How many of you remember the classic, multicolour click pens that were trending in the ‘90s? Those ballpoint pens were all the rage back when I was in school. Thus when I saw that Clarins had released the makeup version of this pen, I was hit with a bout of nostalgia. Since I do love multi-use products, I decided to pick one up for myself. Here is my review of the 4-Colour Pen in ‘Harmony 01’.

Just like its muse, this product too comes in the shape of a plastic pen. The red and white colour scheme fits in with the brand’s theme and also gives it a middle school vibe. The shade name is mentioned on the accompanying box. The retractable pen gives you the option to use 3 shades of eye liner or a lip liner. As promised, it clicks easily to pop out the liner of your choice. Then, you need to twist up so that the nib comes out of its plastic casing.

On the formula front, these liners had a couple of hits and misses. The stiff, waxy texture was a tad difficult to work with and didn’t go on as smoothly as I would have hoped. Initially, the nibs felt flat and blunt, but after a couple of uses they rounded out nicely and were gentler on my lids. On the plus side, the liners are quite pigmented and blend easily. ‘Harmony 01’ contains 3 shades of eye liner – ‘Deep Black’ (inky black), ‘Forest Green’ (deep green) and ‘Blue Marine’ (navy), along with a lip liner in ‘Rosewood’ (nude pink). Two swipes were enough to obtain full opacity.

I’ve been carrying this liner around in my work tote for a month now and have reached for it every single day. The functionality of having 4 products in one means that I now have options to play with, without lugging around a million products. The eye liners stay put for about 5 hours, without flaking or bleeding. However, if you do have oily lids, the formula will smudge so it’s best to apply a primer beneath them. The lip liner is too slim to be used as an all-out shade but does a good job at defining the lips. The colour stays on for about 4 hours, without smudging. On the downside, it does transfer and fade after a meal.

Multipurpose, pigmented and comfortable to wear, this 4-in-1 pen is quite the genius. Now, all I need to be careful about is that none of my colleagues mistake it for a regular pen and steal it from my desk!

Price: USD 32.00/ GBP 28.00