There’s one item of makeup which I almost never wear, and that is liquid eyeliner. It’s funny because I used to be damn good at art back in the day, and can paint a thin straight line with a nylon brush with the precision and steady hands of a surgeon. But when it comes to drawing a fine, accurate line on my perimeter of my eyes, I’m absolute rubbish. My hands would shake, and I would almost always end up with ugly, jagged lines that I have to get rid off with makeup remover.

It’s an envy of mine to see ladies who can effortlessly create the winged tip ala Taylor Swift, because it’s something I couldn’t achieve with most of the liquid eyeliners I’ve tried. That is, until I discovered Estee Lauder’s Modern Mercury Pure Colour Liquid Eyeliner.

I was given the opportunity to trial the eyeliner in Graphite, and I have to say, this really is an idiotproof pen. It has a densely packed, pointed brush which makes lining of the eyes so easy. Most liquid eyeliners I’ve used have thin, flimsy brushes that do not give me enough control. This eyeliner does, and allows me to draw a fine line without any jagged edges.

The Graphite is a beautiful, shimmery charcoal. I prefer this to black liquid liners as I find the black ones too harsh. This pretty charcoal is just nice for me. It’s also very long-lasting. I have just about the oiliest eyelids, but this baby stuck to my skin like super glue for hours.

Excuse the awful colour of the photo. Photos were taken at night, in the study with poor lighting.

Yikes, please forgive the shiny nose. It was a long day. Foundation’s a bit shonky (can’t really remember which one I wore that night), but the eyeliner still hung on.

As lovely as the colour is, and easy to apply, it is a huge pain in the behind to remove. It’s not the usual ink which you can just wipe off with eye makeup remover in a swipe. It reminds me of Blinc’s Tube Mascara (formerly known as Kiss Me mascara), where it comes off in flakes. Oil-based makeup removers wouldn’t work for this; you’d need the regular watery ones. I’ve had minute bits of flakes in my eye one too many times, which I had to manually remove with my fingers. Fingers. In my eyes. Gross, I know.

Since it’s not an easy feat to remove, and I don’t want to tug at the delicate skin below my eyes any more than I should, I save this liquid eyeliner for special occasions. I’m just relieved that I’ve finally found a liquid eyeliner that I could actually use!

Estee Lauder Modern Mercury Pure Colour Liquid Eyeliners are available in 3 shades: Graphite, Silver Zinc and Black Quartz. Each retails at AU$42 and is available at Estee Lauder counters and selected pharmacies nationwide.