MUA 3-in-one Contour Pen — Black, Smoked Plum, Sea Blue

My final MUA post of the day is a review of the £1.50 3 in 1 Contour Pen – which actually seems to be a pencil liner, though the texture is a bit unusual, and it took me a minute to figure it out! The texture is more like a pen, but given the nib twists out (& back in again) and is a couple inches long, it is actually some type of pencil.  I would guess that it’s named the 3-in-1 Pen because the angle of the nib allows you to make make thin lines, thick lines, and well – I’m not really sure what the third way to use it is!

3-in-1 Contour Pen: Black, Smoked Purple, Sea Blue

The Sea Blue and Black shade have good pigmentation, but the Smoked Purple shade has very poor pigmentation. Below, I’ve used the different sides of the nib to make a thin line & a thick line – each line is one swipe of the pencil.  Then, the rectangular swatch is built up with several passes of the pencil, to see how pigmented it can become – it makes a big difference for the purple shade!

MUA 3-in-1 Contour Pen; Sea Blue, Smoked Purple, Black

These are very smudgeable, which can be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your preference. Some liners smudge until they set, but these liners never set – they remain smudgeable forever. After I photographed my swatches, several minutes after application, I ran my finger across the swatches firmly, with this result:

Smudged MUA Contour liners

Not surprisingly (give the smudging), these do not last well. I have normal to dry skin, so most eyeliners last well on me – some last until removal, but almost all liners last at least 8 hours, more or less. These Contour liners were very faded by the 4-5 hours mark.

Given the poor pigmentation of the purple shade, given the fading, and given the way these smear, I do not recommend these liners.  There are plenty of other budget liners that are far superior for only a couple dollars (or pounds) more!