Maychiri's Thoughts: Automatic Eye Pencil

Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Multi-Chrome Eye Pencil [C02] Review

February 02, 2025

Ah, yes, the other eye pencil. I am not thrilled about it at all, not after seeing the debacle that the first one was. I am hopeful, though, because this pencil has a chance of redeeming itself and showing that I will have at least one eye pencil to work with in this calendar. Because I really need one to go with the Eyeshadow Palette. This one appears to be bluish-purple, which would be awesome if it actually worked, unlike C01. So let’s see how good it is!

Packaging: just a black plastic pencil, but it has some nifty details. The Catrice logo, as well as the rest of the text, is multi-chrome! It switches from a rich green into a blue and then into a purple. Wooow! Hope this is what the pencil itself will look like on the eyes! However cool this effect may be, it makes it hard to read the text. The pencil feels like it has okay build quality; it doesn’t feel loose or cheaply made. The cap is solid black and closes very tightly.

Inside is the retracting mechanism that isn’t too bad. It sometimes feels a bit loose, but it’s mostly good enough. It’s easy enough to rotate it to get the lead out, and it generally holds its position. Sometimes it can be a bit hard to rotate, though.

Ingredients: vitamin E, squalane for nourishment. No parabens. The scent is barely noticeable; it smells a bit soapy. The expiration date is just 6 months after opening, way too short.

Oh boy... yeah, the swatch isn’t looking too good. Just like C01, it’s very patchy and filling in the blank spaces was pretty much impossible. Great... so am I going to have another pencil that looks decent in a swatch, but is completely unusable in actuality?

So, the colour this pencil is supposed to be, judging by the swatch, is like a peacock bluish green, going into bright purple and then vibrant blue. Supposed to be, because that is not what it looks like on the eyes. On the eyes, it is pale blue for the most part. Well, at least the colour is visible to some degree... unlike what C01 had. But it is still way too pale and muddy. And the ‘multi-chrome’? Barely visible on the eyes, though it is more noticeable than C01’s pathetic attempt at this.

It’s not even that the camera doesn’t capture the effect properly, it just flat out isn’t there, for the most part. The colour is a bit more vibrant when you apply it to bare eyelids, and the shimmer becomes slightly more visible, but it is still way too bland. This is supposed to pop – to be in your face! Not... whatever this colour is... peacocks would not be proud.

The texture is very chunky shimmery. It looks extremely messy and ugly, but at least it doesn’t look like dirt, unlike C01. I can see some of that ‘multi-chrome’ if I close my eyes and angle my head, but it is far from what it should be. The shimmer is way too chunky and messy and the end result is overall... not good.

Well, the pigmentation isn’t as bad as it could be, I guess. At the very least, it is not C01-level of bad. There is some pigmentation, enough to make the eyelids slightly blue, but you cannot make any extremely bright lines with it. I was envisioning making a peacock-like eyeshadow with this but obviously, that’s a bust. Granted, I did apply like 5 layers, but it still isn’t very pigmented. So it seems like a critical lack of pigmentation is a shared ache between the two eye pencils.

The formula is just a tiny bit less dry, compared to C01. It’s still very dry, but at least it doesn’t feel like I am trying to scratch my eyes out with it while I am applying it. But I still don’t get why it’s so dry... the calendar is newly made and the pencil has squalane so it shouldn’t be this dry. And because it is so dry, it applies very unevenly and looks very messy. It is next-to-impossible to make it look good, and that doesn’t just apply to using it as eyeshadow.

Even just drawing a winged eyeliner is impossible as it skips across skin and deposits the pigment unevenly. So what can it be used for??? Excellent question because I have no clue. I guess I am glad that it doesn’t tug at the eyelids quite like C01, so at least I am not killing my eyes trying to squeeze out whatever small amount of pigment there is. But it is not at all blendable. Yay. As soon as I tried to blend it out, it started to crumble. So now I have a crumbly mess on my eyelids, which is just fantastic...

Well, I will say that this pencil is a bit more usable than C01, but it is still borderline unusable with how bad it is. I had to press very hard just to get any pigment out, and even then, it was unevenly pigmented. Plus, all that squeezing made the lead break more than a couple of times. So yeah, it’s a miserable experience but at least it is gentler on the eyes than C01. My eyes didn’t feel sore or like they are burning, which is tiny consolation for everything else that is horrible.

And I don’t know what I am doing wrong; I tried to apply this pencil going both left-right and up-down and it still ended up being so goddamn patchy. Why doesn’t it want to apply like a normal pencil... why?? Why can’t I get my nice peacock-like eye look??

And just like C01, it seems to hate being applied to anything other than bare eyelids. I use foundation/concealer as eyeshadow base (a trick I learned from professional MUAs) and this eye pencil just hates that. I can use other eye products just fine this way, but this pencil ends up being so pale, so washed out and so horrible. And no, I am not about to stop doing this just for these two crappy pencils.

Here’s one good thing: it is extremely lightweight. Hey, that’s something! Not much, but something. I cannot feel it on my eyelids, it’s that lightweight. I don’t even feel it on my crease... wait, hmm.

Ah yes, it figures that I wouldn’t be able to feel it in my crease when it creases so badly that there is no pencil left in the crease! This is atrocious. And it started to crease immediately, while I was still applying it! Talk about trash wow. So no, it cannot be used as an eyeshadow or like any graphic look that would go over the crease. However, it doesn’t fade during the day and it doesn’t seem to migrate vertically. It seems to stay in place the whole day. It doesn’t crumble further, either. Meh, this is awful... there really is no way to wear it, is there?

While the pencil itself is quite easy to remove, the shimmer is very stubborn. Of course, that is normal for such shimmery products, but it is always annoying. That’s why I suggest using a specialised remover instead of micellar water; that way, at least you’ll prevent the shimmer from going everywhere. Another thing to note is that this pencil doesn’t stain the eyelids, so that’s nice...

And lastly, can this be sharpened? Well, yes, technically, if you had one of those tiny automatically eye pencil sharpeners. But I wouldn’t bother. It’s not worth the time or effort.

So, overall, what can I say about this pencil? Nothing good, unfortunately. It is just slightly better than its C01 counterpart, so this means that it is still garbage. But slightly better garbage... yay I guess? I still don’t understand how they managed to ruin both of these pencils so badly. Catrice has good – great, even – eye pencils, so what the hell happened here? And how does it go from having a decent swatch to being so terrible on the eyes? Nothing is good; the pigmentation is awful, especially for what should have been a majestic bright blue turning into purple and lighter aqua blue. The swatch promised a peacock-feather-like effect but what I got on my eyes is a watered down mess that doesn’t resemble that at all. The multi-chrome effect is barely visible from how pale it is overall. I can maybe see it if I turn my head a certain way, but it isn’t as visible as it was on the swatch. This, to me, is the biggest disappointment. Sure, I could forgive it being poorly pigmented if only the effect it was named after was visible. Because what’s the point if having a multi-chrome pencil without it actually being multi-chrome? It’s barely duochrome as it is, let alone multi-chrome. And it applies so awfully; believe me, I tried to make it look good but it is basically impossible. It ends up being patchy and very uneven no matter what I do, and it cannot even be salvaged by blending it out as it crumbles when you try to do that. Oh, and it creases immediately- by that, I mean, while I am still applying it! So what if it doesn’t fade during the day? It’s useless either way. And this actually makes me sad. Whereas C01 made me very angry, C02 being so bad just makes me sad. Because I envisioned having this great colour-shifting blue eyeshadow look... only to get... this. This... garbage. Oh well... maybe the next day will have something to cheer me up because I am feeling bluer than this eye pencil...

Rating: 2/10

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Automatic Eye Pencil

Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Multi-Chrome Eye Pencil [C01] Review

December 18, 2024

Ah, finally, the eye pencil! I have been waiting for this, I do need something for the eyes now that I have both of the lip sets and the liquid lipstick! I like to use eye pencils, they offer me so much freedom: I can use them as an eyeliner, I can make graphic looks with them, and I can use them as eyeshadow – the possibilities are endless! But this is no ordinary eye pencil – this pencil is multichrome! What this means is that the colour shifts dynamically from one to another depending on how the light hits it. I have to say that I haven’t had very impressive results with multichrome (or even duochrome) in the past, so I am not on the edge of my seat (proverbially) for this pencil. Catrice and Essence have been on a multichrome/duochrome kick lately, though, so I am not surprised this is in the calendar. Now, let’s see what this pencil is like!

Packaging: black pencil, which would be boring... but there is something very eye-catching here! Look at that Catrice logo – and the text, for that matter! It is iridescent; like an oil spill, it shifts into all the colours of the rainbow dynamically depending on what angle you look at it. Stunning! Very, very beautiful! Without that, the pencil is quite bland, so I am happy that Catrice added this neat detail. The cap closes tightly, with a click; this is very important, as this eye pencil doesn’t have a long PAO.

This is an automatic pencil, so it has a retracting mechanism inside. The retracting mechanism is a bit stiff, but it is to retract the lead. It does keep its position perfectly, and doesn't feel a bit wobbly, so it is pretty good quality, build-wise.

Ingredients: vitamin E, squalane for nourishment. No parabens. This is pretty much unscented. If there is any scent, it is super subtle and smells the tiniest bit soapy. The expiration date is just 6 months after opening; this is far too short for an eye pencil.

Oh dear, this swatch does not look good. In fact, it looks quite horribly uneven. I tried to layer on more pigment so that it’s even, but it just wouldn’t fill in the gaps. This is a bit worrying. Also, I broke the lead while swatching the pencil, so, obviously, it is quite delicate. Not good news. And the multi-chrome effect isn’t even that visible. I hope it ends up being better on the eyes than it is here because... wow, this isn’t good.

Colour: well, judging by the swatch, it should be like a dusty brown shifting into a bronze and then into a bright copper colour. I say ‘should’ because that’s not what you get on the eyes. Not even remotely. Instead, the actual colour on the eyes is a muddy dusty brown with barely visible orange shimmer. Great, ain’t it? There’s also a noticeable gray colour to it for some reason. I did not see that in the swatch. It just looks dirty.

The orange shimmer is a tiny bit more visible if you apply it on bare eyelids, without any eyeshadow primer or foundation, but it’s still incredibly... underwhelming. Especially when the selling point – multi-chrome – is actually non-existent.

On bare eyelids, the finish is subtly shimmery, but the shimmer is chunky and messy. The shimmer is more visible on a thicker line, but it is still so bad and messy and just, frankly, ugly. And here I was hoping for some futuristic duochrome shifting to happen... yeah, no.

Let’s continue with more aspects that are shoddy, shall we? Cause not only is the colour a complete disaster, the pigmentation is an even worse disaster. Let me put it like this: the colour is Vesuvius erupting and destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum, while the pigmentation is the freaking Krakatoa eruption, which submerged and destroyed an entire island!! This metaphor is apt, as there is no pigmentation to even talk about. What you see in photos here is literally 15 freaking layers stacked on top of each other! 15!!!

And it still has no pigmentation! How it even is possible to screw it up so badly is beyond me. The best you’ll get is some ashy pigmentation that looks like you forgot to wash your face and remove makeup last night. And trust me, I tried to squeeze out whatever little pigmentation there was – I was pressing down hard with the lead, and not even that was able to give me any pigmentation... what a disaster.

My eyes were in so much pain...

Continuing... the formula. Oh yes, the formula. Because if two disasters already weren’t enough, add this to the pile of rubbish that is growing exponentially fast. See, this is an automatic pencil, and I get it, they are more prone to drying up... but this calendar is literally brand new. Soooo... why exactly is the lead already bone-dry? Hmm??? It is dry and sharp and legit impossible to use. It applies so messily and badly and just ugh. It’s also impossible to draw precise lines (so you can wave goodbye to any sharp cat eye with this...), not just because there is no pigmentation, but also because it tugs at the skin so badly that my eyelids literally started to hurt! It’s like they forgot to put any waxes or anything to soften the formula, so you get this ugly dry mess. Oh, also, it is not one bit blendable, btw! Yup, it gets worse! Yay! As soon as you try to blend it out it... begins to crumble. I have no words...

Now, as for usability, ie., how easy it is to use? It’s horrid. I don’t remember EVER using such a horrible eye pencil, and I’ve used plenty by now. The extremely dry formula is very rough on the delicate skin of the eyelids, and the necessity of pressing down hard with the lead just get some – any – pigmentation causes eyelids to feel irritated, red, and sore. There’s just no way to actually apply it so that it looks decent – let alone good. You can see how uneven it is around the crease, and it’s not due to user error.

Believe me, I tried to apply it every which way. I used every direction possible; horizontal swipes, going in circles to try and fill in the gaps, using tiny little flicks all over the eyelid... I even tried to go vertically across the eyelid just to get something. But no dice. It is a miserable experience and I am sure that my eyelids are very red and irritated underneath because they sure feel damaged. It literally feels like a cat clawed at them! That’s how aggressive and sharp this damn thing is! And yet... no results for all that trouble. No yeah I am FINE.

Oh, also, it seems to mind being applied to anything other than bare eyelids. I use foundation as an eyeshadow primer (look at James Charles’ videos if you doubt this technique, if a pro MUA encourages this, then yeah). This usually allows me to apply eye products more easily and it makes blending much easier, without causing everything to be muddled. But this pencil seems to hate this, as it just wouldn’t give me any pigmentation with foundation/eyeshadow primer on.

And sorry, if this works for legitimately all other eye products but not for this, then it’s a ‘you’ problem, buddy boy (referring to the pencil). I am not about to stop doing this just for this crappy eye pencil.

Well, at least it is very lightweight after you are done ~~massacring your eyelids~~ erm – applying this pencil. It is pretty much weightless even with god knows how many layers on. Even though I tried to apply it as an eyeshadow, I cannot feel it on my crease, so that’s good. Just don’t try to tightline your eyes with this, not unless you are craving severe injuries to your eyes.

Look at all that creasing not even 5 min in!!!

Longevity is crap, just like everything else. It creases immediately if you decide to use it as eyeshadow or if you do any graphic looks that go over the crease. Like I said, using foundation usually prevents this from happening, but when a product is crap then nothing can save it, can it? I honestly have no idea whether it fades during the day because I simply cannot even see it on my eyelids under most lighting conditions. The shimmer sure stays, though. Golly gee, what would I do without that orange shimmer??? I am so done...

Eh, it is mostly easy to remove. Although, if you applied a few dozen layers like I did just to try and get some pigmentation get ready to deal with all that shimmer – it will show up in larger amounts than you ever imagined! So I highly suggest using a specialised remover, to ease the pain at least a little bit. But besides the shimmer exploding everywhere, it’s pretty easy to remove. So that’s like 1.5 good things in total here, and the less important stuff, to boot. How great. Totally not sarcasm. Nope. Why would it be?

Can this be sharpened? Probably, using one of those tiny automatic liner sharpeners. But I honestly wouldn’t even bother. Just don’t waste any more time on this piece of garbage.

In conclusion, this is going straight into the rubbish bin. I am not even joking, I quite literally see no redeeming features in this eye pencil. Everything it sought to do, it failed catastrophically. Literally. There’s nothing good here. And I hate to be so negative; I hate to be so harsh on it. I always try to give products at least some grace, but that’s quite impossible here. I am a silver linings kind of thinker, so it pains me to be completely negative about something. But I have to, because this eye pencil is absolutely trash. Steaming pile of garbage. Where do I even start??? Maybe with the lead already being bone-dry even though this calendar is fresh?? How about that? Like, what went wrong with the formula?! And it’s not like I kept it in the bathroom; I kept it in a cool, dark place that has mostly constant moisture levels before I went to open each door. And even then, it was in my bedroom, which doesn’t have incredibly oscillating moisture levels. So obviously, it came already dried out – and that shows in how it applies. Or, doesn’t apply, I should say. Because, even after 15+ layers, there is still barely a trace of any pigmentation to be found. And even though I tried to blend it out with a brush, it is still hella messy and patchy and just horrible. Before you ask, no, applying it as a typical eyeliner doesn’t work. It tugs at the skin so badly that it’s impossible to draw any sort of sharp line. Let alone getting a sharp tip, you can forget about that. And, because it is dry, it is so freaking aggressive on the eyelids. Not only does it tug at them, it also feels so scratchy and sharp! My eyelids were practically sobbing, begging me to stop, as I was forced to go sideways, around, and up-and-down just to get pigment out. I have never had such a miserable experience using an eye pencil. It is utter crap and so not worth any potential damage you might do to your eyelid while applying it. Now, pigmentation... or rather, lack of. So... where’s that fabled 'Multi-Chrome'??? All I got is an ashy, dirty mess. I can see the shimmer under certain lighting conditions, but there is no colour shifting. Which is the main selling point. Man, what a botch-job... what happened, Catrice?! What the hell happened here... and this is just the first if two eye pencils so yaaaay, I get experience this crap all over again once the second one comes. Sigh. I am so fed up with this piece of s-garbage. Let’s just move on, I want to forget about this as soon as possible...

Rating: 1/10

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Automatic Eye Pencil

Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil [32 - Go Green!] Review

March 02, 2023

And now the third eye pencil, and the most eye-catching of them all. This is the Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil, shade 32/Go Green!.

I bought this shade in particular because I, for some reason, thought it would be awesome to have a highlighter pen green eye pencil. Not even thinking about how to incorporate it into the rest of the makeup I had back then, just YOLO. Though I will say that it does make a nice trio of colours, the three that I bought. This is the only one of the three pencils that is matte. So let’s see how you might use this pencil and, more importantly, how good it is!

Packaging: pretty simple. Just a plastic pencil whose exterior matches the real colour of the pencil. The text is white, which isn’t really the best choice on a neon lime green background; black would’ve been much more legible but it would’ve also been too... dark, I guess?

It doesn’t look too cheap, though. The retracting mechanism is robust enough; it’s not at all flimsy nor does it feel cheap.

Source: essence.eu

Ingredients: vitamin E for nourishment. No parabens. The scent is barely noticeable, it doesn’t really smell like anything! The expiration date is 36 months after opening, and it stays just as fresh months, even years after opening.

Since this is an automatic pencil, it is incredibly precise. It is more than precise enough to draw graphic eyeliner looks, though it does become blunt rather easily. Not that that’s a problem, really!

The colour of this eye pencil is incredible! It’s an extremely bright neon yellow-green, almost like a highlighter pen! This colour is extremely vibrant, though it would definitely look better on darker skintones. On me it is a bit washed out. Still a fantastic colour, though!

The formula of this eye pencil is just creamy enough to glide easily, but it’s more dry than creamy. It is very easy to use and to make an even line with it. Even unsharpened it is precise enough to make sharp lines. And it doesn’t even smudge one bit! I love the formula! It is just as good as the other shades in this product line. The only bad thing about the formula is that the lead can break if you press harder, due to the soft formula.

The pigmentation of this eye pencil is insane! Just a single layer is more than enough to get an extremely intense, vibrant colour! The texture is ultra-matte, so much that it does look slightly dry. I think the ultra-matte texture suits this colour, it makes it look even more intense! This pencil does feel a bit dry on skin, but it is also super lightweight and very comfortable to wear for hours!

Longevity is excellent! There is only a tiny bit of fading after 6 hours, and that’s only if you don’t apply a primer underneath. It does not smudge one bit after 6 hours, so it still looks awesome! It also seems like this pencil is at least water-resistant, if not waterproof, as water does not really do much to it.

This pencil is super easy to remove. No matter what you use it will be removed on seconds. There are no stains.

Although this pencil does not come with a sharpener, it can be sharpened with one of those little automatic pencil sharpeners that usually come with automatic pencils. It is very easy to sharpen, just be careful not to press too hard or the lead might break.

All in all, this is a pretty great eye pencil! I love the easy glide matte formula that deposits a perfectly even layer of pigment from the very first layer. There is virtually no tugging, and the lead is thin enough, so it’s super easy to draw precise, sharp eyeliner shapes. It literally took me about 10 seconds to draw a graphic eyeliner, it’s that easy to use! Besides that, the pencil has excellent durability and doesn’t smudge at all, be it during the application or while you are wearing it. Even if you take a shower, or exercise, or even cry, it will stay in place! I do love the colour, it is so loud and extreme! But it is a bit too light for my skintone; light to medium skintones should find this colour to pop more. But despite that, I still love it very much, even if I don’t use it as often as I should! Go green, indeed! Recommendation!

Rating: 7.5/10

Would buy again? Perhaps NO (It might be a bit too intensely lime green)

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Automatic Eye Pencil

Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil [28 - Life in Pink] Review

March 02, 2023

Next review!

This is the Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil, this time in the shade 28/Life in Pink.

The previous Longlasting Eye Pencil I reviewed was the turquoise one, which I quite liked. Obviously I was in the mood for extremely bright eye pencils when I bought these at Müller, but I was a total eyeliner and eye pencil noob at the time, so I ended up using them very rarely. Now that my skills have improved let’s see whether I like this pencil more than before!

Packaging: simple, just a vibrant pink plastic pencil with a matching cap and white text. The white text is especially visible on this vibrant pink. The cap fits securely and makes a nice click when it is closed. This is an automatic eye pencil, so it has a retracting mechanism that is quite well made.

Also, this is only visible if you take a really close look, but, there is this extremely fine shimmer print across the entire pencil! I only noticed it recently and I think it’s just gorgeous!

Source: essence.eu

Ingredients: just vitamin E for nourishment and no parabens, as Essence refuses to put parabens in their products. The scent is barely noticeable, maybe just a tiny bit waxy. The expiration date is 36 months after opening, and it doesn’t dry out anytime soon after opening.

As most automatic liners, this one, too, is very precise, and it’s really easy to draw any kind of graphic liner or just a simple cat eye with it. It does become blunt pretty easily, so if you want to draw a sharp point you’d have to sharpen it (yes, it is sharpenable!).

The formula is really creamy and just glides across eyelids without any tugging. It’s such a lovely formula that is super easy to use! Just do be careful: if you pull it out too much it does break easily, due to the soft formula. So, keep it as short as possible and don’t press too hard against skin. The pigmentation is incredibly intense, especially on pale skin. The colour is vibrant magenta.

The texture is metallic but not glittery; it’s more like velvety metallic and it really does look as soft as velvet. This is different from the turquoise and neon green pencils, where one is glittery metallic and the other is matte, respectively. This pencil feels relatively soft on my lids after applying it, and it is so lightweight that I barely feel it is there.

This is a very long-lasting eye pencil, like the name implies. It only starts to fade a bit after at least 5-6 hours, which is pretty good (without a primer, of course). It does not smudge after applying it, either. This shade did fade and crease a bit more than the other two shades.

This pencil is super easy to remove even with only micellar water, and it did not leave any stains that red/magenta/purple pigments are known to leave.

Now, this pencil does not come with a sharpener, but you can sharpen it with one of those tiny automatic lip pencil sharpeners. It’s super easy to sharpen, but, again, try to keep it as short as possible so as to avoid breakage.

All in all, I ended up really liking this pencil, way more than I ever thought I would. The colour is fantastic, such a vibrant fuchsia pink that is really bright and cheerful. The formula is pretty smooth and creamy and is super easy to apply. It’s also very long-lasting, only fading and creasing a little after 6 hours. It’s also really easy to remove, and there isn’t any leftover shimmer or staining. The only bad things are that the pencil tends to break rather easily if you extend it too much, and that it is a bit dry on the skin after it sets on the lids. Especially for its price, this is a fantastic eye pencil, with few downsides. It comes in a ton of different colours, and this vibrant pink is really great, so if you like extremely vibrant eye pencils this one is a great choice! Recommend!

Rating: 7.5/10

Would buy again? Perhaps YES (although it does seem that this shade has been discontinued)

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Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Multi-Chrome Eye Pencil [C02] Review

Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Multi-Chrome Eye Pencil [C01] Review

Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil [32 - Go Green!] Review

Essence Longlasting Eye Pencil [28 - Life in Pink] Review

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Maja Sekulić

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