I got this because I was sick of pencils not sharpening properly, therefore losing a lot of product. I've heard the non-automatic pencils from Prestige are supposed to glide as smoothly and are as effective as the one's by Urban Decay, but this is not it. It's hard, but not cheap NYC liner hard. I mainly use it in my waterline as it's a bit too stiff to tug onto my upper lids. It definitely does not blend/smudge out well. The automatic option is pretty handy though.