Rimmel Lasting Finish 8HR Lip Liner Brownie Pie Review: budget liner that actually holds up

I’ve been seeing this Rimmel Lasting Finish lip liner everywhere, especially the Brownie Pie shade, so I finally grabbed it to see if it’s just hype or actually decent. I’m not a makeup artist, just someone who wants their lip line to stay put and not smear all over a coffee cup after one sip. I used it for about two weeks, on work days and a couple of nights out, to get a proper feel for it.

The first thing I noticed is the shade: Brownie Pie is a warm brown that leans pretty deep. On my medium skin tone it looks like a clear outline that still feels neutral enough for daily wear. On deeper skin I think it would look more like an everyday nude-brown, and on very fair skin it’ll definitely show as a bold outline. So it’s not a “barely there” nude, it’s more of a defined-lip shade.

In terms of use, I mostly applied it to outline and then slightly filled in the corners, with a balm or lighter lipstick in the middle. I also tried it alone with a clear gloss on top. I wanted to see if the 8-hour claim was even close, especially after eating and drinking. Spoiler: it doesn’t fully last 8 hours in real life, but it holds better than a lot of cheap liners I’ve used before.

Overall, my first impression after a few days was: good for the price, not perfect, but reliable enough for daily use. If you expect luxury-level texture and packaging, you’ll be disappointed. If you just want something that lines well, doesn’t bleed, and survives a sandwich reasonably, this one actually gets the job done.

Price-wise, this sits in the classic drugstore bracket. It’s cheaper than high-end brands like MAC or Charlotte Tilbury, and usually a bit less than mid-range brands you find in big beauty stores. For what you pay, you’re getting strong pigment, decent wear time, and a usable shade that actually works for contouring and everyday looks. So in terms of pure performance per pound/euro spent, it’s good value.

The downsides that affect value: you go through it fairly quickly because it’s soft and needs regular sharpening. That means you’re losing product every time you sharpen, and if you use it daily, you’ll see it get shorter fast. There’s also no extra features like a built-in sharpener or brush, and the packaging is basic. If you care about eco-friendly packaging or more "clean" formulas, this isn’t that. It’s just a simple pencil that works.

Compared to cheaper, very stiff liners I’ve tried, this one is much more comfortable and pigmented, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting money. Compared to high-end liners, you obviously don’t get the same fancy packaging or sometimes smoother texture, but the difference on the lips is not huge. For a product you’re going to sharpen away and maybe lose in a handbag at some point, I’m okay with paying less and getting something that performs this well.

So in my opinion, value for money is strong if you’re fine with a straightforward, no-frills liner. If you want a twist-up, longer-lasting, ultra-smooth formula with nicer packaging, you might want to invest more. But if you just want a reliable brown liner that does its job without wrecking your budget, Brownie Pie is a pretty solid pick.

Design-wise, this is as straightforward as it gets. It’s a thin wooden pencil with a coloured barrel that roughly matches the shade, plus a clear cap. No click mechanism, no metal accents, nothing that screams "premium". Honestly, it looks like a standard drugstore liner, which is fine as long as it works. The size is comfortable to hold; it’s not too short or too thick, so you can get a steady grip when doing precise lines.

The tip sharpens to a fine point, which is good for outlining and cleaning up the cupid’s bow. Because the formula is quite creamy, the tip wears down pretty fast, especially if you’re filling in the whole lip. I found myself sharpening it more often than with drier pencils. After about a week of daily use, I’d already shaved off a noticeable chunk of the pencil. So if you hate sharpening or don’t always have a sharpener in your bag, this might bug you.

One small downside with the design: there’s no built-in sharpener or brush. For the price, I don’t really expect those extras, but it would still be handy. Also, the clear cap feels slightly flimsy. It doesn’t fall off, but it’s not the tightest cap I’ve used. If you just toss it in a crowded makeup bag, I’d still put it in a small pouch to avoid accidents.

Overall, the design is basic but functional. It lets you get a sharp line and precise control, which is the main point of a lip liner. The trade-off is the constant sharpening, which shortens the pencil faster than you might like. If you’re used to twist-up liners and hate shavings, this will feel a bit old-school and slightly inconvenient.

Comfort-wise, I’d put this somewhere in the middle: not super creamy like a lip crayon, but much more comfortable than those very dry, tuggy liners. When you apply it, it glides without scratching, even if your lips aren’t perfectly smooth. I sometimes get flaky lips in winter, and this didn’t catch on dry patches as badly as some other pencils. It’s still a matte formula though, so don’t expect a balmy, cushy feel.

Worn all over the lips, it feels light. After a few minutes, you almost forget it’s there. It doesn’t stay sticky or waxy, which I like. After around 3–4 hours, especially if I’ve been talking a lot, I can feel a bit of dryness, but nothing extreme. A quick dab of clear balm or gloss fixes it. Compared to some high-end long-wear liners I’ve tried, this is actually less drying, even if the formula is basic.

One thing I noticed: if you heavily overline and really layer the product, it can start to feel a bit thick around the edges after a while. Not painful, just slightly "product-y". On normal application, just outlining and lightly filling, it’s fine. It also doesn’t crack or separate when you smile, which sometimes happens with very stiff formulas. The product flexes with your lips without breaking up.

In short, it’s comfortable enough for a full workday, especially if you pair it with a hydrating lipstick or gloss. If you’re sensitive and hate any feeling of dryness, you might still find it a bit too matte. But for a standard drugstore liner advertised as long-wearing, I’d say the comfort is pretty solid and better than I expected at this price point.

The ingredient list is pretty classic for a lip pencil: waxes, oils, pigments. You’ve got things like hydrogenated palm oil, microcrystalline wax, and some preservatives like methylparaben and propylparaben. The product page calls it "paraben free" but the listed INCI clearly shows parabens, which is a bit confusing. If you’re someone who strictly avoids parabens, I’d double-check the current packaging because the Amazon data looks inconsistent.

On the lips, the formula feels creamy but not greasy. It glides on without dragging, which is a big plus if your lips are a bit dry or textured. It doesn’t crumble or ball up when you go over the same area a couple of times. There’s no strong smell or taste that I noticed, which I appreciate. Some cheap liners have a plasticky scent; this one is pretty neutral, which makes it easier to wear for hours without being annoyed.

The finish is matte but not ultra-drying. If you have very dry lips, you’ll still want a balm underneath or a gloss on top, but compared to a lot of long-wear pencils, this one is fairly comfortable. It doesn’t suck all the moisture out of your lips after a few hours. I wore it alone (no lipstick) for about 4–5 hours during the day and my lips didn’t feel tight, just slightly dry at the end, which is normal for a matte liner.

So in terms of materials and formula, it’s nothing fancy or "clean beauty" style, but it does the job: smooth application, solid pigment, and decent comfort. If you’re very picky about ingredients, you might not love the parabens and synthetic waxes. If you mainly care about feel and performance and you’re used to regular drugstore formulas, this will feel totally normal and pretty solid.

On the long-wear claim, I tested it in a few different situations: regular office day with water and coffee, a lunch with a pretty oily sandwich, and an evening out with drinks. Applied on bare lips, fully lining and lightly filling, I usually get around 4–5 hours of decent colour before it starts to noticeably fade. The outline stays longer than the fill, which is typical for a liner.

With coffee and water, it holds up quite well. You’ll see some transfer on the cup, but nothing too dramatic. After two coffees and lots of talking, I still had a clear outline and some colour inside. After an oily meal, the centre of the lips is mostly gone, but the contour is still there. It doesn’t disappear in a patchy, ugly way; it just fades gradually. A quick touch-up on the inner part is enough to bring it back to life.

One thing I appreciated is that it doesn’t smear easily. If I accidentally touch my lips, I don’t end up with brown lines on my chin or fingers. You can smudge it intentionally with a brush or finger right after application if you want a softer line, but once it sets, it’s fairly stable. It’s not fully transfer-proof, but it’s stable enough for normal daily use. At the end of the day, it comes off with a regular makeup remover or micellar water without scrubbing.

Overall, I’d say it’s honestly more of a 5-hour liner rather than a full 8-hour warrior, especially if you’re eating. But compared to other cheap liners that vanish after one snack, this one holds its ground pretty well. For the price range, the performance is above average: good staying power, controlled fading, and no weird crumbling or flaking.

This is a classic wooden pencil lip liner, nothing fancy. No twist-up, no built-in sharpener, no gimmicks. Just a slim pencil in the shade Brownie Pie (790) with a plastic cap. The product itself is 1.2 g, which is pretty standard for a lip liner. It’s small and light, easy to throw in a bag without feeling like you’re carrying extra bulk. The branding is basic: Rimmel logo, shade name, and that’s about it.

The shade Brownie Pie is a warm, deep brown with a matte finish. It’s not a cool-toned brown, so if you’re looking for that greyish-brown contour lip look, this isn’t it. On me, it looks like a 90s-style brown lip line that you can soften with a lighter nude in the middle. If you’ve used Rimmel Cappuccino before, Brownie Pie is deeper and warmer. I’d say it’s more flattering on medium to deep skin tones, though fair skin can still wear it if you like a stronger outline.

They advertise it as highly pigmented and long-wearing. Pigment-wise, that’s mostly true. One swipe gives clear colour, and you don’t have to press hard. It doesn’t look patchy, even on slightly dry lips, which is a plus. For long wear, the brand claims 8 hours. In practice, it holds up nicely for a work morning or an evening out, but if you eat anything oily, the intensity drops. The outline usually stays, but the filled-in part fades.

In short, the presentation is simple: a basic pencil with a strong brown shade and a matte, high-pigment finish. It looks cheap because it is cheap, but the actual colour payoff and behaviour on the lips feel more like mid-range, which is where the product starts to become interesting.

This is where the pencil does its job well. For definition, it’s strong. The pigment is opaque enough that one pass gives you a clean outline. I can easily sharpen the tip and get a crisp cupid’s bow without having to go over it ten times. Because the formula isn’t too slippery, the line doesn’t spread or feather into the tiny lines around the mouth, which is basically what you want from a liner.

For the "big & plump lips" claim, it obviously doesn’t physically plump anything. There’s no tingling or volume effect. But using Brownie Pie as a contour shade and then adding a lighter nude or gloss in the centre definitely gives that fuller look. The colour is deep enough to create contrast, so you get that more sculpted lip shape. If you like the 90s brown-lined lip style, this shade works very well for that trick.

It also helps a lot with lipstick staying in place. I tried it with a creamy nude lipstick that usually bleeds a bit on me, and with this liner underneath and slightly outside my natural lip line, there was no bleeding after a few hours. The lipstick itself faded, but the shape stayed neat. When I use it alone with a clear gloss on top, the gloss fades first, but the brown outline is still visible, just a bit softer.

From an effectiveness point of view: it controls bleeding, defines the lips clearly, and supports that contoured lip look. It doesn’t make your lips magically bigger, but used the right way, it does help them look fuller and more shaped. For what a lip liner is supposed to do, it’s solid. No miracles, but definitely functional and reliable.