Kosas just launched a brand-new product – Hotliner lip liner, and today I’m giving you my initial thoughts and first impressions.
I have been a Kosas fan for a few years now, and even got the opportunity to be in one of their campaigns for my ride-or-die product by them, Revealer Concealer. I’m shade 5.5! It’s a product that I use even when I don’t wear any other makeup.
I was lucky enough to receive a mailer with all 6 shades of Hotliner lip liner, plus a few of their Wet Lip Oil lip glosses to pair. This is my honest review (and video) on if this Kosas lip liner is worth the hype.
I also reviewed the brand’s Revealer Foundation. Read and watch the review here.
Kosas Lip Liner Review
What is Hotliner Lip Liner?
According to the Kosas website, Hotliner lip liner is meant to contour and sculpt your lips without drying them.
Kosas’ slogan is “makeup for skincare freaks” because each product has good-for-you skincare ingredients. As someone who used to work in the skincare industry, I really love this about the brand, and the new Kosas lip liner is no different.
Here are some of the major skincare ingredients inside Kosas Hotliner lip liner:
- Hyaluroic acid to hydrate and plump (HA holds 1,000 times its weight in water!)
- Konjac root to protect
- Jojoba oil to soften and soothe lips
Kosas Hotliner lip liner is $19, and it’s the standard size of a traditional lip pencil.
How to Use Kosas Hotliner Lip Liner
This product is a lip liner, so I feel like it’s pretty self-explanatory on how to use it.
Since Kosas lip liner is a retractable pencil, the tip of the product is a bit larger than a traditional pencil you’d use with a sharpener.
You can use the pointed tip to precisely line your lips or use the angled side to line or fully fill them if you’d rather use it as a lipstick pencil.
My Initial Thoughts
My lips are naturally very dry and so I have historically avoided lip liner because it’s usually to drying for me. So, I was really excited to give this Kosas lip liner a try and see how the hyaluronic acid felt in the product.
Application seemed a bit easier for me than a traditional pencil. I used the flat side of the pencil, which gave me a thicker line, but I felt like it was a bit easier to control than other lip liners.
I think I expected this lip liner to glide on like a liquid eyeliner. It didn’t do that but seemed to go on easier than a traditional lip liner pencil. (FYI: I noticed two of my colors seemed a little more dried out than others, which affected application.)
I didn’t feel any immediate “ooh” or “ahh” moment with the hyaluronic acid, but usually lip liner dries out my lips after some wear time. So, I applied some lip gloss and went on with my day to see how this Kosas lip liner really wore.
I tested this lip liner for about 4 hours before I returned to check it, and didn’t do much except work on my computer, take a call, and eat a few small pretzels.
On the plus side, the edges of my lips did not feel dry at all; something that definitely happened to them after wearing other lip liners for the same duration.
However, it seemed that the lip liner itself didn’t stay on too well. In fact, I felt like it slid a bit, and ended up with some product below my bottom lip, even though I did not intentionally overline it.
The Verdict
If you have naturally dry lips or lip liners dry them out, I will still suggest giving the Kosas Hotliner lip liner a try, with the caveat that you may need to reapply it more often than you’d like.
Be sure you retract the tip back into the tube before you put the cap back on it. I didn’t do this, so the tip got totally smushed. I tired to sharpen it, but the tip was too small and I currently don’t have a solution to fix this.
The hyaluronic acid in the lip liner kept my lips hydrated, something that truly no other lip liner I’ve tried has been able to do. My lips also looked plumper, and I liked the appearance it provided. I was very happy with the overall hydration the lip liner provided and the initial look it gave my lips. In this sense, the Kosas lip liner delivered on what the website stated.
However, I was bummed that the color didn’t stay more than 4 hours, and even more bummed the color melted below my bottom lip. If longevity of the lip liner isn’t an issue for you, then you’ll probably love this lip liner. But, if you’re like me and not a fan of lugging a makeup bag around – or need your lip liner to stay on for a special event – this may not be the product for you.
As mentioned above, I really love Kosas, and use a few of their items in my everyday makeup routine.
Shop my favorite Kosas products:
Perhaps the product will work better if I simply use it as a lip pencil to fully shade my lips, but I think that kid of defeats the point of having it be a lip liner.
I’m going to give this a few more tries before I fully toss it from my makeup drawer. But as of right now, it seems like I’ll be a no lip liner gal for a while.
Have you tried Kosas Hotliner lip liner? Let me know in the comments.
