The 6 Best Waterproof Eyeliners (2026)

The Tattoo Liner is a favorite among makeup artists for its brush-style tip, the most precise I have ever used: it lets you draw a millimetre-perfect cat eye even on small or heavy-lidded eyes, where every millimetre counts. The Trooper black is deep, dries fast, and on my clients it has lasted entire events in humid weather without migrating or cracking. For graphic liner in editorial shoots, it is my first pick.

Its limits: technically it is long-wear rather than fully waterproof, so under heavy, prolonged crying it holds slightly less than the Stila; for a bride I know will sob, I choose the other one. The flexible tip has a learning curve if you are used to rigid felt pens, and in Colombia you will mostly find it through Falabella online or importers, not at a counter. If your hand shakes, start with a firm-tip pen instead.

Liquidlast is the most stubborn eyeliner I know, and I mean that as a compliment: when I have a photo shoot under the sun, a quinceañera who will cry and dance for 10 hours, or a client with such oily lids that everything slides off her, this is my insurance policy. The formula sets into a flexible film that tears, humidity and even eye-rubbing cannot shift. As a bonus, MAC has stores at El Tesoro and Santafé malls, so you can test it in person before buying.

The downsides are real: it takes longer to dry than felt pens, so you apply and avoid hard blinking for a minute, and removal requires an oil-based biphase remover and patience; micellar water alone will not touch it. The long brush applicator also takes practice. If you do your makeup in a rush every morning, this is not your daily liner; it is a special-occasion product.

When a client asks me for a good, affordable waterproof eyeliner for everyday wear, my automatic answer is the Epic Ink. The flexible felt tip mimics high-end pens, the black is intense, and in my testing it survives full days in Medellín's humidity, including moderate happy tears. It is easy to find at Cromantic, Falabella and Éxito, almost always under $70.000, and it is the perfect pen to practice your cat eye with, because mistakes do not hurt your wallet.

The honest part: quality varies unit to unit, and occasionally a tip arrives drier than it should, so test it as soon as you buy it. Once opened, the ink gives you about 4-6 months before it starts scratching instead of painting. And against full wedding-level crying it holds well but not at Stila or Liquidlast level: for brides I still reach for the professional formulas.

Gel liner in a pot is a category many people gave up on, and I keep defending it, because for hooded eyes it often works better than liquid: you can draw a line tight against the lashes and softly smudge it upward, instead of a rigid wing that disappears when the eye opens. Lasting Drama sets waterproof, holds up in paisa humidity without transferring to the crease, and with an angled brush it goes from a thin line to a full party smoky. I use it constantly on mature skin, where graphic liquid liner emphasizes lid texture.

Cons: the pot dries out over the months even when closed properly, so its real shelf life is shorter than a pen's. It ships without a decent brush, so you need to buy one separately. And it demands technique: gel is less forgiving of a shaky hand than a pencil. If you have never lined your eyes, start with the L'Oréal pencil on this list and graduate to gel later.

Every kit needs a waterproof pencil that performs on the waterline, and this is the drugstore one that has served me best. It is an automatic gel pencil, extremely creamy on application, that sets within 30 seconds and then refuses to move: I have used it on clients' lower waterlines at long events and it does not slide halfway down the cheek the way traditional pencils do. For beginners it is the perfect entry into waterproof liner, because it forgives mistakes while fresh and then seals itself.

Its limits: being so creamy, it wears down fast with daily use, and the tip loses precision quickly, so do not expect fine graphic wings from it. On very oily lids, inside the waterline it may need one touch-up midway through an 8-hour party. And while the '36 hours' claim is marketing, the real 8-10 hours it delivers for under $60.000 at Éxito or Falabella are hard to beat.