Alice in Nappyland: Milani Liquif'eye Metallic Eye Liner Pencil in Black

I've loved soft, smudgy black eyeliner since I first learned that it existed and that was how the people around me got their eyes so dark, intense and pretty. My first pencil was MAC's Eye Kohl in Smolder, which was a classic black that everyone seemed to love and adore. And while I really liked it, I hated that it never lasted more than a few hours on my lower water, the only place I put pencil eyeliner. But at $15 its a bit of an investment that I wouldn't mind skipping if I found something as good but cheaper.

I started hearing whispers about a dupe for Smolder for half the price that lasted longer on the waterline. So when my Smolder started wearing down, I started tracking these rumors and looking to see how many other people agree. And lots of people did. So I headed to the nearest drugstore and grabbed Milani Liquif'eye Metallic Eye Liner Pencil in Black for about $8 (depending on your local drugstore the price may be higher or lower. The ones near me (CVS) are known for jacking prices up like crazy so you can probably find it around $5-6) and rushed home to see if it was anywhere as good as Smolder.

And it was. It's extremely soft, which makes applying it to my waterline painless, but despite it's softness, it's not super smudgy. In terms of color, I think smolder is a TAD darker and slightly bluer, but it's so slight it's barely noticeable and if you layer it you can get a similar inky black shade. And if you let it sit for a few seconds after applying it on your waterline (aka-don't blink), I found it LASTS much longer than Smolder. We're talking a few hours longer before migrating perfectly to my lash line. Now, don't let the name fool you. Even though the black is part of the "metallic eye liner pencil" line, there is NO shimmer, glimmer or metallic particles in it. It's a straight up matte black pencil. If you're into metallic, you should check out the rest of the collection because there is some serious sparkle there and I think these could make a great base for a dramatic look or even as eyeshadow because of how soft they are. 

Not taken with natural light

I've used this as a way to set my liquid liner (especially the infamous Stila one that likes to take mysterious vacations in Fiji when I need it to stay put) too. I'll draw whatever shape I want with this pencil first and then go over it with the liquid. Boom, liquid liner stays on longer and even seems a tad darker. Everyone (especially me since I'm getting my money's worth with the liquid liner) wins. This application method also a good way to figure out what kind of shape I want because removing pencil eyeliner is much easier than removing liquid.

One complaint I have about this product is that it's really hard to sharpen. Because it's so soft, it tends to smush in any sort of pencil sharpener and as a result, won't get smooth all around. And since I wear contact lenses often, this has led to some serious problems with application. If it's not smooth all over, It goes on clumpy. These clumps then transfer TO MY CONTACT LENSES leaving me with  black spots on my lenses. This leads to fuzzy vision, which on top of being a nuisance, is also dangerous. To make it worse, it's really hard to get it off the lenses, especially if I'm in a hurry or don't have contact lens solution on me (which I didn't start carrying until now because I never had this problem before).

Would I purchase this again, probably not. As much as I love a good deal, I NEVER had the smudging problem with Smolder. But if you're looking for a super dark liner, want to save a few bucks and you don't wear contact lenses, you might want to consider it.

Have you tried this eyeliner? What did you think?