Review Detail
4.5 4 0.5
Bourjois Khol & Contour Eye pencil in Brun Design (Brown)
Overall rating
4.7
Price
4.0
Quality
5.0
Effectiveness
5.0
The Bourjois Khol & Contour Eyepencil in Brun Design is super soft and rich in pigment. It's a beautiful, dark, matte brown, like the colour of Lindt 70% Cocoa chocolate. Yum. I would've loved to take a picture of the eyepencil and chocolate side-by-side, but... chocolate. Yum.
You could use this sharpened to get the perfect barely-there line on your upper eyelids with little effort. It's also GREAT for tight-lining, and because it's so soft, minimal manipulation of the eyelid is required. No pulling, stretching, lifting. If you prefer a thicker, more obvious khol line, you could use it blunt or simply slant the pencil like you would for "shading" in a colouring book. Keep in mind that this pencil is super soft and you need minimal pressure during application. I learnt this by bending and breaking the nib a couple of times.
The Bourjois Khol & Contour Eyepencil in Brun Design is also SUPER for contouring and smudging. I could create a perfectly acceptable and presentable smoky eye using just this pencil. Srsly. Wanna contour your lids? Simply dot/dab the pencil in the crease of your upper eyelid and smudge'n'blend with your ring finger or a blending brush. Even those little sponge applicators you usually get with compacts can be used for this. For an intense smokey eye, you could line your entire lid with this and simply smudge'n'blend the obvious lines and voila. If you're going to smudge and blend with ease, you have to do it soon after application, though, or you'll need to use a little more effort for it to budge, and probably some beauty tools, too. This makes it great for flicks and winged-liner, especially if you're not comfortable and confident with liquid and gel liners. Which brings me to it's "hold"...
It is long-lasting, and won't run and smudge unless seriously provoked. This isn't an eyepencil that will move in the slightest if you splash your face with water. You can't just wipe this away without makeup-remover or cleanser. Is it hard to remove? No. But water is not going to cut it. I had created flicks with this pencil a couple of weeks ago and forgot to remove my eye makeup before jumping into the shower (and I avoided "washing" my eyes, as my then cleanser was not ideal for the eye area) and my eye makeup was still fully intact. Not even the slightest smudge or fading, and I had rinsed my face a couple of times to remove my cleanser properly AND I had dried my (whole) face. Impressive staying power, right? Whether or not it lasts 16 hours, I wouldn't be able to tell you, as I've never worn makeup for that long. But, on their website they state that it was "scientifically tested on 22 consumers - result obtained on 32% of panelists", so if you need your eye pencil to last for that long, I hope you're in the 32%. I love that they disclosed that. And I love scientific tests. A lot.
To add to it's multi-purpose appeal, this is also a great eyebrow pencil. I have naturally dark brows, but sometimes I need to fill a few gaps, especially when I'm going through a "reinvention" phase where I decide to change the shape of my eyebrows, or change the position of the arch.
I'm tempted to contour my whole face with this pencil, because it's so nice. The only thing holding me back is that it's way darker than a "couple of shades" and I may look dirty, but I'll be totally on it should I have no other contouring products handy, if and when needed. Also, watching my eye pencils get smaller as I sharpen them makes me sad.
You could use this sharpened to get the perfect barely-there line on your upper eyelids with little effort. It's also GREAT for tight-lining, and because it's so soft, minimal manipulation of the eyelid is required. No pulling, stretching, lifting. If you prefer a thicker, more obvious khol line, you could use it blunt or simply slant the pencil like you would for "shading" in a colouring book. Keep in mind that this pencil is super soft and you need minimal pressure during application. I learnt this by bending and breaking the nib a couple of times.
The Bourjois Khol & Contour Eyepencil in Brun Design is also SUPER for contouring and smudging. I could create a perfectly acceptable and presentable smoky eye using just this pencil. Srsly. Wanna contour your lids? Simply dot/dab the pencil in the crease of your upper eyelid and smudge'n'blend with your ring finger or a blending brush. Even those little sponge applicators you usually get with compacts can be used for this. For an intense smokey eye, you could line your entire lid with this and simply smudge'n'blend the obvious lines and voila. If you're going to smudge and blend with ease, you have to do it soon after application, though, or you'll need to use a little more effort for it to budge, and probably some beauty tools, too. This makes it great for flicks and winged-liner, especially if you're not comfortable and confident with liquid and gel liners. Which brings me to it's "hold"...
It is long-lasting, and won't run and smudge unless seriously provoked. This isn't an eyepencil that will move in the slightest if you splash your face with water. You can't just wipe this away without makeup-remover or cleanser. Is it hard to remove? No. But water is not going to cut it. I had created flicks with this pencil a couple of weeks ago and forgot to remove my eye makeup before jumping into the shower (and I avoided "washing" my eyes, as my then cleanser was not ideal for the eye area) and my eye makeup was still fully intact. Not even the slightest smudge or fading, and I had rinsed my face a couple of times to remove my cleanser properly AND I had dried my (whole) face. Impressive staying power, right? Whether or not it lasts 16 hours, I wouldn't be able to tell you, as I've never worn makeup for that long. But, on their website they state that it was "scientifically tested on 22 consumers - result obtained on 32% of panelists", so if you need your eye pencil to last for that long, I hope you're in the 32%. I love that they disclosed that. And I love scientific tests. A lot.
To add to it's multi-purpose appeal, this is also a great eyebrow pencil. I have naturally dark brows, but sometimes I need to fill a few gaps, especially when I'm going through a "reinvention" phase where I decide to change the shape of my eyebrows, or change the position of the arch.
I'm tempted to contour my whole face with this pencil, because it's so nice. The only thing holding me back is that it's way darker than a "couple of shades" and I may look dirty, but I'll be totally on it should I have no other contouring products handy, if and when needed. Also, watching my eye pencils get smaller as I sharpen them makes me sad.
MB