When the new Australis Curve Ink Eyeliner landed on my desk for review a couple of months ago, I was intrigued. I’ve been practising and using liquid eyeliner pens for 2 years now, and while I don’t have any problems with liquid eyeliner anymore, this one was different. It sure looked different. I’ve never seen a curvy eyeliner pen before. This was one of those things you want to rip out of its packaging and use it right away. I mean, it’s ergonomically contoured, which means this one should be a doozy to use, right?

Boy was I right and wrong at the same time.

As a liquid eyeliner, it’s a pretty damn good one. Its felt tip goes on steadily with no feathering or skipping (I detest liquid eyeliners that “skips” my skin because when it stumbles, it usually lands on areas I don’t want any eyeliner on).

Now I know you can see that there’s a smudge of eyeliner at the top of the eyelid and that’s because I looked up right after I applied the eyeliner. The eyeliner goes on wet so it’s imperative that you keep your eyes looking downwards for at least 10 seconds to make sure it dries properly. Once it’s dried, this baby does not budge at all.

As an experiment, I doodled on the back of my hand with the eyeliner, let it set for about 15 seconds and then rubbed it with my other index finger. With light rubbing, there was no budging nor smearing. With standard rubbing, it was still the same. It was only when I went all commando-mode and rubbed the bejeezus out of my hand, only did it start to smudge and come off.

I’ve had this on my eyelids for hours on end and not once did it smudge or budge. It’s one heck of an eyeliner, I’d say.

Sigh, how I wished it would stop right there.

No problem using the pen on my right eye

Honestly, I can’t decide if this is a dealbreaker or not because it’s how the product is marketed but I don’t like the curved shape of the pen. It’s supposed to be an ergonomic shape for optimal holding and easy application of the eyeliner. I can’t tell if my hands are too big or too small because I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to hold this properly AND apply a precise line on my eyes without mistakes.

Very fiddly trying to using it on my left eye

I’m right-handed, so holding it with my right hand and applying it on my right eye was fine. But I had a lot of issues holding the pink, curvy bit when using it on my left eye. I found it difficult to rest my index finger on the pink curvy bit, bend my arm funny and try to work this on my left eye. I’m so used to using a pen eyeliner that in the end, I just had to hold it as one. Now if I was ambidextrous, this pen would have been a godsend. Unfortunately, for me, it’s just fiddly and many a time downright frustrating to use.

Ended up holding it like a pen instead of resting my index finger on the curvy pink bit

It’s such a pity I didn’t like the curvy nature of the eyeliner because I get where Australis is coming from with an ergonomically-contoured eyeliner pen. It’s new and definitely different from the usual liquid eyeliner pens you see in the market. As an eyeliner, I cannot fault it at all because it is a good liquid eyeliner. But the packaging (with its ergonomic curve) frustrates me almost too much to use.

Australis Curve Ink Eyeliner retails at $14.95 and is available at Priceline and Australis Cosmetics online stores.

What I like about it: A very good liquid eyeliner that does not feather or skip on the skin, is water-resistant and smudge-proof.

What I do not like about it: Not a fan of the curvy pen at all; found it difficult to hold.

Have you tried this curvy liquid eyeliner before? What are your thoughts on an ergonomically-contoured eyeliner pen (or any other form of makeup for that matter)? A good idea or is it better to just stick to what works?

Note: This product was provided for editorial consideration.