Clarins Crayon Kohl Eye Pencil Review & Swatches

Clarins Crayon Kohl Eye Pencil ($25) is a new long lasting eye pencil released for Fall 2013 in eight shades of color. The first time I met and fell in love with an pencil eyeliner from Clarins was the Fall of 2009. It was a blue eye pencil and I thought to myself I’d never use a shade like this. Fast forward a year later and I swear there was very little of that pencil left to call my own. I sharpened it down to a nub….! Soon after I snagged a black pencil in the same formula and had the same experience.

With so many finishes, formulas, and tech-y little eyeliner pencils available at the moment I think we sometimes forget that the simplest pleasures in life comes from a pencil eyeliner which is why I was excited to head back to my makeup past and try out Clarins new Crayon Kohl Eye Pencils.

The irony here is Clarins claims the new Crayon Kohl Eye Pencil glides easily onto eyes….but…but what happened to that gorgeous creamy formula I knew and loved from my first try with a Clarins Eyeliner Pencil?

These are so terribly drying 🙁

I was shocked. Of course, there’s always room for error so I assumed perhaps that one shade I tried was just a fluke as they couldn’t all be as dry right? Wrong…I tried seven out of the eight shades and all had a super dry formula that tugged during application and provided a very uneven finish across my lash line. I prefer a creamy texture that glides easily and this was far from that. The density of the pencil makes for a rather unpleasant experience as you really need to press down hard on the delicate, softer area of your lid which causes an uncomfortable application as well as one that’s far from precise.

Bronze

Black

Blue

Intense Brown

Intense Purple

Smoky Plum

Taupe

Intense Black, Intense Brown, Intense Blue, Intense Violet, Bronze, Smoky Plum, and Taupe

I must admit I’m shocked. Even those with oily lids probably won’t appreciate this hard and dry of a pencil. The colors are also less than intense and vibrant due to the consistency of the overall pencil. I feel like the formula was one of a pencil that might have mistakenly been left open overnight and dried out….

Clarins what happened here?

Clarins almost always delights me but something went terribly wrong with the new Crayon Kohl Eye Pencils! Just too hard and dry for these eyes.

Sad sigh!

P.S. Not sure I get the brush at the end…..why not a sponge smudger? A brush? Eh?

Available now on counters.

Tried ’em?

Do share!