Lining the waterline with eyeliner or as some call it, tightlining, is a really big trend these days, especially if you’re looking to do a really, really smoky eye. It requires you to line the top and bottom waterlines of your eye. Not sure what the waterline is? This site has a great illustration of it.

I have to admit my curiosity was majorly raised after reading Canadian-blogger, Beautezine's, declaration that SHU UEMURA Drawing Pencils ($24 @ shuuemura.com) were, “the best waterlining eye pencil on the market.” That’s a pretty bold statement, so I had to put them to the test as I’m pretty obsessed with eyeliners in general and applying color on the waterline but finding ones that last is the challenge. 

They come in 18 shades, made from a silicon polymer that is able to stay on the skin, and are made to be used anywhere really, not just on the eyes. And they mix it up with the finishes like this palette does by including ones in matte, pearl, metallic and glitter (the letter before each name below tells you what the finish is).

So how did they work? Click after the pic to find out!

The problem I had with these was getting them to a p p l y to the waterline. For some reason, color just didn’t want to transfer and I tried with all three shades shown here (the black was the most stubborn one). I even tried turning the pencil thinking maybe it was that part of the liner that just didn’t want to work but had the same experience no matter how much I turned the pencil. But once some color was on my bottom waterline, it stayed on for hours but was it worth all that work? Nah. I’ve used other liners that were much easier. But using these as a regular eye liner? Love the quality, the way it glides onto the skin and of course how long it lasted once applied but for the waterline? I’ll pass.

Shown here from L to R: G Silver 92, M Gray 05, P Black 01

Disclosure: Samples of these items were provided for review purposes.