10 things you didn't know about eyeliner

I don’t know about you, but I love a bit of a fun fact. Especially if it’s about a beauty product. Now, I imagine some of you may finally be seeing my inner nerd (and I’m okay with that), but I’m pretty certain that there are a lot of you who are just like me and love a bit of trivia that you can pull out when there’s a lull in dinner conversation.

So here are 10 things you may not have known about eyeliner:

1. Eyeliner was first used way back in 10,000 BC in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia – making it incredibly likely that it was the first make-up product ever invented!

2. No surprises that women used eyeliner, but manly men also used thick and heavy eyeliner around their entire eye (in an almond shape) in ancient times to enhance their looks.

3. It’s believed that applying eyeliner was also used to protect people from the hot sun and to ward off evil spirits.

4. The Egyptians used to make eyeliner out of materials like lead, copper and antimony (which is a pretty toxic metallic ingredient, so phew to us not using that anymore).

5. Russian ballet dancers who performed in London in the early 1900s sported defined and dramatic eye make-up, and this inspired Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden to create eye make-up for the masses.

6. Helena Rubenstein was also responsible for inventing a unique kind of eyeliner that would appear more dramatic on the big screen.

7. A shortage of items (like silk stockings) during World War II forced women to become a bit creative with their black eyeliner and they used it to draw a black line up the backs of their legs to fake a stocking seam.

8. There are five main forms of eyeliner: liquid, powder-based pencil, wax-based pencils, gel and kohl.

9. Liquid liner was invented in the 1960s and became hugely popular (as did the cat eye because of it.)

10. Kajal eyeliners (or kohl liners) are used in North Africa by all people of all ages as it’s believed to protect eyes from infection as well as moisturise and protect the skin around the eyes.

See? Don’t you feel smarter now?

Here are just a few of our fave eyeliners: