Automatic Lip Liner

Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Lip Liner [C02] Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - December 10, 2024

Ah, here is the second of two automatic lip liners in the calendar! Again, I haven’t used many Catrice lip liners, though I now have the added knowledge of what the lighter lip liner, C01, was like... and that worries me. However, I will go in blind, like I haven’t used that one, and give my honest, unbiased, opinion! To be completely honest, I am not digging this colour as much as C01, I am skeptical it will look that good on me,  but we’ll see, right? Now, let’s see!
 
 
 
 
Packaging: just like the first lip liner, the packaging is really simple. It also feels just as cheap and kinda flimsy. The exterior is made to match the colour of the lip liner, and, yeah, it pretty good match, though it is a bit too rusty. The actual lead is less orange. Text is light pink, which doesn’t look quite as nice as on the first lip liner, but I do like how it’s a higher contrast. There isn’t a whole lot of information here, you’ll have to go back to the calendar for the ingredients list, for example. 
 
 
The cap closes pretty tightly, with a click. The retracting mechanism is a bit easier to use than with C01, but it still feels stiff and requires effort to get enough lead out. At least it’s not messed from me toying with it... so yeah, feels cheap.
 
 
Ingredients: vitamin E for nourishment, no parabens. Oh yum, the scent is delicious! It smells like a mixture of vanilla cake and rich chocolate! This is the same scent as C01, but I enjoy it just the same! It’s rich and so yummy and... ah, just amazing! Though it doesn’t match the colour quite as well as C01, this isn’t a very chocolatey colour. The expiration date is 12 months after opening.
 
 
 
 
Here’s a very nice swatch for now, until I form a complete opinion on this liner, although I do have an idea what it’ll be like; if it is at all similar to C01, I won’t have a great time. But I won’t poison the well just yet, I’d rather give it a chance to, in a manner of speaking, speak for itself. You know, review each one objectively and stuff. 



 
Colour: identical to the Full Shine Lipstick C02, as it makes a set with it. Although it may look a tiny bit darker because this liner is matte, not shiny like the lipstick. This is a deep, intense rose kind of colour, with an almost neutral undertone, just perhaps a bit warm. It’s muted but also vibrant, somehow. Like, it looks a bit faded, but it’s also so intense. In terms of named colours, it is quite similar to ‘China rose’ and ‘raspberry red’. It’s a dramatic, but very elegant colour, and one that is fitting for the 1920’s style the Advent calendar is going for. 
 
 
I love this colour! It’s a fair bit more dramatic than the lip liner/lipstick C01, so this one could be used for evening activities, while the C01 could be used during the day. Or you could absolutely wear this during the day, it’s very classy! It really pops on my pale skin!

 
Pigmentation is much, much better than what C01 had. This liner is so pigmented that you really have to be careful how you use it, as it only takes a light touch and already there’s a lot of colour! This one looks great with a single layer, though, of course, it benefits greatly from having multiple layers; then it becomes super intense and vibrant! Although, I would be careful with multiple layers, as it has most of the same issues the C01 variant had. Fantastic pigmentation, really! Wow!
 

 
This liner is a fair bit easier to apply than C01. For starters, the formula is quite a bit different at the start, so that, of course, impacts the application. This liner applies very easily as it glides across lips, even the more dry parts. It doesn’t really tug at the lips like C01 does, it just feels so soft as I am applying it! And it doesn’t skip over parts of lips a lot, though I would still suggest having exfoliated, smooth lips, just because of the texture and finish. 
 
 
 
I love how smooth and creamy this liner feels while I am applying it, but one thing I don’t like is that it starts to pill and crumble if you try to apply new layers on already dried layers – and trust me, it doesn’t take long for them to dry. But it’s less severe than with C01, at least so far. However, aside from that, there aren’t many other problems; the pigment is deposited evenly and richly and I had no issues filling in my lips all over. This is important, as this isn’t a forgiving colour! Wonder why C01 and C02 feel so different to use when the ingredients list is almost the same?
 

 
This is an automatic lip liner, so, as expected, it is very precise. Though, once the initial sharp tip is used up, the lead will be blunt, which might create issues with sharply defining the cupid’s bow. But it can still sharply define the lips, so it isn’t much of an issue. I do believe they are more sharply defined than with C01, and I am so happy for that! This colour needs the precision, so I am really glad that this liner is this precise!
 

 
 
Oh my, the formula feels substantially different to the one C01 had. At least, at first. It feels buttery smooth and soft, and it melts into the lips wondrously, giving you intense colour with no effort at all! Why is it so buttery? Doesn’t matter, I adore it! Oh... but that doesn’t last long. Like I thought. Soon after applying, it changes from that amazing buttery smooth formula into a very powdery dry one. It never feels occlusive though, not even when it’s initially buttery soft. 
 
 
 
It takes literally 10-15 seconds for it to dry down into this powdery dry finish, and that’s exactly why it has a tendency of crumbling or pilling when adding additional layers. This extreme dryness is not a good thing, despite being virtually weightless. I may not be able to feel it were it not for the fact that it is constantly forcing me to lick my lips in a vain attempt to rehydrate them. And that causes it to become more waxy. Never tacky, though. So, a bit of bad, a bit of good, I suppose. Though the bad is quite bad. The texture is completely matte, with no shine at all. But it looks velvety soft, not extremely dry like it could. It doesn’t emphasise the fine lines of the lips very much, and makes lips look so luscious and nice! Yay! Although it does start to look more dry with time. But it still looks velvety and super soft!
 

 
So... about that dryness. Yeah, it’s very uncomfortable. Like I said, it’s so extremely dry that I am constantly subconsciously trying to moisten my lips, which only leads to them getting drier, ironically enough. But my lower lip is in so much suffering... not only is it dry all over the lips, it creates this awful dry crust on my lower lip that is just more evidence of how drying it actually is. After a whole day of wearing it, my lips feel very dry, to the point where the lower lip starts to crack. 
 
 
And even worse, after meals and if it becomes moist at any point, the liner becomes waxy, and that waxy crust feels even worse. It’s super lightweight though, which helps offset some of this discomfort, but it’s still not at all comfortable to wear. Man, I will need lip oil sorely after this... 

 
Longevity is, again, not something this lip liner excels at, just like C01. But, where C01 could hide a good deal of the damage due to the very natural, soft colour, this one shows all the damage quite clearly. Now, the basics, does it fade or smudge over time? No, not on its own. The edges stay as sharp as when they were first defined, and the colour stays just as intense throughout the day. There is also no feathering on the edges, so it does its job of being a lip liner very well... until you decide to eat or drink something. 
 
 
 
Because it really does not like that. All food will make it fade from the centre, and since it is a quite vibrant colour, the damage is very visible. It is absolutely necessary to reapply it after meals, which isn’t ideal. After all, lip liners should be a good base for lipsticks, and if they don’t tolerate food... you get it. If you just line your lips with the liner, you might be able to get away with not fixing it after meals, but if you fill in your lips with it, half of it will he gone after most meals, it doesn’t matter whether they are greasy or not. Shame. But I was expecting this.

 
Just like I was expecting this liner to be easy to remove. And it is, it takes but a single swipe with micellar water and it’s already gone! Though it may, potentially, leave a bit of a stain. But in most cases, it won’t. Now time to apply a lot of lip oil... my lips really need it.

 
 
Sharpening? Well yes, even automatic lip liners can be sharpened... with the right tool. You, of course, cannot sharpen it with a typical sharpener, you’ll need one of those tiny automatic liner sharpeners that come with many of the more affordable automatic pencils. If you do decide to sharpen it with this tiny sharpener, have a light touch as the lead is quite delicate and prone to breaking.

 
Just to note that, while this lip liner matches the lipstick perfectly, they don’t actually seem to go together all that well. What I mean is that, since both are drying, the end result is that the lips feel much more dried out than if you were wearing either separately. So, something to look out for. Either deal with that extreme drying out, or apply a lip oil/lip gloss over this liner instead of the lipstick; not ideal, but one way to prevent your lips from being extremely dried out.

 
 
 
Overall, eh, I am not too thrilled with this lip liner. However, it is definitely better quality-wise than C01! Why? Well, because, instead of feeling waxy and occlusive at first, this one feels buttery soft and creamy! And lightweight from the start! Plus, it doesn’t tug at the lips as much; it actually barely tugs at them at all! This makes it so much easier to apply, even if the colour is more intense. I had no trouble at all both defining my lips and filling them in, though I get the feeling that this liner is not actually meant to be used in place of a lipstick. Not only does this use up way too much of the lead, but it is also so, so, SO very dry. It feels so powdery dry that it’s making me want to lick my lips constantly and if I do that, they just become drier. So it’s an endless loop of drying out. And then it becomes waxy on the lower lip and creates the godawful crust that I despise so much. Not fun or comfortable at all to wear. Just like C01. It also doesn’t tolerate food or drinks; it fades significantly from the centre of the lips, leaving you with an ugly, half-faded out look. So, obviously, it needs to be fixed after meals, which is slightly annoying. But hey, it’s such a pretty colour, though! To contrast with the C01 set, this one is much darker, much more dramatic, and certainly much more moody. It’s a dark rose, that is somehow both muted and intense at the same time. It’s a great colour of you are going for a 1920’s kind of look! And it’s a great colour overall, and I am sure it will suit many skintones. I do love how it looks on me, so dramatic yet elegant at the same time! It will be awesome for winter, I just know it! It is really such a shame that it’s so drying and dry and doesn’t have good longevity, isn’t it? It had so much potential... but this is one of the few actually decent products so far, so I’ll take it!



Rating: 6/10




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