What Not To Buy: Essence Extra Longlasting Eye Liner Pen

I love Essence Cosmetics. I love eyeliners. I especially love lightweight felt tip eyeliners. I love black color eye liners more than any other color ones. Now that I have established that I don’t have any ulterior motives in bitching about this product, let me do so without any further ado.

I think the price was around $3 CAD. I like the packaging, the felt tip is not too wobbly and not too stiff. In fact, if the product inside made any sense, this would have been an awesome eyeliner. But it is not!

My issues with this eyeliner are very basic – it just does not meet the purpose! When I take the trouble to use an eyeliner instead of a more easier-to-apply eye pencil, it is because I am going for something dramatic and very well defined –like Cat’s eye or a winged eyeliner. And for that, the eyeliner has to have at the least:

Some amount of pigmentation in 1 swipe – else its going to be a thick line to get a good color! Even-ness of color swatch – on drying, you don’t want to look as if you tried for a polka dot eye line! A decent lasting power and A Not easily fading formula – its weird to go around with ¾ winged liner 2-3 hours after applying it ! Instead of dramatic, it becomes clownish!

Unfortunately this eyeliner fails in the above 3 factors, which makes it a useless purchase. Lastly, when I buy an Black eyeliner, I expect BLACKKK line, not a dull faded blackish brownish something-ish color.
So overall, I really didn’t care for this eyeliner at all. I might as well take a bit more trouble and go for a gel eyeliner, than struggle around with this one.
Tricks in getting this to work:
Option1:
This is something I have done in past. Keep the eyeliner pen [cap on] under warm tap water for 5mins. Leave the eyeliner standing with the cap facing down on a pen stand for 1-2 hours. This will help in bringing some of those color to the pen nibs, making it easier to get some definition.
 
Option 2:
This method is best if the eyeliner pen is almost dried up and if you still wish to use it instead of going around with a  brush & gel eyeliner. Keep the felt liner tip under warm water for 2 mins. Press the tip onto a paper napkin to absorb excess moisture. Don’t make it too dry. Dip the tip lightly into the gel liner pot. To avoid getting weird or unwanted thick  lines, start lining from the middle of the eye. If you’re doing a winged eyeliner, keep the tip under the warm water for 3-4mins and leave a bit more moisture before attempting to get the line right. One way to avoid getting smears [which may happen with this method] is to see the effects on your hand 1^st before applying directly on your eyes.