yay!), and I'm often out doing makeup for people as early as 6 or 7 am.  Being the Washington, DC area means that I have to contend with heavy traffic, even that early on a Saturday morning.  Plus, our company covers such a wide area that without traffic the wedding venue can still be up to two hours away.  That means that almost every Saturday April through June this year I'm awake far before the sun, and I'm a night owl so I don't go to be until almost midnight every evening.

What on Earth does this have to do with makeup though you might be asking?  A LOT!  I need makeup that will stand up to my rigorous schedule.  I'd love to be able to just roll on up out of bed that early and do makeup for weddings with no makeup in my yoga pants.  But that's just not the way us pros roll.  We know that how we appear to our clients leaves a huge impression.  Not only do the bridal party and other family members judge us by our appearance, but we're going to be in the background of their wedding photos.  We can't just be looking all scruffy.  So a properly done face is a must.

I'm usually doing two or three weddings a day, with an hour or more drive time between them, so I barely have time to grab some food at a drive through let alone touch up my makeup.  That's why long wearing products don't just make it in my kit, they make it on my face in a big way.  Hence my search for the perfect liquid eyeliner.  I used to just use a pencil, my favorites being the Smashbox Limitless Eyeliner (in Onyx most of the time) or Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil (in Bourbon for a softer look).  But I've really fallen in love with liquid eyeliner since I learned to perfect my "flick". (Check out my YouTube video on how I do it here!)

I've gotten quite a few different liners to test out from the drugstore, to see if any of them can live up to the challenge of all day wear.  I've looked for waterproof versions, as I think that this usually lends itself to long wear like I need.  Previously, I'd been using the Physician's Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Boosting Eyeliner + Serum.  It's an awesome liner (and supposedly helps your lash health), but it just wasn't quite cutting it on it's own.  It was a lot better when paired over the L'Oreal Infalliable Eyeliner, but I know that with the humidity on the rise it will have creeping issues as the day goes on.

With Flash

Direct Sunlight

Enter- the Milani Eye Tech Extreme Liquid Eye Liner.  I wore it for one of my long days a few weeks ago, and it did a fairly decent job of keeping up.  The liner over the center of my lids stayed pretty black, but the outside flick did start to fade by late afternoon.  All in all, I think I'll keep it around as a back up while I search for that ultimate "perfect" liquid eyeliner.  I'm headed back to NYC on Monday for The Makeup Show, and I know that Makeup Forever and Stila will be there.  (Stila was all out of their black liquid eyeliner at IBS earlier this month when I was there. Boo!)

Pluses:

• Easy to use slim pencil design
• Affordable
• Nice inky black at the outset
• Lasts a decent amount of time
• Dries quickly
• Long, tapered felt tip applicator for control in the line thickness

Minuses:

• You have to really prime the product into the tip or else much doesn't come out and you have to go over the line a few times
• Tips of the "wings" started to fade after about 8 hours
• Applicator can "skip" sometimes if your lid has some creasing at the lash line
• Not really waterproof at all.  I can lick a fingertip and wipe right through the dried line 

My "flick" disappeared by the end of the day

Overall, I think I rate this a sold 4 out of 5 stars. It's a great liner, but not long wearing enough for my needs.

Do you have a recommendation for the perfect liquid eyeliner for me?  I'd love to hear about it!  Leave your recommendations in the comments section below!

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products.  All the opinions expressed in this article are my own.  These items were purchased with my own money.