Lately I’ve been on the look-out for a new eyeliner.  I am very fussy when it comes to eyeliners and it’s so hard to find one that meets my specifications.  Around the same time that I began my hunt, Innoxa sent me one of their 2 in 1 eye shadow and eyeliner sticks to try out.  Although it’s not perfect, this product does tick quite a few boxes and is a great addition to my makeup kit.

The packaging is very simple and compact, which I like.  The pencil is sleek and narrow and fits comfortably in my hand.  However it’s not so thin that it’s difficult to get a proper grip on it.  I feel that this is important when it comes to eye pencils, because my hand is less than steady so I need something that’s easy to hold onto if I have any hope of drawing a straight line.

The pencil is double-ended, with an eye shadow at one end and an eyeliner at the other.  This is a great idea, particularly for women who love to travel because it takes up very little space in your makeup bag.

 

I was sent the brown black pencil, with a brown eye shadow and a black eyeliner.  I have to admit that I didn’t have high hopes for the eye shadow.  I’ve not had much luck with cream-based shadows, and even less so with pencil eyeshadows.  But I was willing to give this one a shot.

The first thing that I noticed is that the eyeshadow comes with a spring-loaded applicator tip.  It re-fills itself so you can apply it right from the pencil.  I was a bit wary of this, because I prefer to apply my shadow with a brush.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  The eyeshadow goes on smoothly from the pencil and the applicator tip gives you a lot of control.  I used my finger to blend out the colour a bit and the end result was lovely.  The one thing I didn’t like was that the rubbery texture of the applicator pulled at my lids a little bit.  But this was one minor downfall in an otherwise stellar product.

 

The shadow also stayed put beautifully throughout the day.  Cream eye shadows are notorious for creasing, but this one was excellent.  The colour didn’t fade even after a long day at work.  I was extremely pleased with it.

 

Now, onto the eyeliner.  To begin with, I love the fact that the eyeliner has a twist-up mechanism.  This eliminates the need for sharpening and makes sure that your eyeliner remains crisp and fresh every time you use it.

 

The liner itself is a beautiful dark black.  So many pencil liners are a bit wimpy in the colour department, tending to run more to grey or charcoal.  I prefer my eyeliners to be as black as a crow at midnight, and this one definitely delivers in the colour department.

The texture of this eyeliner is just beautiful. It is silky and glides on easily.  This would be an ideal product for eyeliner novices to practice with, because it is so easy to use.  It can be used to create a clear, crisp line or smudged for smokier looks.  I do find that the liner doesn’t really set, so it is susceptible to smudging throughout the day.  However, this is fairly typical for pencil liners, due to their creamy texture.

One thing I wasn’t so thrilled about with this pencil is that it would not draw on my waterline.  I don’t often wear liner in my waterline, but I do occasionally like to place it there for some of my mod-rocker looks.  Try as I might, I couldn’t get this liner to transfer even a dot of colour onto my waterline, so that was a definite downfall for me.

 

The liner lasted very well, without any fading.  I did notice that it smudged a little throughout the day, but as I said before, this isn’t uncommon with pencil liners.

 

Overall I was very impressed with this product.  I would recommend it for travelling fashionistas, because it can be used entirely on it’s own to create gorgeous eye makeup.  You don’t need to pack any brushes or sharpeners, just throw this pencil into your bag and off you go.  At $14.95,  this double-ended pencil is a steal.  Best of all, it’s 100% cruelty free.