L’Oreal HIP Kohl Liners Review

L’Oreal is turning 100 this year. From Eugène Schueller, creating hair products and dyes in 1907, to the registered company Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (“Safe Hair Dye Company of France” a la Wiki) comes one of our drugstore staple brands. I figured in honor of their anniversary, the least I could do is throw in some reviews. First up is the HIP Kohl Liner.

You must know by now that the brand is vast in its offerings of beauty products. You can really undertake a makeover project while limited to one brand. My focus to the HIP line (High Intensity Pigments) is because I’m quite the fan of high intensity pigments.

Honestly, this isn’t a brand I’ve been messing around with for too long. Between cheaper drugstore brands (when I was younger, my budget was more for snacks), and growing into higher end brands, I think I might have skipped over the wonders of the drugstore.

I am usually attracted to liners that are in pencil form. Liquid liners and I don’t agree often because they require high maintenance (I’m anal about making both eyes even so it takes forever), and loose kohl seems to be asking for trouble.

Tough luck for me then! I was set on a mission to test these out, as these babies are often on a BOGO deal in a drugstore. CVS & Walgreens are the best with L’Oreal sales. They usually sell for $10.99, but Tarjay the great sells them for a buck and change cheaper here.

Currently the liners are available in only six shades. 1-Black 2-Brown 3-Burgundy 4-Navy 5-Teal 6-Gold.

This is what the colors looked like:

The order of the colors are the same in each picture (with different lighting).

This picture is pretty true to color.

The liners are pretty vibrant in color, but still more fall shades than the bright rainbow colors I see in my head when I try to imagine high intensity pigments (but that’d be my fault for assuming the word “bright” was in there!).

Review (5 highest, 1 lowest):

Packaging: 4 out of 5
Price: 3.5 out of 5 ($10.99)
Quality: 3 out of 5
Overall: 3 out of 5

I have some qualms with this product. Though I appreciate the diversity that it brings to kohl liners, I am not won over.

The packaging makes it look like a mini mascara or a pen. There is a hole at the top, which serves for lots of twirling on my pinky finger, and could be used for a key-chain I suppose (though you’d have to be careful with your keys afterward). It’s pretty, but after a while you start looking at it and wonder what the point is.

Then there’s the applicator. That is 100% true to claim. It is loose kohl powder. It is vibrant. It’s everything they said!

The staying power? Womp womp womp. If you don’t use a sealant, don’t expect this bad boy to be smudge proof or wear proof at all.

The directions to do a smokey eye and cat eye, etc. above are instructions from L’Oreal. As far as I’ve tested though, this product is well suite for those who want smudged/smokey looks. The liner applies very lightly and is soft on your eyes, so you can build it up or smudge until you get your desired look. But if you want a precise and unmovable liner? I suggest you head for the HIP liners (especially the chrome!) instead.

Have you tried these? Like them? Hate them? Let me know!

tweetmeme_url = '';
http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js