This Cult-Favorite Urban Decay Eyeliner More Than Lives Up to the Hype

When a brand says it has the "Number One (insert product here) in America," it's my job as a shopping editor to take that claim with a grain of salt. It could be any award-winning makeup pick or a cult-favorite moisturizer that has stood the test of time, and I would still be skeptical until I physically get my hands on it. A recent addition to my beauty routine, however, rose above my suspicions, and it's an eyeliner I'm positive you've heard the name of: Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Waterproof Eyeliner Pencil.

Growing up, this was the pencil eyeliner in every one of my friends' makeup bags. It's also the current go-to of my mother, who has sensitive skin and fine lines around her eyes. I've always been married to my liquid liners, but after being told by a younger Gen-Z friend that my go-to winged eyeliner is "out," I thought I'd try what the kids are wearing now, which is a softer, less-defined look. To do so, I turned to the eyeliner that's been around for as long as I've been wearing makeup.

What makes Urban Decay's liner stand out from the rest? For starters, it's formulated with hydrating ingredients like vitamin E and jojoba oil for an ultra-creamy texture and smooth glide, meaning there's zero tugging, skipping, or pulling against your skin involved. Its waterproof formula is also extremely long-wearing, as in 16 hours of wear without smudging or transferring. If that wasn't enough to impress, there's over 35 colored liners in the full range with a mix of finishes, from matte cobalt blue to metallic copper and everything in between.

I'll be the first to admit I'm as basic as it comes with my makeup, so rather than try any colors of the rainbow, I stuck to my usual suspects: brown and black eyeliner. The former, more specifically, a warm chocolately brown called Whiskey, I used the most over the last three weeks. I would thinly line my upper lashline and give the outer corners a subtle flick. The result was a softly defined look that made the green in my hazel eyes pop. It took me a total of two minutes to complete, all because the formula glided across my lid without a problem. What's more, the color lasted until I came home from work, even with me constantly touching my face throughout the day.

The other shade that's made its way into my makeup bag is Perversion, described as "blackest black matte." When the brand says "blackest black," that's really what you're getting with this shade. It's the deepest eyeliner I've used, and it will show up from a mile away. That said, I thought it would make for the best choice for my waterline, and I wasn't wrong. A single swipe was all it took to define my bottom lashline, and it didn't make my sensitive eyes irritated. Once again, the look lasted a long time, almost too long.

Moreover, I used the Perversion pencil for a quick smokey eye look, and it couldn't have worked better. I simply swiped on a messy line above my upper lashline and used an eyeshadow brush to blend it out before the pigment set. The sultry look not only amped up my going-out outfit in a pinch, but it lasted through in entire night of sweaty dancing.

After testing these eyeliners for the last three weeks, I now know how Urban Decay is able to tout it as the "Number One Eyeliner in the U.S." It ticks every one of my boxes when it comes to the hero product. I can count on it to stay flawless, maybe a little too much—it's a bit difficult to remove in the waterline, but I digress. It's richly pigmented and glides on like a dream, making it a breeze to apply. My only qualm is that it is tough to sharpen, but it's nothing a great pencil sharpener can't fix. This is an eyeliner that deserves all of its hype and then some.

Shop the rest of Urban Decay's eyeliners, below.