I was on the mad lookout for the best drugstore waterproof eyeliner or eye pencil last week. As in…I was frantic. Knowing I was heading to a beach-y press trip last week, and knowing full well that I’d end up with eyeliner down my face in the 99-degree humidity, I perused all the usual beauty mags and websites I trust. And yet, every waterproof eyeliner was either super spendy, no longer available, or not in stock at my local CVS with mere hours left for me to hit the road.
That’s when I grabbed a pack of L’Oréal Infallible Pro-Last Waterproof Eyeliner off the rack, and found what will surely be my favorite new summer cosmetic.
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While it doesn’t give that thin, crisp precision line of the liquid eyeliners I usually prefer above my top lashes, it goes on smoothly and creamy with a medium-thick line, but not smudgy — like a good pencil-style eyeliner should. And the black isn’t the hard black of a liquid either, though it’s not quite the charcoal of my regular liner.
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Here you can see my liner workhorses for comparison sake:
Color comparison: Black, but not deeply opaque like a liquid liner.
But most importantly, it truly does not come off in the water!
Not in the heat, not in the pool (yes, I wore it swimming, don’t judge), not under the pressure of the lazy river waterfall that my daughter and I played underneath.
The eyeliner also doesn’t come off with a Q-tip and water; you definitely need some kind of makeup remover, or even soap will do. Because, you know, waterproof.
(It’s funny to read some negative reviews about how this waterproof eyeliner doesn’t come off with just water. Also, how you can’t twist it up — because, well, it’s not a twist-up — or how you can’t sharpen it, which you totally can. I always wonder if I live some alternative universe from Amazon product reviewers.)
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Just be sure to look closely at the package; there are quite a few eyeliners in the L’Oréal Infallible line, and I can’t say how exactly the “Long Wear Eyeliner” differs from the “Pro-Last Eyeliner,” except the former is $3 more and still gets lower ratings.
So is this the best best drugstore waterproof eyeliner? If if t’s out there, I haven’t found it yet.
Find the L’Oréal Infallible Pro-Last Waterproof Eyeliner in five colors at Target for $5.99, and about the same at Amazon, or your local CVS, Walgreens…you get the picture.
