Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: Essential eyeliners for a killer look
knows the best eyeliners to try this season.
Ah, eyeliner: Kate Moss’s desert island beauty essential and the product that Charlotte Tilbury reapplies before bed.
Women from all walks of life can benefit from its powers, given the perfect pairing of formula and applicator.
The right liner can make you look all wide-eyed awake or attractively drowsy. Its careful distribution can improve eye symmetry and enhance natural shape.
A fine line that matches mascara gives the illusion of thicker lashes, while a contrasting stripe makes your own eye colour pop.
It is highly likely that you have the tools for such tricks in your bathroom already, but if you are in the mood for a cabinet reshuffle, I have some ideas.
Nars High Pigment Longwear Eyeliner, €24
New this month, this NARS liner is a stunner, with a creamy, long-wearing pigment and razor-sharpenable tip.
The pencil lets you trace smooth, even lines, without tugging or skipping.
The formula is humidity, sweat, water, and transfer-resistant after two or three minutes’ setting time, so there is room to play around with the finish.
The fifteen-shade range is gorgeous from end to end. ‘Rodeo Drive’s’ metallic copper contrasts beautifully with blue eyes, while ‘Rue Bonaparte’ never fails to neutralise redness, even when eyes are watery.
foolproof lines and wings that don’t fade.
YSL Couture Eyeliner, €31.50
When experimenting with a seasonal colour, I tend to go for pen or pencil liners. Liquids are more expensive and so much easier to mess up.
Couture Eyeliner is not like this. The whole product is fab, but I must begin by raving about the brush.
It is almost ridiculously easy to use. I applied this season’s new, N17 ‘Daring Bronze’ shade for the first time in a dreadfully-lit brasserie ladies’ room (where is the harm in adequately lighting places women go to apply makeup, I ask you? Note to hospitality entrepreneurs: we’ll come back) and found the wand did the work for me.
A Barbie-sized brush tip creates neat, even lines of metal, with very little manipulation. The formula also contains lash-nourishing ingredients.
These won’t enhance growth, but they do make the base of your lashes look temporarily fuller.
ultra-precise application of high-fashion shades.
Lush Cosmetics Liquid Eyeliner, €17.32
Lush is better known for the oppressive waves of fragrance that emanate from their stores’ than for makeup, but its cheerful pots of liquid eyeliner have a cult following.
They make great gifts for aspiring makeup artists. Reformulated for autumn, the brand’s offering now includes a dozen jewel-toned liquids that double as eye shadow.
These lightweight, boldly pigmented colours are long-wearing and easy to blend. The eyeliner is in a glass bottle.
The ingredients list includes organic jojoba oil and fairtrade. The range comes in matte, shimmer, and glitter finishes.
You really need a great, sharp-angled brush to create proper wings with this; it’s not a fuss-free product.
On the other hand, all the best eye looks do take time.
some vegan-friendly fun with colour.
Clarins Waterproof Eye Pencil, €20
This pencil is a similar design to Smashbox Always Sharp Eyeliner, €20, but the pigment is richer and, because it’s waterproof, more long-wearing.
Further, I know Clarins has sought to reposition itself as millennial-friendly these past few years, but this is still one of the best brands for eye makeup that is gentle on dry, mature skin.
There is no pulling or creasing during application. The formula is plant-extract rich and super-comfortable.
comfortable, tear-proof lines, even when lids are sensitive.
Laura Mercier Caviar Intense Ink Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner, €26.40 at SpaceNK, feelunique.com
Feline or graphic eyeliner is art for some talented ladies. There is no liner more quill-and-ink like this season than Laura Mercier’s Caviar.
Each brush tip is made with the same attention to detail as a makeup brush; cut and contoured to allow for ultimate control, resulting in the smooth, precise application every time.
The shade and finish are high-gloss onyx. The synthetic fibres were designed to pair with this long-lasting waterproof formula, ensuring that it does not smudge, transfer, or crease.
calligraphic looks straight out of a couture show
TooFaced Better Than Sex Eyeliner, €23
This is the best liquid eyeliner launched this year. It makes drawing crisp, precise lines a cinch.
You have the option of going ultra-thin or creating thicker strokes in layers. It is waterproof, comfortable, and easy to remove.
Many of the liners listed here are great on a night-out, but this one can be relied upon up for everyday perfection.
Is that better than sex? Well …?
your ideal line, every morning.
Maybelline Tattoo Liner Liquid Ink Long Lasting Eyeliner, €12.99
Maybelline Tattoo Brow Waterproof Gel, €14.99, is a great buy, as I’ve written before, so I had high hopes for its liner equivalent.
Too high, as it turns out, as while this liner is not the worst in the pharmacy, it has some flaws that made me flinch.
It’s sticky, I was aware of it on my skin, and the product went on inconsistently more than once.
I also saw the thinner areas fade at the day went on. It has a competent brush and is relatively easy to use, but it’s even easier just to choose better before the checkout.
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