Maybelline Tattoo Gel Liner Pencil

The Maybelline Tattoo Gel Liner Pencil is a very easy-to-apply eyeliner that looks like a standard eyeliner pencil. It goes on fairly easily and is designed to last all day.

The good bits: It draws on easily. Not as smooth as a liquid eyeliner so is perfect if you are not after a liquid look and great for a smudgy eyeliner look. A true black colour. Low price point.

The not-so-good bits: It claims that it doesn't smudge however every time I have used this eyeliner I have black smudges on my upper eyelid under my brow. Possibly just my eyes but this is a major flaw for me especially as it is a tattoo liner! It also needs to be sharpened which isn't a flaw as such but something to be aware of.

Overall this gel liner pencil was ok. If I didn't experience the upper lid smudging then I would buy it again but because I have other liners that I do not experience this issue with I would not purchase it again. Again, this won't be an issue for all eye shapes so for the price point it is worth a try.

I love the idea of this liner, but it let me down in a few ways. The colour is rich and pigmented, it glides on smoothly and easily, and it smears less than some other liners do. I slept with it on to test it, and it didn’t leave me with full panda eyes, but it failed by shifting to my lower lash line pretty quickly after applying it and continuing to do so throughout the day. Not majorly, but it was enough to be annoying. I could get past that though because I love the formulation. The pencil isn’t great though. It’s plastic and needs sharpening which I hate. I so wish it was a twist up. The first time I sharpened it, it wasn’t too bad, much easier than some plastic pencils are, but it wasn’t the cleanest sharpen. But the next time it was difficult, it got stuck in the sharpener, it didn’t sharpen nicely to get a good point and the liner kind of mushed in the sharpener. The formulation of the liner just doesn’t seem to suit a pencil that requires sharpening. If this liner dried a bit more somehow and was a twist up, it would be so much better. I will keep using it, maybe save it for a heavier eye look, but I’m not sure I will buy it.

This gel cream like eyeliner makes it smooth when applying and it is definitely waterproof and doesn’t smudge like most eyeliners do which is great for an eyeliner. It doesn’t have a built in sharpener which is a bit of a let down for me and I do struggle to resharpen to a point again.

I was very excited to get my hands on this, who doesn't need a waterproof intense black eyeliner in their lives?

As soon as I unpackaged it I realised it is a liner that needs to be sharpened with a pencil sharpener rather than a design that the product is able to be twisted up from the bottom. I find that these products go one of two ways - works great or once sharpened is never quite the same.

Luckily I do have a good sharpener on hand and found that this works great time and time again once sharpened. The only downfall was that it is such a creamy formula the point wore down quite quickly so precision was a bit harder. This meant lots more sharpening for certain looks.

Even though we are in lockdown it did allow me to be a bit more creative and try a few different looks to test this out. I found for an everyday or simple timeless look this performed amazing, it was quick to apply and lasted all day (whilst doing at home workouts, gardening and general housework etc). When doing more intense cat eyes, graphic liner looks, you did have to sharpen it alot more as mentioned previously, it did wear well but I did find that it smudged a little bit and the designs looked a bit messy by the evening.

When removing the product I found this easier than expected, I used a 'Face Halo' followed by my cleanser and it came off cleanly with no panda eyes. I was expecting a but more scrubbing or having to use a balm or oil to remove it.

Overall the product was pretty good, I would reach for it for an everyday look that I wanted to last all day then transition into evening without having to touch it up. Or adding more depth to a smokey eye look as the colour was fantastic!

Really enjoyed using this liner - very easy to use/handle and is very pigmented - I didn't have to go over my lines multiple times which is great, as Im still a novice with eyeliner and found it stayed all day! Would purchase.

I love how it glides very smoothly which makes the application very quick. Literally one or two strokes and I'm done! Perfect consistency: I don't need to press hard to get good result neither do I need to be extra careful in case it gets squishy. The pencil itself looks nice and sturdy, too.

Definitely intense colour that lasts the whole day on my eyelids. BUT I have problem with it smudging badly at the outer corner of my eyes after a couple of hours. I'm not really sure why. Could be the eye cream I'm using, but I don't have that problem with other liners I use. It survives swimming so I have no idea why it smudged when I wasn't swimming... Apart from that I really like this liner.

Maybelline Tattoo Liner in Deep Onyx is a waterproof gel eye liner pencil with intense and long lasting pigments. Maybelline tout it as being “waterproof with no smudging, no fading and sebum resistant”.  I found it to be the most pigmented and intense eyeliner pencil I’ve ever tried. It's very dark and black and is fully opaque with no white bald spots or patchiness as you apply it on your lid. The liner has a very creamy formula but with enough hardness so that it glides over the lids ensuring no pulling or tugging during application, and giving an even pigmented line. It’s fast drying and when set it stays put brilliantly with no transfer or flakiness. It’s important to apply the liner with a steady hand and get the line right in one go as the liner can get a bit messy if you need to correct mistakes. I have oily lids so I always use a primer before applying eye makeup. I have to be super careful when applying to avoid transfer on the rest of my eyelid. The pencil is enclosed in plastic which is sharpenable. I found that I needed a very sharp blade and a light touch to get a precise edge on the nib. Maybelline promises a resistance of 36 hours. I kept it on the whole day (swimming, gym, cutting onions) until well into the night and I didn’t have to reapply. Its intensity didn’t fade and it didn’t smudge either. Being waterproof I needed to use a good eye makeup remover. Lauder’s ‘Take It Away’ and Nivea’s ‘MicellarAir Gel’ did the job without rubbing. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a long-lasting pencil eyeliner that does the work of a gel but in a more convenient form.

Over all I really liked this mascara. The colour is very black but not matte it has a slight satin finish to give it that gel liner look. Very easy to apply, glides on smoothly. It sets VERY quick so if it needs blending or you make a mistake you need to work FAST. Didn’t smudge or transfer throughout the day. It was a little difficult to remove but a waterproof eye makeup remover worked great.