Kat von D’s Tattoo Liner is probably the most hyped liquid eyeliner out there, and it really is good. It was bought for me as a Christmas gift last year, and it’s taken over from the 17 Tattoo Me liner that used to be my holy grail. I’m a cat eye queen, so I need a good liner.
It’s a unique product, at least compared to all the pen type eyeliners I’ve used before. The tip isn’t a felt tip, it’s made of lots of tiny brush hairs, so it’s a lot easier to get a fine point, and you can get closer to your eyelashes too. I also sometimes find that felt tip pen liners aren’t the blackest, in a lot of cases. So I really really do like the KVD liner.
HOWEVER, it’s £16, and eyeliner is one of the few products I tend to use up pretty quickly. For example, a single eyeshadow can last me 3 years with daily usage, but I usually get through 3 liners a year. So when I heard there was a dupe, I knew I needed it. I’d seen the NYX Epic Ink liner on the NYX website, and thought pretty hard about buying it. But when I saw that it was available at Boots and FeelUnique where I can get free postage, I just had to give it a try.
Packaging
They’re pretty similar, bear in mind the KVD has been in my makeup bag for 3 months. Both are the same sort of size, and have lids that click on, the differences are only aesthetic.
The NYX pen is shiny, where the KVD is matte, and the NYX liner is very minimal while KVD has lots of ornate roses and lettering (some of which has rubbed off unfortunately). Personally, I think NYX’s design is a bit more “me”, but I’ve never been even a little bit goth-y. So, whatevs.
Nibs
(From now on Nyx will always be on the left, and KVD on the right).
How similar do these look?! If you covered up the rest of the liners I don’t think I’d be able to tell which was which. Hopefully you can see how different these are to normal felt tip liners, if you’ve never tried either of these before.
Line comparison
The NYX line (left hand side) is a bit blacker and sharper than KVD (right), but, this is a brand new liner, vs a three month old one. On the eyes KVD looks black, I promise. I’m definitely impressed with how NYX performed in this test, look how black it is!
Staying power
Now, both eyeliners claim to be waterproof, but they both aren’t REALLY waterproof. When you just get it wet with plain water, yes it doesn’t move, and when they’re dry and you rub the lines with your fingers they don’t move either. But this picture is when I got it wet, and THEN rubbed it.
Kat von D is a little bit more waterproof, in my opinion, but neither of them are going to survive watching The Notebook.
I wore one on each eye for a few days, and the performance was very similar, they both were still there at the end of the day.
The biggest difference
When I first saw the NYX liner online, I thought, £9 is actually kind of a lot for a drug store/high street eyeliner. Usually they tend to be closer to £6 or £7. So there’s only £7 difference between the high end Kat von D liner and the NYX one, and usually when we try out a dupe, the monetary discrepancy between the two products tends to be a lot more significant.
BUT, here’s the kicker. Despite the two liners being in the same size packaging, NYX actually has almost twice as much product in it than KVD, 0.55ml vs 1ml.
So if the KVD liner was the same size as the NYX one, it’d cost £29.09. So NYX is really only a third of the price.
The verdict
If you love the Kat von D Tattoo Liner, will you love the NYX one? Almost certainly yes. It has the feature that makes the KVD liner so unique, that brush/pen hybrid tip that you just can’t find elsewhere (until now).
If you’ve never tried either of them, should you pick up the NYX Epic Ink – YES. If you find liquid eyeliner difficult, definitely give this a go, it’s the easiest way to apply it that I’ve ever found. Both liners take away the messiness of a dip and brush liquid liner, but are 100% more precise than a normal felt tip.
All in all, is it a dupe? YES, and you get so much more product. In the words of NSYNC… buy buy buy!
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Hey! I’m Bronni and I’m a financial journalist and deals hunter in my mid 20s. I’m really into cats, pop music, the internet and barely substantiated celebrity gossip.
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