We got hold of the award-winning eyeliner every Japanese woman swear by to find out what’s the hype

The Japanese beauty scene can be very competitive, and many brands and products are launched regularly, vying for the attention of discerning Japanese consumers. And when it comes to deciding what products make it to the favourite lists of consumers, the Cosme Award is probably one of the most trusted sources.

Cosme, the largest online shopping and community portal, picks out the best beauty products every year, so it is a huge achievement to be in the list.

When it comes to eyeliners from Japan, we can’t talk about them without mentioning Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner. This product is only launched in September 2017 but has very quickly won various Japanese beauty awards, including the prestigious Cosme Award.

The awards the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner has bagged and the outstanding sales it has received in Japan made us wonder what it is about this relatively new kid on the block that makes Japanese women swear by it.

Now that Singapore is the first country outside of Japan to bring in the Cream Pencil Eyeliner (how lucky are we!), we thought that it’s the perfect chance for us to investigate and find out what’s the hype all about.

Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner: Ways to use it

Dejavu says that the Cream Pencil Eyeliner can be used in three ways to achieve amazing results.

1. Tight-lining

This technique refers to filling in the spaces between your lashes with the eyeliner to create a “no-eyeliner eyeliner look”. It creates the illusion of denser lashes and more vivid eyes without appearing like you’re wearing eyeliner at all.

Typically, a good eyeliner for tight-lining needs to have a defined tip so the line created isn’t too thick, and is gentle enough on skin so as not to hurt the delicate lash line.

What do we think: The tip of the eyeliner has a unique oval shape, making it easy to manipulate so we can easily get a clean, defined line. The creamy texture of the product also means that it’s gentle on the lash line.

2. Gradation eyeliner look

Those who don’t like to apply eyeshadow are going to love this technique. After drawing eyeliner, use your finger to blend the pigment outwards so that a gradient is created. This softens the overall eye makeup and gives the appearance of more contoured eyelids.

To be able to create this look, you’ll need to find an eyeliner that is very blend-able and has pigment that flatters skin tone.

Here’s a tutorial by Dejavu ambassador and Japanese model Fujita Nicole:

What do we think: This isn’t a technique that we often try, but we were surprised that it doesn’t turn out too badly. The formula of the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner is creamy and easy to blend, making it effortless to pull off this look.

3. Bold eyeliner look

Last, but certainly not the least, Dejavu says that the Creamy Pencil Eyeliner is great for creating the bold eyeliner look that most of us love.

For this look, we would need an eyeliner that has vivid pigment, and a tip that can create both thin and thick lines.

What do we think: We would usually count on liquid eyeliners to do a great job for this look, but we were pleasantly surprised that this pencil eyeliner does it decently too! The oval-shaped tip of the eyeliner makes it easy to control the thickness of the line we want to create, and delivers it in a single glide!

Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner review: Does it really work?

Now that we know the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner is able to help us create three different looks easily, thanks to its unique oval-shaped tip and creamy formula, there’s one more thing that we need to test: whether it can last through the day in Singapore’s hot and humid weather.

I wore the eyeliner out for an entire day, and here’s our report:

10am: It still looked like it was freshly applied

I applied the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner at 8.15am and got to work at 9am. Besides the morning commute, I spent most of my time in the air-conditioned office and the eyeliner still looked like it was freshly applied at 10am.

1.30pm: Pigment looked less vivid, but no smudges noticed

I braved the hot sun to head out to a hawker centre for lunch. The weather, as usual, was hot and humid and I perspired through the bowl of hot noodles that I had.

I came back to the office and checked out my eye makeup. While the pigment certainly didn’t look as vivid as it was first applied, especially at the ends, I didn’t notice any obvious smudges. This was seriously a huge feat for any eyeliner, given the unforgiving weather!

6pm: Slight feathering at corners of eyes but eyeliner still intact

I went out for an event and then returned back to the office. I noticed that my foundation has started to crease around my eyelids, and the eyeliner has begun to feather slightly at the ends too. However, it still looks good and I didn’t mind heading to my next appointment without any touch-up.

10.30pm: Eyeliner still didn’t budge

I met up with friends for dinner, followed by drinks at an alfresco cafe. The humidity had nothing on the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner. When I got home at 10.30pm, the eyeliner still didn’t budge as much as many other products I’ve used before. I was also very impressed that I didn’t notice any smudges at my lower eyelids – a problem that I often experience with other eyeliners.

Conclusion? It definitely has the lasting power to soldier through Singapore’s hot and humid weather!

Final verdict: Does the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner live up the its hype?

It looks like there’s no dispute to the awards bagged by the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner and we’re not surprised it’s picked as a favourite by so many Japanese women.

The product may be new to the market and may not appear special upon first look, but it has several offerings that you don’t typically get in regular eyeliners.

First, we really love the oval-shaped tip of the Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner because of how easy it is to control the thickness of the line we want with just one glide. This gives us a lot of flexibility in the looks that we want to create.

The creamy formula of the pencil eyeliner also offers a vivid pigment that is easy to apply and blend. We would not hesitate to use it as an emergency eyeshadow should we need one desperately and don’t have one on hand.

Finally, it demonstrated its lasting power even in Singapore’s hot and humid weather. This was something that we really appreciate – because who likes to constantly concern herself with embarrassing smudges and troublesome touching up, right?

Dejavu Cream Pencil Eyeliner retails at SGD19 and is available exclusively in Watsons. Four shades are available: Black, Brown, Navy, and Mauve.

Follow Dejavu at their Facebook page to get updated with more Cream Liner promotions!

This article is brought to you by Dejavu.