Liz Longs To Learn:
Why do some eyeliners run/melt?
The Right Brain Turns Up The Heat:
Liz, without more details we have to make some assumptions to answer your question; but we’ll try our best. First, we assume you’re talking about eyeliner pencils. Second, when you ask what makes them run or melt, we assume you mean the stick itself and not the makeup after you’ve applied it. So far so good? Ok, here we go…
The most likely cause of eyeliner “melting” (or deforming after exposure to heat), is that the wax base used to make the eyeliner does not have a high enough melting point. There’s no way to tell for sure without testing, but we’d expect that eyeliners made with high melting waxes like bees wax and carnuaba would stand up to heat better than products made with softer waxes like ozokerite and ceresin. Look to see which waxes show up in the ingredient list before you buy the product, like in these examples:
Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner:
Cyclomethicone, Trimethysiloxysilicate, Ozokerite, Polyethylene, Phenyl Trimethicone, Euphorbia Cerifera Wax (Candelilla), Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopherol, Lecithin, Sorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, May Contain: Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Mica, Ultramarines, Chromium Oxide Greens, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Bronze Powder, Carmine, Chromium Hydroxide Green, Copper Powder, Manganese Violet, Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide
Cover Girl:
PPG-2 Myristyl Ether Propionate, Ceresin, Bees Wax, Ethylene/ Va Copolymer, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Ricinis Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Cetyl Alcohol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopherol, Ascorbic Acid, PEG-8, Silica Silylate, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Iron Oxides, May Also Contain:, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Ultramarines, Mica, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Chromium Oxide Green, Chromium Hydroxide Green
Our guess would be the Revlon product would be less likely to melt. Unfortunately, you can’t really tell for sure from just looking at the ingredient list. But without testing each product, or relying on a friend’s recommendation, that’s about all you can do. Let us know if you find any good products!
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Finding eye makeup is like the Holy Grail of makeup searches. Good tips!
- New York Day Spa Blog
Thank you! And yes, I did mean pencil eyeliners… I used to use an eyeliner pencil to line my eyes, but I gave up on them when they kept melting all over the place. I instead decided to use eyeshadow as eyeliner with the assistance of a stiff angled/flat/eyeliner (either kind will do the job) brush. The effect is so much more controllable (you can wet the brush for a more intense color or just use it dry), and best of all, it doesn’t run a bit!
Very interesting. Thanks for the response. I have yet to find an eyeliner that doesn’t smudge. I am assuming that eyeliner that doesn’t melt, won’t smudge easily.