NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil Review: I’m Eyeliner Obsessed, What Do I Really Think of This Drugstore Brand?
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Pros
- Blendable Brilliance
- Pigmentation Powerhouse
- Budget-Friendly Beauty
Cons
- Subdued Shades
- Blending Brevity
- Quick Sellouts
Out of all of the makeup brands right now, NYX Professional Makeup is one of the biggest. On their Instagram page alone, they have 14 million followers. Their products are high-quality, even for a drugstore brand. And since they’re a drugstore brand, their stuff is very affordable and easy to find!
I was definitely familiar with NYX Cosmetics. I use their eyeliners, I have some of their lip products, and I even use their face primer. I will say, their stuff has been a hit or miss with me, so I was really happy to test out the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils — do they live up to the hype?
I’ve never been a jumbo eyeliner pencil person. The eye pencils I used in the past were too stiff, not blendable, and looked off. My mom always loved them, so I figured I would give the NYX ones a chance, which is why I’ve created this NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil Review, where I discuss the details.
Pros
- Blendable
- Pigmented
- Very creamy formula
- Easy to apply
- Looks great with other eyeshadows and eyeliners
- Can use as eyeshadow and eyeliner
- Affordable (they were $4.50 each)
- Don’t bleed or smudge (A BIG DEAL FOR ME!)
Cons
- The purple, eggplant, isn’t as pigmented as the others
- Takes a bit to blend
- May be difficult to apply if you’re not a beginner
- Tend to sell out quickly
- They crease
I do want to point out a customer review complained about creasing. I did experience some creasing, but it wasn’t terrible. It could be the prep I did for my NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil looks, which I will describe in detail in a later section.
A radiant eyeliner that also doubles as an eyeshadow. Made with a blend of mineral oil and powder, these creamy Jumbo Eye Pencils glide on effortlessly-no pulling, tugging or fading-and come in a rainbow of vivid hues. Our most voluptuous pencil yet! 
What You Can Use Them For?
One of the reasons why the NYX creamy jumbo eye pencils are so popular is because they’re so versatile. I used them as an eyeshadow and eyeliner, and reviewers said you can use them as a base underneath eye shadow (I didn’t, though).
Eyeshadow
I absolutely love these jumbo eye pencils as eyeshadows. Just swipe, blend, and you’re done! I’ve used them for both mono eyeshadow looks and one dramatic eyeshadow look. There’s literally an infinite looks you could create with these NYX jumbo eye pencils. They’re very pigmented but also very blendable. You can pair them with other jumbo eye pencils or eyeshadows easily, and you can wear other eyeliners on top of them.
Eyeliner
I decided to use the black one as an eyeliner, though I will probably use it as an eyeshadow for a smoky look in the future.
They’re definitely ideal as eyeliners, though you have to be careful when applying them to ensure they’re even. Even with blending, your eyeliner can look off easily. That or maybe I’m just finicky about my eyeliner.
Base
Many reviewers were saying these pencils make great eyeshadow bases. I primarily bought dark colors, so I didn’t use them to cover my entire eye lid. But there are lighter colors in their collection that make great bases, such as the white (Milk) and a sparkling peach (Frosting) if you want a little pop of glitter.
The Colors I Bought
The colors I bought are:
- Eggplant (dark purple)
- Blueberry pop (dark blue)
- Black bean (black)
- Frappe (dark brown)
I absolutely loved all of them. My only complaint is eggplant. It looks a lot darker in the product, but comes on very sheer, as you can see in my swatches. This is actually okay for me, as I prefer subtle eyeshadows with a little color.
But if you’re looking for an intense purple, you may want to look at another jumbo eye pencil.
Otherwise, the rest of the colors are beautiful. They have excellent color pay-off, vivid hues, and blend so easily. They’re also versatile since I can use these eye pencils for different looks.
I also received complimentary blotting papers. I don’t have oily skin, though. Even in the Florida heat, my skin is normal/dry, so I’ll probably end up giving these to someone else.
Complete Color Selection
The colors I bought are definitely not the only ones in the catalog. Other colors you can buy include:
- Yogurt (looks like a shiny pinky shade)
- French Fries (brown)
- Iced Mocha (shiny taupe)
- Cottage Cheese (shiny silver)
- Milk (white)
- Iced Latte (light brown)
- Frosting (shiny peach)
- Sherbert (light pink)
- Donut (light purple)
- Macaroon (light teal)
- Matcha (lime green)
- Cupcake (pink)
I’m kind of angry, looking back at the website now. There were some colors I wanted but NYX Cosmetics was out at the time, like Milk and Iced Mocha. Now, I see they’re back in stock. I guess if there’s a color you want, keep looking back on the website. It seems like to restock their products frequently.
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How They Apply
As stated previously, I never used jumbo eye pencils because I couldn’t find the right ones. But I really love the NYX Professional Makeup ones.
Pigmentation
Other than the Eggplant color, all of these eye pencils are extremely pigmented. I don’t even mind the sheer Eggplant color because it’s still very pretty. Not only that, but you don’t need to press too hard. Just a couple of light swipes and you have intense color
Blendability
What I really love about these products is the blendability. Just blend with a simple blending brush and you’re good to go! The colors also blend easily and quickly, so you can achieve an amazing look with ease. You can also easily blend these colors into just about any eyeshadow.
Read More: Best Makeup Brushes and Tools That Are Easy to Use and Affordable
The Looks I Did
I did three different looks:
- Smoky brown/neutral shadow
- Subtle purple
- Intense blue
Let’s look into all of these looks!
My First NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil Look: A Smoky Brown, Neutral Shadow Look for Everyday
Before anything, I prepped my face and applied concealer to my lid and crease. Actually, I used NYX’s Studio Photogenic Foundation Primer. I also applied my eyebrow pencil, face makeup, did a slight contour and did my lips before working on my eyes.
This water-based makeup primer helps minimize the appearance of pores and fine lines for a seamless finish. 
I usually don’t do my makeup in this order. I do eyes first and then face, ending with lips. But for the sake of this tutorial, I figured it would be easier to leave the eyes for last.
I have to say, doing a full face without eyes was very strange.
Now that everything else is done, I can start with the eyes. I used a neutral eyeshadow palette first. This is a cheaper dupe of the Urban Decay Naked palette that a friend gave me. I have Naked 2 and 3, but I usually use this palette more for eyeshadow bases.
For this look, I used a white/tan-ish color as the base (as you can tell, I use this palette quite often). I applied this color all over the lid and crease.
Next, I took Frappe and applied it to my crease.
As you can tell, I didn’t apply the color perfectly. And you don’t have to because we’re blending!
To blend this out, you’ll need a special blending brush, like the one pictured. I got this blending brush in a pack of brushes I received as a gift years back. I don’t think it was expensive. From here, buff the color out with the brush. Focus on the edges and blend the color into the base shadow.
I followed with a separate smaller and more defined brush I used to blend more (I dipped the brush into more of the eyeshadow). But even without this step, you can see the color blends nicely.
From here, I took a darker gold and applied it to my lid. I started below where Frappe starts and dusted the product right before I got to my lash line.
There are two liner options: I started experimenting with a green liner to give this look a pop of color. I liked the way it looked, but I wanted to see what this looked like with the Black Bean jumbo eyeliner.
Start by applying Black Bean right above the lash line and apply it to the bottom lash, right where the hair is. I’m not sure if you can apply these to the waterline, but I did anyway. Don’t go all the way to the inner eye corners, I stopped a little before.
Use that same blending brush and blend, evening out the edges and blending the colors into the outer corner of the eye.
I cleaned up the eyeliner with some sparkly eyeshadow to brighten my eyes. I finished with some mascara.
NYC Jumbo Eyeliner Look 2: A Subtle Purple Fantasy
This one is honestly my favorite, even though Eggplant isn’t as pigmented. I took off all of the makeup from the last look, leaving the mascara and as much of the eyeliner as I could. I applied concealer to my lid and crease to create a fresh base.
From here, I used a shiny white/beige color on my lids. However, I didn’t put it on my crease. I applied Eggplant only on the outer corner of my eye, going halfway into my lid and taking the color farther into the inner corner, only on the crease.
After blending, you can see it’s a very subtle purple. I thought it looked pretty so I left it like that.
NYC Jumbo Pencil Look 3: Intense Blue Fantasy
However, I wanted to do something more dramatic for the final look.
Again, I took off as much as of the last look off (though a little more eyeliner came off than I wanted), and I applied concealer again on my lid and crease.
I started with a very intense color, the shade Gonzo from Urban Decay’s Electric Palette. It’s a sparkly blue and is a few shades lighter than the Blueberry Pop pencil.
Like Eggplant, I applied Blueberry Pop to the outer corner of my eye but only stopped at the middle of my lid. I also took the color a little outside where my eye ends and blended it into the bottom lash line. I also took the pencil and applied some blue on the lower lash line, under where there’s black.
I blended, making sure to even out the edges, blend the inner corner into the Gonzo shade, and blend the color into the outer corner of my eye. To brighten up my eye, I used that same shiny white/beige color in the inner corner of my eye and blended that into the blue on my lower lash line.
I updated my mascara to make my eyes pop, and that’s it!
Alternatives to NYC Jumbo Pencils
As I said, I haven’t had the best experience with jumbo eyeliner pencils in the past, so I can’t recommend alternative jumbo pencils based on experience. So for this section, I’m simply researching the best-rated jumbo eyeliner pencils.
In all honesty, these NYX Professional Makeup ones get the best reviews. But some other related products from popular brands I found include:
- Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick
- Sephora Collection Colorful Shadow and Liner
- Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon Eyeshadow Pencil
- Shiseido Kajal Ink Artist Shadow Liner
- Chanel Style Ombré et Contour
- Mally Beauty Evercolor Shadow Stick
- Clinique Chubby Stick Shadow Tint
- Pixi Beauty Endless Shade Stick
- Julep Eyeshadow 101 Crème-to-Powder Eyeshadow Stick
- E.l.f. Cosmetics No Budge Eyeshadow Stick
- Nudestix Magnetic Eye Color
I will say, I have used the Sephora ones before. Back when I was a Sephora consultant, we had a training session devoted to those shadow/liner pencils and the different ways to use them. Other than briefly using them on myself for the training, I never used them before. No client ever requested a tutorial with them.
I do remember they were pigmented and easy to blend. They’re a bit more expensive than the NYX ones (the Sephora ones are $14) so I suggest using those if you want a better quality jumbo pencil but also don’t want to spend a ton of money.
Like I said before, my mom uses these jumbo eye pencils constantly. I asked her which ones she used, and she just said whatever she can find at the drugstore. She specifically said she likes the Wet n’ Wild ones. I went to their website and can’t find them, so they may not sell them anymore.
But I’ve never used the other pencils, so I can’t say whether or not they’re better.
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FAQs
Question: Do You Have to Sharpen Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils?
Answer: Eventually, these pencils will have to be sharpened. They’re not twist-ups; you’ll need to sharpen them to continue using them. The only issue is these pencils aren’t easy to sharpen. Since they’re soft, they tend to break easily.
Looking online for advice, I found a great hack by one of my favorite YouTubers, Kendall Rae. She suggests placing your eye pencils in the freezer for about 15 minutes before sharpening them! I would never have thought about that.
Keep in mind, you’ll still need a special eyeliner sharpener with a jumbo eye pencil sharpener to properly sharpen these pencils and get the best point.
Question: Are the Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils Waterproof?
Answer: I’m hearing different things about whether or not these pencils are waterproof or not. I’m also not seeing anything on the Nyx website about them being waterproof or not.
All I can say is my pencils came off very easily with makeup wipes and Ponds Cold Cream Cleanser. In addition, I swatched the colors on the back of my hand. I washed my hands throughout the evening, and the colors stayed on pretty well for the most part.
I would suggest having a backup waterproof eye makeup cleanser on hand if you tend to wash off your eye makeup with water.
Question: How Can I Use These Pencils to Brighten My Eyes?
Answer: I personally love smoky eye looks! But what if you want to use these pencils to brighten your eyes? I wish I would have purchased the Milk color like I wanted, which is perfect for brightening your eyes. I could have done another tutorial! But oh well, I’ll give you some advice here:
Apply the shade Milk to your waterline. You can also make your eyes look bigger by applying Milk to the inner and outer corners of your eye.
Final Verdict
The NYX Jumbo Eyeliner Pencils are versatile, pigmented, and easy to blend. Overall, I like them and will continue using them for my everyday makeup looks.
My only complaint is the creasing and the fact that Eggplant wasn’t as pigmented. But even the issue with Eggplant wasn’t a dealbreaker for me. For the creasing, be sure to apply a primer or concealer to your eyes and use a base shade. That seemed to help me.
Overall, I recommend these pencils if you want to do a quick eye look without spending a ton of money. NYX is one of the best-known brands that make great eye makeup, but they’re not the only one. Here are other eye makeup brands you should consider.
A radiant eyeliner that also doubles as an eyeshadow. Made with a blend of mineral oil and powder, these creamy Jumbo Eye Pencils glide on effortlessly-no pulling, tugging or fading-and come in a rainbow of vivid hues. Our most voluptuous pencil yet!
