L'Oreal HIP Chrome Eyeliner Review, Photos, Swatches
L’Oreal HIP Chrome Eyeliner: Black Shock, Silver Lightning, Gold Charge, Violet Volt
L’Oreal HIP Chrome Eyeliner ($10.00) pencil eyeliners with a chrome detail to them. The formula currently has four shades available:
- Black Shock is a deep black satin — this one didn’t really read metallic or chrome to me, but it’s such an ultra dark black, I love it and don’t care at all that it isn’t more chrome-d out!
- Silver Lightning is a shiny bright silver with a definite chrome effect.
- Gold Charge is a deep gold with a decent amount of brightness to it.
- Violet Volt is a dark violet purple, almost a jewel-tone purple, with a slight metallic sheen (not quite as strong as Silver Lightning or Gold Charge).
I’m not often impressed by a lot of color products available at mass retailers, but when I am, I get very excited to share with others about my find! These are one of those instances where I was utterly blown away (and am a little annoyed with myself for sitting on these–not testing them, that is–for over two months) by the pigmentation, feel, and quality of the product.
These Chrome Eyeliners are ultra soft when you touch them, and the feel reminds me of an even softer version of Urban Decay’s 24/7 Liners, which I absolutely adore. These are so soft that I’d actually say it’s one of the minor issues with working with these – if you apply these with too much pressure (as is easy to do when swatching, ha!), the product may break a bit. I’m not sure if L’Oreal has a good sharpener for these, but they worked well with my Urban Decay one (which, coincidentally, works best on my 24/7 Liners, too).
The color pigmentation is amazing — very true to color and bright and bold. There’s no sheer color here. They apply easily because they’re so soft and smooth, and they just glide onto the lash line with no fuss. I will say the first time I applied these on my lower lash line and lower waterline, my eyes teared up and watered a fair amount. The liner stayed pretty well in place on the lower lash line and faded after an hour so of watery eyes on the waterline (to be expected).
I layered both Black Shock and Silver Lightning together a few days later, and I didn’t find my eyes teared up at all. I doubt very much that these are waterline tested or labeled safe, so just want to caution those looking for something to use on the waterline. Nonetheless, I found the liners wore well throughout the day and didn’t smudge or migrate on my lower lash line.
Bottom Line: Whether you find these at full price or are able to get a good deal (buy one, get one!), these are worth every penny. (I will say that $10 for an eyeliner at mass is a bit steep for me.) Soft, bold color that lasts for hours and stays put. I was just about to give up on L’Oreal, but these are totally amazing. Now, I’m a bit more eager to see what else L’Oreal releases in the future!
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! 🙂
- Product: 30/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 5/5
- Packaging: 5/5
Recommendation: For metallic, chrome-a-licious eyeliner, L’Oreal HIP makes a fantastic product to check out next time you’re at the drugstore!
Availability: Drugstore.com
See swatches…
L’Oreal HIP Chrome Eyeliner: Black Shock, Silver Lightning, Gold Charge, Violet Volt
I have these in silver and gold and I’m definitely in love! They are perfect for going out.
Yayyy!
WOW….that’s HUGE! great review…
And me myself is even not an eyeliner big fans…:D
Thanks, Moopiechan!
I have these in the silver, gold and purple that I bought as a lot with the loreal hip mascara. These liners are fabulous and so is the mascara!!
Nice! Will have to try the mascara next!
i’ve recently been able to test out some products from loreal HIp line and I must say, they are of excellent quality. I can’t wait to get this liners. How I wish loreal would sell the Hip line here in asia 🙁
I’m glad you’re liking the HIP line – what else are you liking?
I agree, Christine – I’m in love with these and I’m usually a high end girl! I got them when they first came out and also purchased the olive green and bright blue one. The only one I don’t have is the purple one – guess I need to hunt it down!
I know, they’re gorgeous! I wish I knew about these earlier so I could have gotten the olive and blue one!
oooH i want these!! just checked- walgreens has buy 1 get 1 free HIP products until Halloween!! Definitly picking up the purple, silver, and gold! I have so many Urban Decay 24/7 liners in zero!
OOOOh! BOGO! Thanks girlie!!
Awesome to hear!
I LOVE that gold one! Thanks for the review and swatches Christine! I’ll be going to pick one of these up today!!
You’re welcome, Candi!! 🙂
I have the violet volt and I love it. I really want the silver black now..
Get them 😛
I think the Silver Lightning is a must have for me and probably Gold Charge as well!
Get ’em!!
I’m so glad to read this review! Been hearing about these and waiting for a BOGO at one of my drugstores to pick some up (there’s been BOGO 50% off, but that’s not good enough for me, haha). Quick question – can you make a comparison to the 24/7 colors? It looks like the purple isn’t dupeable with those, but I’m wondering how the gold and silver compare to Honey and Dime, both of which I have. It looks like Silver Lightning is a book chromier than Dime, and Gold Charge is pretty similar to Honey?
🙂 For sure worth it on BOGO! I’d say they’re both very, very similar. I’d say they are more metallic/brighter.
Thanks Christine! I was SO bummed that the purple was sold out when I went to Walgreen’s today. Decided to get the silver, since I am not really satisfied with UD Dime, but skipped the gold (since I am very happy with Honey!) and picked up a jelly balm. Hope I can find the purple at another Walgreen’s this week – I’m LOVING the silver. So opaque and shimmery!
Good luck, Daphne!! 🙂 Happy to hear you’re thrilled with the Silver Lightning shade!
I love these pencils! I do wish they’d kept the olive green and the electric blue as part of their regular line- they’re really pretty colors (I should have bought more than one of each of them).
Aww, didn’t even know they had those two! Wish they were still around, too!
I got the olive green and i love it.
Awesome, Luda! Any dupes for it?
The silver one looks wow! I want!!
Glad it caught your eye, Emma!
I picked the black one up last week and it is great. I also picked up the L’oreal sharpener as well and it works great!
Nice! How much was the sharpener, do you remember?
Nice! How much was the sharpener, do you remember?
Oooh, I like the silver & gold! I’m working on face painting a Venetian face mask for Halloween, so that might do the trick for outlining the design instead of MAC Platinum pigment.
Just press softly! But I think the shades would be lovely!
Yay my local Walgreens is having a BOGO on these!! Exciting!
Yayy!!
yes! i just bought the gold and purple one over the weekend and i was SO excited about them i called my cosmeticphile (yes i made up a word) friends and told them about the pencils right away! and then i made my mom go out and buy them too 😀 ulta had a great deal over the weekend, buy one get one free and plus 5 dollars off a 10 dollar purchase! i was so excited, i got 2 of these AWESOME pencils for ~ 5 bucks!
Great deal, Lulee!
I hope we’ll get these in Canada!
I hope you do, too!
i fell in love with these when i saw swatches on another blog, and now i want them even more! i love how pigmented they look; that means they’ll actually show up on my skin!
I hope you pick ’em up!
These are lovely, unfortunately the HIP line isn’t available in the UK, I don’t think.
Boo 🙁
The gold and silver looks gorgeous, but I think I am going to pick up the Urban Decay 24/7 liner set in a few days instead. Those are tried and true for me.
These are great alternatives, and the UD sets are still awesome 🙂
How weird…I was out of town this weekend and ended up needing an eye pencil, so I got this but in an olive green color..I love it! I didn’t even really see other colors, but now I want the silver and purple!
Nice! I’m gonna have to see if I can track down the olive and blue shades!
Thanks so much for this review! I’m dying to get the gold shade.
My pleasure, Chelsey!
Meh…
What don’t you dig about these, Sass? (Curious! 🙂 )
Sweet! I keep meaning to get Dime from UD and I’m going to try this silver instead! That gold looks nice. And the purple. OOO, maybe I’ll just try all three at some point.
I think you’ll like it! 😀
Gold one is Gorgeous!!!! At BOGO deals…its awesome!!
Oh yeah, totally worth it at $5! (Worth it at $10, too, but since I KNOW they go on sale, I’d wait til it was at least 25% off.)
This is great news… I’m not a big fan of L’oreal, I had a bad skin reaction to something… not sure if i’ll try this, the colors look very pretty, so we’ll see
Ohh, if you do try it, let us know how it goes!
They should bring back the blue color, and the green. They’re not budgeproof, but I’d buy the blue and green.
I concur!
I had given up on HIP because it seemed like they only focused on loose pigments (which I hate) but these look pretty cool. I wonder what their blending/smudging potential is for doing a nice metallic smokey eye.
I almost gave up on L’Oreal, period, LOL.
NEED, not want. *__*
Haha!
WOW! These have fantastic pigmentation!
Agreed!!
Violet maybe worth checking out – anytime you give something an A rating always piques my interest and makes my wallet scared!
🙂 I don’t give out many As, haha!
These are lovely! How close is the gold one is the UD 24/7 Honey liner?
It’s very similar!
I will definitely be looking out for a BOGO one these! I want the purple and gold! 😀
From what readers are saying, Walgreens has it now! Hopefully whatever store is nearest you will have these BOGO soon!
Hi Christine,
I have swatches and a review of all 6 colors of these on my blog, too: http://sasquatchswatch.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-loreal-hip-color-chrome-eyeliners.html
Thanks,
Kristina
Thanks!
These look so similar to my beloved but discontinued Stila Kajal liners (Gold and Silver, there was also a stunning Bronze) from a holiday set a few years back!
Ohh, yay! 🙂 At least you know where to get replacements now!
Hey Christine! I loved this review! I want to go get one, now I’m just not sure which one! Man I should always check your website before buying makeup ^^
LOL! Awww 😉 Thanks, Kira!
hey- this is my fist time to leave a commnet 🙂 (nervous)
how about the degree of smudging?
it isn’t waterproof right?
I don’t think it’s waterproof, but they last quite awhile and don’t smudge on me! You can smudge them, if you desire, when you first apply, though, if that’s what you’re asking 🙂
Oof. Update regarding the waterline: although the package says “ophthalmologist tested” (which is what I always thought was the indicator for waterline-safe or not), I am having more burning and eye watering today than I have ever experienced from makeup with Silver Lightning on. I still want to pick up Violet Volt, but they will be lashline pencils only!
Yeah, I’m not really sure what that means, and I don’t even know if the term is regulated by the FDA in any way, so it may not mean the same thing to each brand.
I had the same problem, but it seemed like it only happened the first time I used it, because I tried it again the next day, and it didn’t cause my eyes to tear-up! It was kind of weird.
That is kind of weird! However, Im going to try to resist being a moth and not use these on the waterline again. I am not normally sensitive to anything cosmetic – I never get rashes or burning or irritation – so the rare instance that I am, I will avoid like the plague! Bummer, because it applied so much nicer on my waterline than UD Dime, but I can live without 🙂
Totally understand 😉
hey if u have riteaid near u here is $5 off coupon
http://offers.riteportal.com/760/ecoup_S525.pdf
they r BOGO in riteaid this week and if u buy $100 worth of l’oreal u get $30 cheque back (single cheque rebate )
Thanks, Rashmi!
ooooo!!!
I love 24/7 liners too! I will def. check this out, thanks for this Christine!
No prob, Christine!
Those look quite promising! I love stocking up on liners of all colours, I will definitely be checking them out.
I’ve never used UD liners, but I have two of the MUFE Aqua Eyes liners and I’ve read that those two liners are quite similar. How comparable would you say the L’Oreal liners are to the MUFE liners?
My daughter applied the black shock eyeliner to my lower lids. Later, I fell asleep without removing the eyeliner and within 24 hours my eyes because itchy, red, and running water. I thought it would stop and for several days the itchy, running eyes continued and began swelling. I made an appointment to see my eye doctor and she diagnosed me with allergic conjunctivitis.
I’m really sorry to hear this happened to you!
I’m glad you were able to see your doctor and find out what happened, though. I know the first time I wore this liner on my waterline, it made my eyes water quite a bit, but I didn’t encounter the itchiness or allergic reaction you did 🙁
thanks for the review and the swatches! (gorgeous colors btw<3) im definitely gonna pick some up at cvs! (they're 5 bucks this week!<3)=]
i actually have this eyeliner in black and it love it. its great. super soft and easy to apply. i love them!
wow. I’m not one to discount drugstore makeup because I think there are products every bit as good as high end and you can get multiple products for the price of one. liners I’ve had less luck but the swatches are gorgeous. the black looks a little too close to zero & I like matte black liners but the others are gorgeous, especially that blue-violet.
general: drugstores offer solid mascaras, lipsticks, gloss, powder (can vary considerably), concealers (again variable, better for blemishes than undereye), makeup remover wipes
weaker foundations, shadows, primers, moisturizers, longwear
maybe average woman uses mascara, concealer & lipstick, other items are must-haves for MU junkies willing to pay more?
How funny! Eyeliners are surprisingly the one area where I’ve fared pretty well on when it comes to drugstore, lol!
Okay forgive me, but I am totally lost on how to make more of the eyeliner stick come out…How does it work? I am not sure if I got a bad stick but I twist the bottom and nothing comes out…I can’t figure it out 🙁
You have to sharpen it!
Hi
My neighbour had a silver lightning eyliner by l’Oreal HIP and she loved it. I have been to six Shoppers Drug Mart stores to buy this product. Please tell me where I can buy it. My friend also wants to buy a couple as well. She went to five different stores. We really want this product. So please tell me where to buy it.
Thank you
Monica