The Little Black Liner I Was Waiting For

If you've been reading GLG now for a while you will know all about my obsession with finding the perfect black eyeliner. You see, I am a pretty picky customer when it comes to finding the right LBL (little black liner, naturally). At the top of the list are three must haves: it must be matte, it must be super black and it must be waterproof. So when a brand I've come to love for long wearing makeup came out with an innovative new black liner, you can better believe I was all over that...

 Tarte's Tarteist Clay Paint Liner is the newest edition to the line and it has some pretty big claims - a 'revolutionary, foolproof blending stage' for one. So, what the heck is a blending stage? You can see in the picture above that firstly this liner is not line your average cream/gel liner, because it comes in a squeeze tube rather than a pot or pen. Secondly, the tip of that tube has a dish-like opening that you can use with your brush (bonus, this product comes with a brush!) to evenly disperse the product on the bristles, rather that crusting up the inside lid to the jar, or getting it all over your hands. I really find this allows you to use just enough product, as well as keeping it all very sanitary, and most importantly keeping it from drying up. At first I thought this was going to be gimmicky, but it is so handy!

Tarte Tarteist Clay Paint Liner in various degrees of drying on my hand. Note how matte it dries down!

On to the other claims... the first thing I want in a black liner is some sort of waterproof or at least resistant properties. Winged liner just ain't cute when its all over your brow bone or melting into the corners of your eyes, ya know? 

So I did the ultimate test - I swatched it all over my hand and then got in the shower. Yep, the things I do for blogging purposes! I can honestly say that it didn't budge, even after shampooing (!!) until I actually took my loofah to my hand and scrubbed it away. Halle-freaking-lujah, we have a liner that truly is waterproof. 

Another little thing to note is the size, whilst most pot liners come with 2-3 grams of product (Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners are 3 grams for example) this comes with 6 grams of product AND a brush for $29 CND! I'd say that the value is excellent, and while you might be thinking, "but what about when I run out, I don't need the brush again?" but the truth is with these little liner brushes that they wear out and splay over time, so its kind of an awesome bonus to get that in box. (Tarte also sells a double ended version of the brush on its own)

You can see a comparison of the bent angle liner brush that comes with it, compared to the Real Techniques Fine Liner Brush (bottom) and my favourite Make Up For Ever #250 Liner Brush (top) for size comparison. It is super fine, erring on the side of being more flexible compared to the other two, which depending on your style of liner might be a pro or con. I've used both the Tarteist Clay Liner and the brush that came with it for the look below and you can see just how matte black the final outcome is. 

After about 10 hours of wear my liner still looked more or less like this, minus some slightly fading on the inner corners where I'd rubbed my eyes. No flaking, no smudging, no transferring.

This (tough to please) girl is impressed. After being let down with other high end brand's gel and cream liners, I felt my money was really well spent on this one! Of course the end bonus being that it stands true to Tarte's regular stance of not using parabens, mineral oil, sodium lauryl sulfate etc and is cruelty free.

What is your favourite black eyeliner? Are you excited to try this? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!