I love make-up. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to explain just how much I love it. I'm not the kind of girl that can't leave the house without a face full of the stuff; I am the kind of girl whose idea of a fun night in is to sit in front of a mirror with my entire make-up collection and systematically try all of it on. To give you a rather worrying insight into life chez louiseypees, around once a fortnight I am to be found in my slobbiest pyjamas, comfiest slippers and a headband over my scraped-back hair... with a full face of make-up, incorporating quite dramatically different looks on each eye (and occasionally each half of my mouth), doing the washing up. As my kitchen sink faces the main road, this can attract some pretty strange looks from passers-by.

Anyway, enough shameful revelations! With this all-consuming passion for make-up, I was predictably thrilled when one of my best friends decided to become an Avon rep. My first order from Avon included pretty much their entire make-up range - and one of the products I was really looking forward to was my Big Colour Eye Pencil. Having used (and loved) Benefit's Bad Gal eyeliner, I craved a similarly chunky eye pencil in a different colour. I love using crazy colours on my eyes, and much as a smokey eye looks good in a traditional black, I longed for a similar effect in a more interesting shade. Big Colour Eye Pencils seemed, then, to fit the bill - a chunky looking pencil, available in a whole host of different colours and claiming to be an eyeliner and eyeshadow in one. I decided to play it fairly safe on my first purchase and plumped for the aubergine.

I must say, these are really rubbish. Application is tricky as the pencil's texture is very waxy, to the point that it's almost sticky. There is no gliding smoothly onto the eyelid here - it's a struggle to draw anything resembling a line onto the eye because it drags and sticks so much, and if you do manage it has the effect of making you look like your make-up was applied by a cack-handed ten year old just before she tied your hair into messy uneven bunches and put blusher on your forehead.

But if I had to pick one positive personality trait of mine, it would have to be my optimism. Thinking maybe the problem was that this isn't necessarily an eyeliner, but instead meant to be used as an eyeshadow, I decided to invest in a lighter, more wearable colour to see whether this would improve matters. Alas, on this occasion my optimism was misplaced. These are horrible to use in any colour. At least in the turquoise I wasn't left looking like I'd gone 10 rounds in the boxing ring as I had been with the aubergine, but that was just about the only positive. Instead I was left looking like I had an unfortunate skin condition.

There isn't a redeeming feature of these for me. They even failed the make-up bag test when the lid managed to fall off - not a huge crime, you'd think, but my make-up bag is tightly packed - it didn't have to withstand much moving around. The lid just didn't fit properly. I now have an attractive turquoise sheen all over the rest of my make-up. Not a good look... or a good thing to get on your hands just before you put your foundation on.

As with all Avon make-up, the price of this isn't all that relevant as they're usually on offer, but "officially" it will set you back £5.

So is this product for you? Well, if you're keen to look like you've had your eye make-up applied by a gibbon in boxing gloves, then I can't imagine a better product to use. Otherwise, I'd probably steer clear.