Clarins 3-Dot Liner - review

Clarins 3-Dot Liner

I know I'm late to the 3-dot liner party, this product has been out since 2012, but this is a genuinely fascinating idea.  It's a pen type eyeliner and instead of one nib, it has three tiny firm pointy nibs all together in one.

The idea behind this one is simple - borrowing from the way of teaching newbies (we were all one, once!) how to do liner by creating a series of dots along the lashline and then connecting them up, this product helps you to do just that by creating three tiny dots each time you press it to your skin.

Ingenious!

There are a few ways in which this could be used, whether you are a novice at the liner-lark, or whether you are a dab hand but want a quick way to do a natural (non-lined-looking) lash line:

1. You can line just at your lashes by applying in a series of dots either by lifting your lashes out of the way and lining from underneath, or by looking down into a mirror, and lining at the lash line from above - if you just apply-and-move-and-apply-and-move, you'll have a lovely natural looking eyeliner done in zero time.  It won't look like a liner per se, so if you don't like a liner look, this one's for you.  Instead it just looks like your lashes are darker and thicker, instantly.
2. You can do the same but this time, then go back over it again and aim to fill the spaces between the dots with another set of dots - doing this will build up an actual line for you in no time.
3. You can do 1 &/or 2 above and then smudge with a pencil brush (but you'll need to work quickly) to give you a slightly softer liner look
4. You can do 1 &/or 2 above and then drag it out with an angled liner brush (again, working quickly before it dries) to help create an actual line

Lots of teeeeeeeeeeny tiny dots...

I personally don't like to use it for creating flicks - it's possible to create them, sure, but it just takes a bit more thinking about placement of the nib, otherwise you wind up with a kind of 3-line-calligraphy effect (interesting, but probably not what you want ;-)) and in addition, it's not terribly easy to pull the applicator across your lashes to create a quick line; that three-pronged sponge tip is incredibly unyielding.

That said, it is do-able as you can see - and I know at least one or two of my friends who do use it for flicks and like it... it's just my personal preference.

I like it for a different reason - as the three points to the nib are so tiny and so pointed, you can really create tiny tiny dots - so if you're a fan of the dotted/speckled eyeliner looks we saw from January onwards, you could theoretically also use this product to create this look.

Like a lot of these pen-type offerings, there's a whack of alcohol in it (probably to make sure it dries reasonably quickly) and it also contains products which would help counter-act any drying effects (glycerin and panthenol to condition and moisturise).  It's nicely wet, so you don't have to press this to your lids either - just touch it to your lashline and move along.

It is super black.  It does take a decent eye makeup remover to get rid of it at the end of your day (as is usual with good variants of these type of liners).  It's also not a dead matte, there is a very slight sheen to it, but this is really only going to be evident if you've used it for a particularly thick flick (and this is probably a little more flattering with eyeliner anyhow) (and it's not really designed for this use either, as previously mentioned).  It can take a while to completely dry down so it benefits from a little bit of black eyeshadow pushed over it if you want it to last a long time.

Look here for more information.  Priced at €24, I've heard good things about its longevity (in terms of it not drying out in the tube) but as I've only had it a short while, I can't attest to this either way.  Definitely recommended if you like to wear minimal liner or you're starting out with liner and it's driving you berserk bananas (I know it drove me insane and I know most MUAs would admit that liner is the one thing you really need to keep working at - so if you haven't "got" it just yet, persevere! Incidentally, there's a post here that might help you to do eyeliner flicks).