Does your eyeliner pencil keep smudging, even if it promises 24h wear and to be smudge- and waterproof? I’ve got a super easy hack for you to prevent that. Eyeliner smudging? Do this!
I‘m an eyeliner pencil connoisseur. I love them and the aesthetic, which is tragic, because they don’t love me back. I don’t have particularly oily eye lids, but mine are hooded, plus my undereyes nowadays definitely have a lot of fine lines. Also, I have the dark circles of hell. Combining concealer AND an pencil on the lower lashline? Never great. In fact, smudge city. If you can relate, I’ll tell you a few little secrets found out by trial and error to prevent especially your undereye pencil from smudging.
Don’t use a pencil.
Duh. I like pencils because of the soft effect they have, but actually, that’s pretty easy to achieve with eyeshadow, too. I’ve never had a lot of luck with powder eyeshadows, but maybe the texture will work out better for you. Or try a Fluidline/ Gel eyeliner in a pot and treat that like a pencil. Apply and blend for a less harsh line.
Prep is everything
My pencils most often smudge under my eyes, towards the outer corner. Eyeliner pencils do have emollients in them to make them soft and smudgey, obviously. In combination with the concealer that I used to haphazardly smear Instagram-like completely over my undereyes that’s a bad idea.
So, prep: I use a very thin line of regular eyeshadow primer under my lower lashline and, when dried, I will use my pencil over that. THEN I will take a brush and apply concealer over my darkest spots and blend those with a mini sponge.
Conclusion: use only little concealer on spots that really need it, and primer for the space where your pencil goes.
The secret of longevity
And that will be your run-of-the-mill setting spray. I use Urban Decay’s classic.
I usually set the whole undereye with a bit of setting powder, but no matter what, a few hours later, smudging. So, we raise the bar a bit higher and spray some setting spray on a tiny sponge and roll that gently over the undereye area.
And basically, that’s the trick that helped me the most, and sure, it might be a lot, but I can do it in five minutes or less. Also, it’s both less expensive and more sustainable than hunting down every pencil that promises ‘waterproof’, ‘smudgeproof’, ‘12h wear’ and so on.
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I have hooded eyes also and trust me when I say no waterproof eyeliner ever stays where it’s supposed to 🙁 I use urban decay 24/7 at the moment or the Bobbi brown gel pot but they both still smudge under my eyes so can’t wait to try this! Do you put the primer on the top lid also? I feel like I get transfer from my upper waterline too. And do you set your eye with powder before setting or skip the powder? Many thanks!
Hi Sabrina, yes, I do put primer on my top lids as well! My routine is primer, liner, setting powder and then setting spray. I do find the texture gets a bit weird if I put a powder over a setting spray.