So this is one of those things where I didn't even realize I was being subtly irritated every time I used a pencil sharpener on an eyeliner or lip crayon until I got one that didn't annoy me. And it's cheap (~$5), so I want to tell you about it.
These are the things that most cosmetic pencil sharpeners do that this Chella sharpener does not do:
- Gets dull after you use it 5 times
- Has to be held over a trash can to catch the shavings
- Gouges the sides of the pencil tip
- Leaves the tip of the pencil crooked or unevenly sharpened
- Creates sharp, jagged spikes of wood
- Breaks off the tip of the pencil and gets it lodged inside
- Smushes the tip of the pencil
- Gets coated in product from the last thing you sharpened and transfers that gunk to the next thing you sharpen
- Breaks when you open it to empty out the shavings
- Somehow does not fit any of your pencils quite right, despite having two different sized sharpeners
This Chella sharpener does the opposite of all those things. I've never fucked up any product using this thing, and I've had it for about 9 months now. You also don't have to do any special tricks, like freeze your lip crayons, in order to sharpen them cleanly. It comes apart easily and clicks back together, and it has a little cleaning stick included, so that if anything does get gunked up, you can easily clean it (which I obviously have not done). Fancy.
For about $5, it will remove one of those minor annoyances from your life and improve it in a trivial way. I've had other "good" pencil sharpeners. This is better. Smooooooth.
I got mine from Birchbox, who seem to no longer stock it. You can, however, get this sharpener on Amazon. Prices fluctuate all the time, as always. Last time I checked, it was $6 (I think) and Prime. Now it's $8 and Prime, which isn't bad, I guess, but it might/will probably go back down again. Put it on your shopping list. You can order it directly from Chella for $5, but shipping is $7, so that's not a great option (unless you are placing a $50 order, in which case shipping is free). It also shows up on HauteLook when Chella appears there. Does anyone know of another source I'm missing? If Birchbox brings it back, it's perfect for filling up your order when you're $5 short of using all your points.
This has been a PSA for when you have to sharpen an eyeliner three times to get a decent tip and you end up wasting a bunch of product and then you throw your shitty sharpener out the window in a fit of rage.
Good to know. This is probably the one thing I would ever buy myself from Chella, if they had free shipping or a sale or something. I have gotten a few Chella products from back when I used to subscribe to Ipsy and the like, and was never impressed (although if it shows up in Ipsy, I can't imagine it being the most amazing product anyway).
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I ever got was some eyebrow gel (can't remember if it was from Ipsy or BB), and it was fine, but how can that really go wrong? I only got this in the first place because the lid to my old sharpener was cracked and I needed something worth $5 for my Birchbox order, since they don't let you redeem less than 100 points at a time. It turned out to be awesome.
DeleteOh thanks. This is one of those things that is a subtle irritation, and I never really think much about except that I get a lot more excited about twist up pencils then I do ones you have to sharpen. Even if I feel mildly guilty about the excess waste that twist up pencils create (lots more plastic).
ReplyDeleteI think I prefer the ones you sharpen. It does mean you have to sharpen some of the product off, but I think a lot of the time they contain more product to begin with.
DeleteI have a Sonia Kashuk that is good compared to the crappy Holika Holika one but not as awesome as this. When I had the HH sharpener, I thought for the longest time that the pencils were the problem. Then it finally dawned that not ALL pencils could be made so terribly.
ReplyDeletePlastic pencils seem to work better in mediocre sharpeners than wooden ones, but even then I would end up with jagged edges most of the time. I'm interested to see how long this one stays sharp, but so far I'm really impressed.
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