Rocaille Raves: NYX Slide On Pencils in Pretty Violet and Esmeralda

If I had to pick one type of product that I use most for lining my eyes, I'd definitely have to go with eye pencils - I just find them the easiest, the fastest and the most versatile. I was craving some brighter colors in my pencil stash just in time for Spring, so when I found about the new NYX Slide On Pencils, I just had to get at least two shades: Pretty Violet (SL 03), a true violet, and Esmeralda (SL 06), a kelly green, retailing for $8 each.


As you already know from the title of this post, I simply love them! Both colors are beautiful, vibrant and pigmented, they do "slide on" the eye but they do not "slide off" - the formula is soft, smooth and creamy, but once it sets it stays on just as when you put it on until you take it off. I think it's amazing that a drugstore brand decided to come out with not only excellent quality product that rivals much more expensive options (*cough cough Urban Decay), but also such an amazing range of shades, from neutral (black, brown, gunmetal, olive) to bright (greens, blues, purples). It actually took me a good month to find a green that I deemed satisfactory; turns out, not many brands branch out to bright greens!


The packaging is a standard pencil that fits into a normal sharpener, and I like how the color of the packaging reflects the shade inside; makes it much easier to find what you are looking for in the morning.

The shade comparison reveals that Pretty Violet is a spot-on dupe for Urban Decay Ransom, one of my favorite eyeliner shades ever made - and I think the NYX is actually a better formula! And just for reference, something like UD Mildew is much darker and more muted than Esmeralda.

You can use these pencils to line the upper and lower lashlines, as an eye base for your eyeshadows, or in the waterline - I did find however that they are not as vibrant there as on the lids, maybe because my eyes tend to be a little watery from contact lenses. My absolute favorite way of wearing those brighter colors is to do a very fine line of black pencil eyeliner smooshed into the top lashes and then put a thicker line of the bright pencil above it; I also almost always go for the cat eye flick at the end, just because I think that suits my eye shape best (pictured above). The black helps the lashes to stand out a bit more against the bright color.

My only complaint about these pencils is that I find the price a bit on the high end of drugstore make-up; remember those days when NYX Round Lipsticks retailed for a dollar? Those are long gone and it seems that NYX is moving away from that most affordable price range it was known for in the beginning. However, to be honest, as long as the quality is on par with the price, I cannot really complain - and these Slide On Pencils are definitely worth their price tag.

What are your favorite inexpensive eyeliners? Have you picked up any bright make-up shades recently?