LA Splash Art-ki-tekt Liner in Chromate: Review

First off, the name is terrible. I keep wanting to type Ark-i-tekt. Because that's the word, sort of. But LA Splash wanted to get a bit clever, a bit punny, didn't they? Didn't work.

The eyeliner itself does work, though, and I am happy to review it for you here, today. This is what the pen looks like:

I would show you a picture of my own pen, but because the rose gold packaging is so reflective, I can't get a decent pic of the entire pen. 

So, let's get into specs. The liner is a brush-tip eyeliner, which is a must for me. Because of my protruding eye shape, felt tip liners skip, while brush tip liners can mostly follow the contour of my eye. I am always in the market for affordable, matte (as matte can be), very black brush tip eyeliners. Believe it or not, they are quite hard to find.

But on the recommendation of one of my fave youtubers, I bought this from Amazon for $14.00. It is currently out of stock on the LA Splash site, but not on Amazon, where it has a rating of four out of five stars.

LA Splash claims the liner is waterproof. The pen contains 1 mL of product.

For funsies, I decided to also compare it to my HG Physician's Formula Eye Booster Liner (I mean that's not even the full name but really people we have got to talk about these names), in Ultra Black. I have a couple of back-ups of these, but retail price ranges from $9-$11, for 0.50 mL, which frustrates me, because I do feel like I run out of the PF one quickly.

So, as of now it seems like the Art-ki-tekt pen is a better deal. Let's get into swatches:

This is a picture of my eye about six hours after application, and two hours of walking in the park in 80-degree weather. Aside from the fading on the outer edge of my eye, it held up pretty well. No leaking. 

This is a close-up of the brush-tip. Out of nowhere, a bristle got trapped and won't seem to bend back into place, no matter how carefully I put the cap back on. Sometimes I get that kind of problem with the PF liner, but it always resolves itself. 

 Swatches! Physicians's Formula on the left, and LA Splash on the right. PF I noticed dispenses more product and creates a thicker line. In terms of darkness, opacity, and sheen, the two are nearly identical. They do have very similar ingredients. LA Splash, though, contains Jojoba oil.

And the wear comparison. After rubbing the back of half with a wet cloth, the Art-ki-tekt liner broke down, while the PF liner held up. 

Is this liner as good as my usual choice? Product-wise, no. The finish, color, and opacity are the same, but the durability of PF cannot be beat. However, LA Splash wins with a better value. If you wanted to pay for a full mL of PF's eyeliner, you'd be paying about $20, while LA Splash is less. 

The pen on LA Splash is also thinner, making it easy to control and draw on the line. I don't mind this eyeliner and am happy to have it. It just makes me want PF to be even better when it comes to product value. 

If you are in the market for a brush-tip eyeliner, this one is worth trying out. 

I am not that familiar with LA Splash as a brand, but I am definitely interested. If anyone has tried anything from them, or knows of a different brand that sells brush-tip eyeliners (of any price range), I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!