Best Waterproof Eyeliner Pencils of 2026

The Mega Last is priced like something you'd throw in a bag and forget about, and it performs like a pencil you paid more for. It's retractable, so there's no sharpener to keep track of, and the twist barrel means you always have a point to work with — a small thing that matters on a morning when you're doing your makeup in a car.

It applies like a gel liner rather than a waxy pencil: satin rather than glossy, and Charcoal lays down a dark line without a second pass. Staying power is where it earned its place. The line survived a full working day on the lid, and even on a warm afternoon it softened under the lower lashes instead of migrating into the corners. For the least money in this group, that's a genuinely good pencil.

Two things to know before you commit. The shade is a soft charcoal rather than a true black, which reads gentler than the blackest pencils here and suits a daytime face. And the tip is fragile: twist it out too far and it will snap, wasting more of a gel core than a wax one. Turn the barrel a click at a time and keep just a sliver showing.

Tip breakage is the recurring flaw of this category — soft cores, brittle barrels and sharpeners that chew more than they cut. The Unstoppable sidesteps the whole problem: the tip is self-sharpening, so there's no sharpener to carry and no soft core to snap off, and ours kept an even point through repeated use. Nothing in this group is lower-effort.

Application is the other strength. It glides with light pressure and draws a genuinely fine line, which matters at the outer corner where a heavy hand ruins the taper. It works on the waterline too, provided you blot first — a dry waterline holds a pencil far better than a wet one, and that's the difference between a line that lasts and a line that bleeds.

The waterproof label deserves a caveat. On the lid it lasts all day; on a watery waterline or in humid weather the line thins well before the 24 hours printed on the barrel. Set it with a matching shadow if it needs to go the distance. That's a small price for a tip you never have to sharpen.

Hypoallergenic, fragrance-free, ophthalmologist tested and made with vitamin E — the All-Day is built for eyes that complain, and that's the buyer it serves in this group. There's nothing fussy about the design: a plain pencil, a built-in sharpener, and a shade range that leans natural rather than theatrical.

On the eye, what we noticed most is how little it asks of you. It goes on like a crayon rather than a gel — soft, low pressure, no dragging on thin skin — with no sting on application and no watering afterwards, and it comes away with ordinary eye makeup remover. It wears best through a normal day of work and errands; a hot, humid commute is where it starts to give.

The sharpener is the one piece of housekeeping. This is a narrow pencil, and the blade can crack the tip if you twist hard, so take two short turns and check before you go again. The black is a true black and the line goes from hairline to a soft smudge depending on pressure.

Most pencils here draw a line and leave you to it. The Exaggerate hands you a smudger at the other end, and that small sponge changes what the pencil can do: draw along the lashes, soften the edge before it sets, and you have a smoky eye without a brush, a second product or any real technique.

The pencil end holds up its side of the bargain. It's a firm, waxy formula that keeps a fine point for detailed work, with a built-in sharpener under the cap so the point is always available. Rimmel rates it at up to 10 hours, a more modest claim than most here, and closer to what we saw: a full day on the lid, fading on the waterline by evening.

The waterproof label is the optimistic part. On an oily lid the line softens by late afternoon, so treat this as a soft-look pencil you'll touch up once rather than a waterproof workhorse. For a blended line, though, it's the one we enjoy using most.

The No Budge is the pencil that lives in a bag: retractable, slim, and cheap enough that losing one doesn't ruin a week. There's no sharpener, no cap to misplace and no lid to cross-thread — you twist and you have a point, which is most of what you want from a liner you keep in a purse.

The pigment is the surprise at this price. One pass gives a genuinely black line, and it's creamy enough to draw along the lash line without tugging. It's also the one here we use as a base: run it over the lid, blend it out before it sets, and eyeshadow sits on top with more depth than it would over bare skin.

Where it gives is wear. It holds on the lid and fades on the waterline, and it comes off with plain cleanser at night — the flip side of a formula that never fully sets. Pigment that glides this easily was never going to lock down like a hard-set gel pencil.

What it is, in the end, is the pencil you won't mind losing or lending, and that's a real category of need. The expensive pencils here don't fill it.

Kajal is the word that explains the whole pencil. It's a formula built for depth rather than precision, and the Smoldering is the blackest, creamiest thing in this group: one stroke gives a dense, soft-edged line, and the tip is soft enough to work along the inner lash line with no pressure at all.

That softness is why it's the best pencil here for a smoky eye. Draw close to the lashes, smudge with a finger or a small brush before it sets, and it dissolves into a haze rather than a stripe. On the waterline it lays down colour in a single pass, which is where a lot of pencils skip and drag.

The trade-off is the finish, not the application. Build the look, set it with a matching powder shadow, and it holds for an evening out; a bare line on a warm day won't go the distance. Treat it as the pencil that starts a look rather than the one that ends the day.

There is no cheaper way into this category than the Color Icon kohl, and it still does what a kohl pencil is supposed to do: put a lot of colour down fast, with a soft edge you can work before it sets.

The pigment is the whole story. One pass gives a dense matte black, and the formula is creamy enough to smudge along the lash line with a fingertip. It sharpens well with an ordinary sharpener, so you can keep a fine point for tightlining or blunt the tip for a smudged base.

Lasting power is where it stops being a waterproof pencil, because it isn't one. The line holds on the lid through a working day and fades on the waterline, and any rubbing takes it straight off. That's the trade for colour this soft at this price.

Used as a base — colour over the lid, blended out, then set with powder shadow — it performs like something far more expensive, and that's the role we keep it for.