Review: This Liquid Eyeliner Is Very Impressive Indeed

By Adele Chan
Every week, the NYLON office receives quite a number of beauty press releases. By the end of the week, I usually do a round up of four to five stand-out items that really worked for me; but sometimes an item impresses me so much, it deserves a stand-alone entry. This is one such item.
Last Friday, I received Chanel’s Fall-Winter makeup collection, titled, Chanel Travel Diary (great name). As usual, if there’s a liquid pen eyeliner, I reach for it first — I’m obsessed with liquid pen eyeliners, I can never have too many. On Saturday morning, I whipped it out of the press kit, and whooooaaaa….this is Chanel’s BEST eyeliner to date. But first, some background.
In 2014, Chanel launched an eyeliner pen called Écriture De Chanel. Here’s a screengrab of it from Chanel’s website:

It had a felt tip, and honestly, wasn’t very good (NOTE: This is just my opinion.). It dried up on me after a few weeks of usage, and the formula smudged when my eyes got watery. Today, redemption comes in the form of the new Signature De Chanel — a brush pen eyeliner that is launching as part of Chanel’s Fall-Winter makeup collection. Last year, Chanel appointed Lucia Pica as the brand’s new Global Creative Make up and Colour Designer, and she really did something right here, because this simple liquid eyeliner is excellent. 

Here’s what the new eyeliner looks like:

Classy. Like anything from Chanel.

Now watch it in action:

Soooooo satisfying, right?

This eyeliner came in two parts: the pen holder, and an ink cartridge. Just like a fountain pen, you insert the ink cartridge into the holder, push the holder down until it “clicks”, and let the brush tip soak up in ink.

I’m always skeptical about eyeliner cartridges, because every one I’ve tried in the past has been disappointing — until now. This brush glides across eyelids very smoothly, it draws on an even, intense black line, it does not lose momentum when I reach the end of my eye, and the smooth brush allows me to do a beautiful flick at the end (and all this with a base of heavy black eyeshadow!). What’s interesting as well, is that the brush is tapered (see photo below) — I can draw on its flat end for a thicker line, or turn it on its side to draw a thin, precise line. There are many pen eyeliners with tapered brushes that try to achieve this same effect, but none have worked well enough for me to gush about — this one from Chanel beats them all at its game.

The downside to this excellent product: its price. It will cost $51 when it launches 27 July at selected Chanel boutiques, and that might be hard to swallow considering you can head to Watsons today and pick up any pen eyeliner from Clio, Maybelline or K-Palette at less than half the price and that works very well. But remember, this is Chanel. You are paying for Chanel. And I would totally pay for Chanel.

By the way, it’s made in Japan. Of course it is.

CHANEL SIGNATURE DE CHANEL 10 Noir, $51.

Available from 27 July at Chanel Fragrance and Beauty Boutiques in ION Orchard, The Shoppes at MBS, VivoCity and Raffles City; and from 4 August at all Chanel Fragrance and Beauty counters. chanel.com/en_sg