$*@#! You've forgotten your eyeliner. You could have sworn you packed it because you are on vacation/ at an interview/ going straight to a party after work and therefore NEED that eyeliner with you NOW so you can get ready. But it isn't there. And even if you had the time nowhere in a 50 mile radius is a Sephora. So what do you do? You run to the nearest drug store or grocery store and pray they have that liner you need. But alas! You can't test products at a drug/grocery store! So what to do??? Consult this article! I have been in that situation many a time and have found myself scouring the random brands the grocery store makeup aisle has to offer (actually full disclosure I willingly scour the grocery store makeup because I love nothing more than shopping for groceries and makeup under the same roof). So I decided to test out the cheapest and most expensive liners you might find yourself considering in such a scenario.

To keep this as realistic as possible, I went to my local grocery store, the Clayton Schnucks, because I know they only offered two brands of makeup (Maybelline and CoverGirl). Schnucks emulates the "Worst Case Scenario" whereas some of you lucky fools might get stuck near a mega CVS that is a literal OASIS for fabulous liners. I picked the two cheapest liners and the two most expensive (although the difference between the two was only like $3).

The Cheapies

Maybelline Define a Line $4.99 - in slate gray

http://www.target.com/p/maybelline-define-a-line-e...

CoverGirl Perfect Blend $4.49 - in basic black

http://www.target.com/p/covergirl-perfect-blend-pe...

Maybelline on the left, CoverGirl on the right.

The Maybelline was a twist up no sharpening required liner and the CoverGirl was your classic actual pencil eyeliner.

I first tested the liners on my inner forearm. The inner forearm is far closer to your face skin tone than the back of your hand and also allows you to test your skin's sensitivity to a certain product in a relatively low-risk area.

The Maybelline Define A Line went on far smoother and softer than the PerfectBlend. CoverGirl's perfect blend was rough and sharp and took several strokes back and forth to finally get that single solid black line. The edge of the Maybelline Define A Line was far more precise than the CoverGirl PerfectBlend. Once deciding these were okay for the eye, I tested them as liner.

In these pictures, I wanted to keep things consistent so it's just the liner, no mascara or eye shadow or anything.

Maybelline Define A Line

I liked this liner. The smaller edge made it easier to do my little wing at the outer corner of my eye, and it went on smoothly and softly. The color wasn't super pigmented, so it took a few sweeps back and forth across my eyelid to get a filled in line.

Bottom Line: Worth the 5 ish dollars I spent, good in a pinch.

CoverGirl PerfectBlend

I did not like this liner. The point was rough and irritating, hurting a bit as I dragged it across my lid. Also, the point wasn't precise enough for my liking. As you can see in this picture, my attempted winged eyeliner was nowhere as clear or defined as with the Maybelline Define a Line. It also went on rather unevenly as you can see on my top lid.

Bottom Line: Avoid at all costs, even if those costs are throwing the extra 40 cents towards the Maybelline Define a Line.

Now on to the "premium" liners dear Schnucks had to offer

The Premiums

Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Water Proof Gel Pencil (good lord what a mouthful) $6.99 in sleek onyx

http://www.target.com/p/maybelline-eye-studio-last...

CoverGirl Liquiline Blast $6.99 in black fire

http://www.target.com/p/covergirl-liquilineblast-e...

Maybelline on the left CoverGirl on the right, not like it matters because they are LITERALLY IDENTICAL

Both these liners are "gel pencils" which means they are in pencil shape but instead of having a kohl like stick like normal pencil eyeliners, the inside stick here is far closer in consistency to a gel liner. Also you don't have to sharpen these, just twist up from the bottom. These types of eyeliners will never be made in actual sharpen pencil form because the inner stick is so malleable and soft. The CoverGirl liner provided a smudger at the bottom while the Maybelline did not. I again tested these two on my forearm (last two slashes)

Both liners went on incredibly smoothly much like painting on gel eyeliner. The Maybelline liner was far more pigmented than the CoverGirl, even though both claimed to be some version of black. However, both were equally precise and only took about two strokes to generate a full line. Both were fine on my arm so I took them to the eyes.

Maybelline Lasting Drama

I loved this liner! It went on smoothly without tugging on my skin. The tip was precise enough to do my little-winged accent. The color was a strong black that was even and intense. It seemed like the type of liner that would be easy to use in a time crunch.

The liner claimed to be waterproof. So I decided to test it, leaving the liner on as I washed my face with face wash (not makeup remover).

This is my eye after thoroughly washing my face.

The liner was almost untouched. The only smudging and smearing occurred under my lower lashes while the top line remained intact. Aka skip bottom liner and jump in all the pools, you want with this baby.

Bottom Line: ADD THIS TO YOUR ARSENAL. not even just your forgot my liner arsenal. Like, put this into your daily liner rotation next to your bobbi brown gels and urban decay colors.

CoverGirl LiquilineBlast

I also really liked this liner. Perhaps it was moving from scratchy pencil liners to these gel fantasies that had me in love, but regardless, this is a solid choice for those who find themselves suddenly without makeup. It was soft and glided on easily. The tip was just as precise as the Maybelline, it was as easy to use as the Maybelline, in fact, my only real critique of this liner was the color. It wasn't nearly as pigmented as the Maybelline, and seemed to fade out around the edges of the line I drew whereas the color for the Maybelline liner was strong to the very edge.

Again I tested the waterproofness of this "pencil" with a jaunty face wash:

It too, stayed fairly well. The bottom was more smudged than the Maybelline bottom, but the upper lid was pretty decently in shape.

Bottom Line: An excellent choice when in a tight squeeze, perhaps worth adding to your lazy day eyeliner collection.

BOTTOM BOTTOM LINE: (or liner I guess I would say) All in all, the Maybelline Lasting Drama outshone CG's Liquiline with its superior pigment and water proofness. Both these however beat the more run of the mill cheap liners. However, in both their respective categories the Maybelline product won. So, if we ignore how incredibly small this sample size is, I think we can probably assume Maybelline liners are better than CoverGirl liners. This way if you are ever in a pinch and see an untested liner (perhaps straight liquid?) of these two brands you can guess with confidence (not really confidence because this confidence interval is way too small) that the Maybelline liner is probably better.