Ipsy Fail: Hikari Cosmetics Eyeliner

I've been an ipsy Glam Bag subscriber for three months now, and I absolutely love it. Not only are the bags themselves adorable (and useful), but the samples and full size items I've gotten have been fantastic. With brands I've heard of, products I've wanted to try, and items that are new to me, ipsy has provided a special package full of my favorite things each month. However, in my January Glam Bag, I got the first product that I was disappointed in: Hikari Cosmetics Mechanical Eye Liner in Storm.

At first I was excited to get an eyeliner, as I love new eyeliners! I seem to be in a never ending search for my HG eyeliner, and I really enjoy trying new brands of them. The color scared me a bit, it is a silvery gray that I wasn't sure how to wear. Black is my standard eyeliner color, so any eyeliner outside that comfort zone color is intimidating. Do I wear it the same way as black? Do I put it in my waterline? What kind of shadows can I use with it? These questions kept me from trying this eyeliner for a few weeks.


The curiosity got the better of me, and one night I took it out of it's box to swatch on my hand. I was impressed that the eyeliner had such a fine point to it, and it seemed almost a shame to ruin it! When I drew the line across the back of my hand, however, I was shocked to see that it was sheer and very uneven. Could ipsy have failed me?

The line was so sheer that I had to make several passes before the color got opaque at all, but the splotchiness of it was still noticeable. I let it set for about a minute, then tried the ultimate test and tried to smudge it. Surprisingly it held up pretty well against smearing, and instead only faded as I rubbed the line with my finger. Based on its application I would have thought it would smudge terribly with the slightest pressure.

After swatching on my hand, I decided to try it on my eyes, and folks, for me it was terrible. This eyeliner by Hikari Cosmetics literally hurt to put on. To get any sort of color payoff on my eyelid, I had to press down so hard and drag this pencil across my lash line to the point it was painful (and not worth it). Even after all that effort to put on, and so many passes, the color was practically nonexistent and my eyelid was irritated. Needless to say, I did not attempt to line my other eye and this eyeliner hasn't come out of the box since.

Overall, however, I am so pleased with my ipsy subscription that one product fail in three bags is still worth the cost of admission.

Do you have ipsy? What's been your favorite and least favorite item that you've gotten? Comment below!

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