Best Kajal Eyeliners Meaning, Origin and Use

Do you want to know more about Kajal eyeliner? How different is it from regular brands? How to apply Kohl Kajal on eyes? Find your answers in this article.

The use of Kajal on the eyes is as old as the hills, maybe older. The ancient Egyptian women were regular users, as were several other ancient civilizations. In India and the Middle East, the practice survived through the ages and is still widespread today.

Indian and Middle Eastern, North and to some east African women have been making and women make and wear it not only on their eyes, but on other parts of their faces too for aesthetic and spiritual reasons.

It was and still is widely believed in these communities that Kajal or Kohl has a multitude of benefits besides making the eyes stand out. Many use it as an eye coolant and perfect protection from the harsh glare of the sun. It is also believed to ward off the evil eye and is applied even in young children.

As a make-up trend, the world is adapting kohl to further accentuate their eyes. It is often used as eyeliner but with a more smudgy effect. While in some societies some people use traditionally made ones, the mainstream market has adapted kajal pencils or kohl pencils if you like, are widely available.

But a lot of people are still unsure about how to use kajal. What it is? What is the best brands? How do I apply it? Are some of the questions we will be answering as we go along.

Table of Contents

Meaning

Kohl, Kajal, Surma or Sirma, are different names for the same thing. Kajal is how this dark eye makeup is known in Hindi. It is also known as Kehul in some parts of the world.

It was traditionally made from ground up Galena, a kind of stone with sulfide and lead. In some parts of India, it was made by burning certain plants like sandalwood and mixing the resulting soot with ghee.

That Kajal wand from Rimmel or Maybelline or whichever brand you choose however is made from regular eye makeup ingredients like waxes and iron oxide pigments. While it may have the same smudgy, dark result on your eye and bear the name but it is by no means the original one.

Some Indian kajal claims to be a real product made on the more traditional formulas like sandalwood soot.

Lead sulfide or galena which is the original one is thought to pose some health risks as a result of lead poisoning is even banned in some countries in the US. For this reason, the modern wands on the mainstream market do not contain galena. Still, you cannot be too sure.Always make sure you check and understand the ingredients list before using a product especially so close to your eyes.

How to apply kajal liner

It mostly comes in the form of a pencil, a torpedo-shaped creamy pencil. But some traditional varieties exist in a small container with an applicator or meant to be applied with the finger To apply it, you are supposed to run the sharp end on the lower eyelid right on your waterline so you get both the smudged liner effect and the mascara effect. The result of using it as eyeliner is a sultry bold eye, a look that is never a miss where you wear it day or night.

You can easily master kajal makeup. Don’t let the exotic name scare you. A simple trick is to “Start from the inner corners of your eyelids to the outside. You can experiment with your look by drawing out the line a little more than where your eyelid ends,” according to thehealthsite.com

“Make sure to take short strokes & don’t shy away from pressing the pencil on the waterline.” Is another helpful tip from Zuri.in

Stylecaster has a simple trick you can use to put on that kohl liner, “you can still place the narrow part of the liner between your waterlines and drag it through gently.”

Best brands to buy

Before we get around to naming actual brands, we need to agree on what exactly constitutes good quality one.

A creamy smooth consistency is one of the first things you want. You also hope for waterproof since it will be right on the waterline.

You also want it to be pigmented enough so it is as stark on your eyes s it is in those pictures you have seen online of Kajal wearing beauties. The best kohl should actually be pretty intense even with just one application. If a review of a particular one says the user had to apply several coats to get the black to stand out, that has failed this particular standard.

A good eye kajal pencil should glide on easily on your skin, but not so soft that it creates a mess all over your eye again. It should still be able to offer some level of precision.

If a cosmetic manufacturer has managed to do this with some pretty natural or at least nonirritant ingredients in there, then we have a winner.

Rimmel soft kohl, L’Oreal Magique, Mac smolder eye kohl, Maybelline Master Kajal Liner are some of the highly regarded ones the market for all the reasons listed above.

Stila

Stila must be doing something right over there in their factories. It almost seems like an eye make-up tutorial without the artist praising a Stila product or other. About the Stila kajal liner, stila cosmetics drum up all the qualities you want to hear in their product description “The luscious formula is silky smooth and glides on perfectly, without dragging across the most fragile skin around the eye area. Delivers bold, clear, true color that blends easily and beautifies.” According to customer reviews, this kajal pencil is all those things in the description, and very gentle to use on the waterline but a recurring complaint is that it does not stay on for as long as many expected it to. A few people tend to think it runs or smudges easily.

For seasoned kohl or kajal users, this smudging may not be a deterrent as the whole idea of wearing it revolves around smudging the dark color to create a smoky eye. For a person just starting out on it and probably still hung up on pencils, this smudging can seem like a con. The color ranges from onyx which is a deep black and the most authentic kajal like, to Stila Kajal liner in topaz which is a much lighter, very modern interpretation of kohl.

Difference between Eyeliner and Kajal

Sometimes eye kajal can be in a pencil, much like an eyeliner pencil. This can be a little confusing to tell kajal and eyeliner apart if you do not know some of the distinct features of either. A simple way of knowing is by testing on your arm, then try to smudge it a little, kohl should be easy to spread while eyeliner pencil may have a fainter smudge.

“Kohl eyeliners tend to be darker in pigment, softer in texture and tend to be more matte in shade. I also find that Kohl eyeliners are best for achieving a dark smoky smudgy look or to use in the inner rims of the eyes- it doesn’t tend to irritate and seems to ‘stick’ on better.”

“Regular eyeliner can be several different things. But to compare the two a plain regular eyeliner pencil tend to have more wax, not a dense and doesn’t smudge as easy as Kohl and come in a wider range of colors. What is the difference between eyeliner and kohl pencils?

Kohl pencils are softer and roll on smoothly. They are easier to smudge and are used mostly for a bold smoky effect. Whereas regular eyeliner can less intense, and are used for natural looks.”

According to answers left on eyeliner-fy.blogspot.

Eye makeup with kajal and eyeliner will define or accentuate your eyes. But in different ways. Eyeliner pencils will be ideal for a sharper, look where you need precision like a cat eye. Kajal on the other hand is great for a smudged smoke eye and spreads very well.