The evil game with the good mine: What secret tool the beauty industry hides from you

Sharpening wooden crayons is a hell of a lot of fun. I learned that as early as kindergarten. Admittedly, I trotted to the community sharpener more often than necessary. The enthusiastic cranking and then the sight of a colored pencil looking like new again were the joys of every coloring session. Meanwhile, my makeup supplies have replaced the case of colored pencils. But the penchant for sharpening has remained. It's easier to work more precisely with a pointed lipliner, kohl or eye shadow pencil.

Now I've got the hang of it

While products with a wooden barrel used to be the standard, you rarely find them on the beauty shelves today. The twist-out leads in plastic have taken over, and the sharpener is increasingly lying bored in my drawer. Nothing to do. But even twist-out refills get dull over time. To get them back into tip shape, I used to rub the rounded end evenly around its own axis against a piece of toilet paper. Always with a bit of pride on the back of my neck about taking the trouble and finding a workaround. I flushed said pride down the toilet last week, along with the toilet paper I was scribbling on, because: While photographing my May favorites, including a lip liner by Maybelline, I accidentally became aware of a hidden tool located under a small cap at the back tip: a cone-shaped mini sharpener just for the lead.

And the particularly embarrassing thing is that the contour pencil is no exception in my collection. Turns out, most twist-out eye or lip liners come with it. Just give the other end a tug! Who knows, you might be positively surprised by a well-kept secret. Unfortunately, hardly any manufacturer points out the extra. The good thing: If even one of your products has this special sharpener, you can use it for all others that have to do without. Provided that the size of the lead matches.