The Line Up Project: HIP

Review by MUA's Cavewoman

These new liner products from the HIP High Intensity Pigments line for L'Oreal have received tons of great buzz on The Makeup Alley, and although they are not gel or cream liners like the rest of the products in my liner review series, I thought I should test them out. A quick trip to Walgreens had me in front of the display, showing six shades on a special display unit, products hung on pegs from their cute loop-topped containers. There is no doubting the similarity in packaging and product to Guerlain's Kohls, which I have admired on the Guerlain displays but had never purchased. Even with a little personal instruction at Bergdorf one day with my buddy Kathy, having the SA show us that we should dab a liner brush on the wand inside instead of attempting to apply the loose powder liner with the wand itself, I feared fallout and did not want to contend with the mess. Kathy has mastered the Guerlains. I'm always in awe of her skills. But, MakeUpAlley claims of staying power had me hooked, so off of the hooks I selected the HIP Kohls in Black, Burgundy, Navy and Teal.

The Burgundy was the most interesting of the shades, so this is the one I chose to test out. I thought I should give the applicator a chance, as well as using the Bergdorf-instructor separate brush technique. I unscrewed the cap of the HIP, and immediately little specks of product started to fall off of the wand. I was a bit disturbed by the chunky crumbs that were now lying on my vanity table, but I kept on. I used the wand to apply the loose liner powder to my upper lash line. Crumbs fell on my cheeks and lashes, crumbs were falling on my hand, crumbs were everywhere. But I persisted and got the liner on, a bit thicker than I would have wanted by using the enclosed wand, but it was very pretty and had a definite metallic look. I reached into my brush cup and pulled out a very very skinny old Sephora brand liner brush, and it fit down into the container well of the HIP. I pulled out the brush (more fallout) and tapped it a bit to try to get off some of the excess (more fallout) and used the brush to apply the liner to my lower lash line. Definitely using the Sephora brush was a better way of applying, because I was able to achieve a much thinner line. And then I did something very dangerous. I re-dipped the Sephora brush and applied the liner to my waterline, the inner rim of my eye, both upper and lower. I loved the smoldery look this gave my eye. Very sophisticated (definitely not my usual style) and almost smokey-eye looking (which I love on others but can rarely achieve on my own.) I wiped off all the fallout and crumbs off of my eye and cheek area, and was completely delighted with the eye look I had created with this Burgundy Kohl.

As is the usual case, the raves on the MakeUpAlley with regards to staying power were completely true. The line on my upper lash line did not budge, it stayed clear and didn't crack or flake off or smear in the least. Same with the lower lash line. The waterline began to wear off within an hour or so, which is odd because it wore off unevenly. I don't have watery eyes or any allergy issues with my eyes, so I was surprised. But I still loved the way it looked on the lash line. About three hours later, getting ready to head out for the evening, I checked the liner. It was still absolutely perfect looking, beautiful, exactly as I had applied it, with the exception of the uneven waterline. But what did I see? A red bump? Right there on the lower lash line, a red bump. A stye. I couldn't remove the entire eye look fast enough. I grabbed the L'Oreal Skin Genesis wipes and gently began to remove all of the HIP kohl. It wouldn't budge. I ran for the Benefit Gee That Was Quick and a clean cotton ball. It took three attempts to remove all of the HIP.

In terms of Line Up score, I am not sure how to rate this product. If I rate it only on appearance and staying power, it would recieve a perfect 10. It is that beautiful. The fallout and crumb issue would definitely drop the rating down to about a 3 because it is so messy and hard to apply. And with the stye issue now, I'd give the stuff a big fat zero. I haven't had a stye since I was in college, back in the 60s, when we dorm girls all shared our makeup without even thinking of cleanliness or bacteria. So I have to just attribute the stye to the HIP liner. Nothing else in my daily routine would have caused it.
Good thing Walgreens has a fair return policy.