Hi, I'm Nicola, and I've been using the same liquid eyeliner for seven years.
I first picked up Kat Von D Beauty's Tattoo Liner as a high school student in 2011, and I've been searching high and low for a liner that could beat it ever since. I never found one — until now.
There was a single contender I flat-out refused to try for my wallet's sake, but I finally sucked it up and bought it. Luckily for me, it paid off.
This is the Tom Ford Eye Defining Pen. It's $62 after tax and shipping, and it's worth every penny.
This $54 eyeliner is only available online, and it's the most expensive liner Sephora sells.
"Nicola, why were you so thirsty for this eyeliner to begin with?" I can hear you asking.
Tom Ford's Eye Defining Pen has been upheld as the be-all and end-all of eyeliners in the beauty world for a long time. This sucker gets endless rave reviews — so many, in fact, that people have gone out of their way just to prove it's not all its cracked up to be.
So I compared Tom Ford's eyeliner to Kat Von D's to see if it's REALLY worth the hype.
Could Tom Ford's eyeliner finally do what no other brand has ever managed, and dethrone my beloved KVD Beauty?
There was only one way to find out.
First, let's talk about why I love my current eyeliner. With a $20 price point and a much higher level of accessibility, Tattoo Liner offers what I'd always thought was the best bang-for-your-buck scenario.
I've never had to make a fuss of ordering Tattoo Liner when mine runs dry — I just pop into the Sephora down the street from my office and it's always there, in plentiful stock, waiting just for me.
Kat Von D Beauty's brush-tip pen is what's always sold me on this eyeliner. Unlike all others I've tried, it's not too stiff yet not too flexible.
That's why Kat Von D's liner is always easy to apply — and why it's my favorite.
I'm not sure if it's due to the formula or the applicator, but Tattoo Liner tends to stick to my lids, giving me a maximum amount of control.
Tattoo Liner's wearability, however, has concerned me at times.
(Please, please ignore the smudges you see on my eyelid — those are from mascara and very, very long day.)
In my seven years of wearing it, I've noticed that on days I'm not wearing concealer underneath it, or haven't sealed it with setting spray, Kat Von D will transfer noticeably onto my upper eyelids. If my skin is having a dry day, it can bleed slightly, too.
Enter Tom Ford's $62 liner. It comes with not one but TWO ultra-precise brush tips.
That means twice as much eyeliner! No wonder this guy is so heavy.
The first is your standard felt brush tip. In this respect, the Tom Ford looks almost identical to Kat Von D's.
The second is an itty bitty "calligraphy tip" that's so small, it's hard to photograph.
This one has a similar feel to a fine-point Sharpie marker.
The first time I used Tom Ford liner, I drew the base lines for my usual wing with the standard end and instantly fell head over heels.
It's hard to convey in pictures, but the Eye Defining Pen's application is SMOOTH AS HELL.
This shit glides like Tonya Harding before the triple axle. Like a Ferrari on an Italian mountainside. Like Queen Clarisse Renaldi of Genovia mattress surfing in the iconic film "The Princess Diaries 2."
You get my point. This stuff is nice.
What's even better is its formula — in terms of blackness and matte-ness, Tom Ford puts all other eyeliners to shame.
Kat Von D included. No matter what other products I put on my face, the Eye Defining Pen stays put until I say otherwise. One day, this stuff lasted through five hours in the office, a press event, AND multiple walks in the misty New York City rain.
But despite all this, it's the calligraphy tip that ultimately pushed me into "OK, I'm buying this again" territory.
You will not find an eyeliner with an applicator like Tom Ford's ANYWHERE else. And if you're a perfectionist like I am, it'll be your Kryptonite. A brush tip that small allows for tweaks and touchups on a near microscopic level. I can never go back to how it was before.
Not only that, but it's also ideal for drawing cute dots, stars, hearts — whatever your creative little heart desires. That's encouraged me to step outside of the box with my eyeliner, because it's never been so easy.
The result of all these factors combined? A wing so perfect, it's almost pornographic.
Need even more reasoning for my new obsession? Let's examine some swatches.
To really drive my point home, I threw my back-up drugstore eyeliner in the mix.
This is Revlon's ColorStay Skinny Liquid Liner in Black Out, which I discovered in a random drugstore during a studio eyeliner emergency.
My overall opinion of this $10 eyeliner can be summed up in four words: good formula, bad applicator.
While the applicator for this liner is, indeed, VERY skinny, it's also extremely flimsy — that causes severe errors while attempting a smooth line.
You might like to believe that a high price doesn't always equal higher quality — but in this case, it sure does.
Revlon's $10 formula is definitely the darkest black of this bunch, but thank to its brush, I couldn't even swatch it without messing it up. It's also the easiest to rub away, the last to dry down, and the first to bleed out of all three liners.
Kat Von D's is a clear step up — it's not as deep a black, but it's incredibly easy to apply cleanly and has a generally good wear time. Its dryness, however, makes it both susceptible to bleeding AND difficult to remove.
Tom Ford's is certainly deeper than Kat Von D's, and it's even easier to apply because it meets that perfect half-way point between too wet and too dry. It's hard to rub off once dry but comes off at the first touch of a makeup wipe.
At the end of the day, the proof really lies in the cat eyes — there's no competition.
When I realized this, my wallet wept, but time heals all wounds.
"BUT NICOLA," I hear you asking again, "How do you justify spending $62 on eyeliner?"
Easy: I'm paying for MORE eyeliner. Tom Ford's eyeliner has exactly .8mL of product, whereas Kat Von D's only has .55. I might be spending $62 every five months or so, but that's not much worse than spending $20 every two months.
Besides, killer eyeliner is a staple of not just my beauty look, but my personal brand. It's my thing. I'll bite the bullet and pay the cost to elevate my game even more.
That being said, Tom Ford, I think I love you. Let's move in together.
RELATED: Triple. Winged. Eyeliner. — Subscribe for more!
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