Following a brief love affair with liquid liner, I realized that my heart belongs to pencil liners.  They’re a bit easier to apply and re-apply and less messy.  They also don’t dry out like liquid liners do.

I tried the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, and while I liked the color a lot and the coverage and staying power were top-notch, I couldn’t get the pencil to stay sharp, which made precise application impossible.  But given that I hadn’t found anything better, I kept using it.

Until this week.

Sumita Color Contrast Liners (set of 4 mini-liners, $21)

Given my fruitless search for a new pencil eyeliner, I was glad when Birchbox asked me to try their new Sumita liners.  But when I actually tried to use the pencils, my attitude went from glad, to thrilled.

First off, the color and coverage of these liners is really good.  The pigments are bold, and the coverage is buildable.  Unsurprisingly, my favorite color is the dark purple, but I also tried out the blue hue and was surprised at how much I liked it.  (The kit comes with black, purple, blue and grey.)

Secondly, the ease with which these liners are applied cannot be overstated.  They glide onto the skin with no pulling and little pressure, so your delicate lids don’t feel abused.  And the tip gives you a medium-fine line that you can thicken or pull into a thinner line for perfect “winged” liner.

Additionally, one of my biggest problems with the Bobbi liner was that it was difficult to smudge or blend.  The Sumita liners are easily smudged but also long-wearing, I have no idea how they pulled this off.

As for removal, it did take a little more work to cleanly remove these liners.  Typically, I can take off the Bobbi liner with a sweep of my Say Yes to Blueberries wipes, but for the Sumita liners, I needed a true eye-makeup removing solvent.

I couldn’t be happier with the Sumita liners.  The colors are great, and I can’t get over how the product glides on like velvet.    Plus, the price point on these liners is a lot more palatable than other brands I’ve used.  I think I’m officially converted.

Birchbox sent me a set of Sumita liners to try.  This review reflects my true opinion of the product, and no limitations were placed upon my review.