~A lip liner that works well ~ at a price!~
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Having used a number of products from the Guerlain range and enjoyed using most of them I was happy to receive a few products as a gift some time ago, which included one of these lip liner and brush combo pencils. I must admit that in the main I do prefer the twist up type of lip pencils (which Guerlain do manufacture) over these more basic types that you have to sharpen yourself, although in this case I feel there is a little extra to the product as it has a built in brush and comes with its own easy to use pencil sharpener. Having used the pencil to good effect and been pleased with results my main concern with this product is the price as it sits at the high end of the lip liner pricing spectrum, making it a large investment compared with some other similar products you can buy.


~Using the lip liner pencil~
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The actual make up part of the pencil holds a good degree of pigment that means when you use the pencil to apply a neat line of colour to your lips, it creates an even toned smooth finish that is well defined. I like the texture as it is easy to work with, being just about right in terms of its ability to be applied without dragging the skin and creating a messy finish. With some pencils when sharpened to within an inch of their lives, (thus making them uber pointy and sharp) the tip of the lip pencil can drag against the skin far too much, so I tended to try not to over sharpen this one in order to avoid that.

I found that by doing over sharpening you not only create too harsh a tip with which to apply the product, you also end up sharpening away too much of the product which is a waste of money. The pencil works just as well with a slightly less sharp tip and in my opinion gives a better finish too.

The lip liner is easy to handle and hold and I found that I could quite easily create a nice smooth well defined line then go back and fill in with colour to give a full cover result if wanted. I found that being light handed when using the pencil made it last well and stopped it cracking when worn underneath a coating of lipstick or gloss. The lighter and more even the base the better the top coat looked when using this, with lasting times on the lips being fairly good, although not outstanding when you think of just how expensive to buy these pencils can be. The lip pencil did not eliminate the transfer of lipstick/ gloss and pencil traces being left on cups or glasses when drinking from them, although it did work well to ensure that there was still enough of it left where is should be after having sipped from a glass etc.


~Price verses quality~
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With prices from £16 + to £20 being charged in some stores for these pencils you really do need them to work hard in order to justify their high price. My feeling is that they are quite expensive when compared to similar products that you can buy and I would like to see them at no more than £12 to £14 at most as I feel this is what I would be comfortable paying for them. Whilst the neat and smooth brush tip that you get on one end of the pencil is of good quality and also works well when you use it with lipstick or gloss, I do feel that it is not enough to tip the balance and make this something that is worth its circa £20 value.


~Product rating~
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My over all feeling about the product is that I enjoyed using, as it gave pleasing results and had it been a little cheaper to buy I would be more inclined to opt for it in the future. Based on quality, texture, longevity in use and finish I would give this product 4 stars, however I feel that I need to deduct a star due to the high sale price of the product, which means this lip liner pencil gets a 3 star product rating.