Does That Hot Eyeliner Beauty Hack REALLY Work? I Put It To The Test

One way to make your eyeliner go on like a dream? Heat that bad boy up, apparently.

Beauty hacks come and go but ‘hot eyeliner’ – holding a lighter to your eyeliner pencil to heat it before applying – is one I’ve seen done over and over again on the internet. Beauty gurus like GlowMyWay and ModaMob swear by making your eye liner more bendable with this handy (but ya know, dangerous) trick.

Why does it work? Apparently regular eyeliner drags on your eyelids and the pigmentation is weak so you end up putting it on in layers. The idea of this hack is that when you heat up the kohl of your eyeliner it applies smoothly and with a much more intense pigment. My only reservation was that I would ruin my eyeliner pencil and never be able to use it again or worse, that I would set my makeup desk on fire.

Thankfully neither happened.

How to do it:

1. Hold your eyeliner in one hand and your lighter in the other.

2. Turn on your lighter and gently move the tip of the eyeliner (not the wood/plastic part) into the flame then pull it back after you the black kohl starts to look wet. If you’re really stuck, you could also blow hot air from a hairdryer gently over the tip of the eyeliner, but it’s probably not as hygienic.

3. Test a small part out on your hand to make sure it’s not too hot.

4. Apply it to your bottom and top water line quickly while it’s still warm.

I was happily surprised with the results – a super-smooth and very quick application.

For comparison, I used regular non-heated eyeliner on my right eye.

It’s not too apparent from the pictures, but the line was much more defined with the heated liner.

Verdict:

The eyeliner on both eyes stayed in place, but I did notice that the hot eyeliner took a bit of extra effort to remove, so I’m guessing over time it would have lasted longer too. I probably wouldn’t have the time to try this every day, but for a night out when I want a dark smokey eye, for sure.

Would you try this hack out? Tweet us @stellarmagazine.

Tags:

• Beauty
• beauty hacks
• debunked
• Eyeliner
• Hacks
• Hot eyeliner
• Lighter