Maybelline Master Graphic Eyeliner: It's Complicated

Eye-liner and I, we have a had a tumultuous relationship. Liner pencils from Rimmel were my go to as a teen (in fact, everything from Rimmel was my go to) and since the sole function of eyeliner for me back then was to thicken up my mascara, pencils did the job quite nicely.

As I grew older and began to experiment with my eye-make I discovered that there was more to eye-liner than kohl. Gels, pens, crayons, markers and pots (not to mention heating up your trusty pencil with a lighter!) there was a whole world of eye-lining just waiting to be discovered.

I've dabbled with them all. And, much like my brow-woes, I've rarely  found success. Maybe it's the shape of my eye, maybe it's the strength - or weakness - of my grip, whatever the reason, I'm really bad at applying the stuff. Needless to say, whenever a new eye-lining product arrives on the scene my heart skips, skips a beat. Maybelline Master Graphic dropped into my lap this morning; could this be the one?

Short answer, no. It looked so promising and by rights it should have been fool-proof. With its tri-angled tip that promises a long-lasting, dramatic line in one stroke and the way it looks exactly like one of those markers you sneakily sniffed at school, the Master Graphic appeared at first glance to have all the qualities of a liner fit for those of us who are shaky of hand whose only wish is to have a perfect line across their lid.

On first application, it gave the watery effect of a marker that's running out of ink. Not a good sign at all. Since it's a liquid liner I expected it to go on as a good liquid eye-liner should, inky and strong-coloured, but as you can see, it certainly did not.

I gave it a couple of goes and just ended up making it look worse. I took the tip part and tried to draw a smooth line over the jagged edge and it kind of worked but didn't look effortless.  I filled in my brow and added a lick of mascara and left it for a little but as I went for a cup of tea and a natter around the water-cooler. When I went to take a quick snap twenty minutes later...well, just look at this mess:

I couldn't believe it when I saw that the liquid had transferred to above my lid and the middle part had smudged right off. It's a shame because I've used Maybelline liquid liners in the past and have been happy with the consistency and impressed by how long they usually last.

There's no two ways about this one, it's just not worth it, not even for the €8.29 price tag. If you want a thick line, I would recommend just using what you usually do but increase the height.

Have you tried products that should have impressed but didn't? Is there anyone out there who tried the Master Graphic Eyeliner and loved it? Let us know below!