Lip Liner's Triumphant Comeback

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Renaissance art scholars will tell you that mastery of light and shadow—as perfected by Leonardo da Vinci and his compatriots—ushered in a new era of realism and emphasis on the human form. I was an art history major, but I had learned this truth long before I was exposed to the canon, by watching my mom apply her lip liner in our car when I was a child.

By the time I was old enough to wear makeup, the ’90s nude—and accompanying near-flesh-tone liner—was out of vogue, replaced in the early aughts by glossy pouts and Lancôme Juicy Tubes. For a while it seemed that lip pencils might be consigned to the dustbin of makeup history…until social media came along. Now #lipliner clocks in at 3.4 billion views on TikTok. After years of plumping our pouts with filler, our infatuation with full kissers remains—but now the OG pencil is back to do the trick.

“Our obsession with lips started with the talkies and was fueled by Hollywood fanzines, but lip liner was really more of a Holly­wood specialist thing,” says Lisa Eldridge, makeup artist and founder of her eponymous brand. “From the 1950s and ’60s onward it gained more traction.” Early on, you had to have access to products and training in technique, but that changed when MAC released lip pencils in the ’90s, launching an era-defining trend. Thirty years later liners have evolved beyond shadow-­emphasizing browns and taupes into an array of colors and revamped textures.

“Formulations have changed and become much more versatile,” says Chanel makeup artist Kate Lee, whose clients include Julianne Moore and Kristen Stewart. “Having a great lip liner that matches your natural lip color is the fastest way to give the illusion of a fuller, more balanced lip shape,” she says. The difference is they’re less drying and chalky, and they stay in place, so a well-matched liner can also be used as an all-over lip color (in addition to preventing the dreaded bleed of bright red lipstick). Overlining with a color that is not close to your natural lip shade “can look passé,” Lee says; the secret lies in choosing a shade close to your natural tone and using lighter tones at the center to give dimension to the shape of the mouth.

Shade range is key. Eldridge’s new sculpting lip liners include 10 natural hues encompassing neutral, cool, and warm undertones. Similarly, Bobbi Brown’s Jones Road line recently introduced nine your-lips-but-­better tones, and Dior launched an expanded Rouge Dior Contour liner range in January. If you need help with application, there’s no shortage of inspiration out there. An instructional video Eldridge made in 2020, which shows how to create a lifting effect with liner, has been lapped up to the tune of 1.4 million views on YouTube. “It’s like a facelift,” Eldridge says. “Not everyone can do a really incredible winged eye or other techniques you see on Instagram, but everyone can do a sculpted lip, and it will change the entire look of your face, whether it’s lifting the corners or just giving balance between top lip and bottom lip.”

The homogenization of faces due to plastic surgery trends has also given way to enhanced but not overly detectable liner. After all, there’s no fun in everyone having the same face, Eldridge says. “It’s more about looking at your lips and figuring out what works with your face and features, because everyone is completely different.” Lip liner is a way to define—literally—your individual beauty. Plus, it’s a breeze to apply. “Why would I need to get lip filler?” Eldridge asks. “I’ve got lip pencil. I can put it on every day. It takes me about 10 seconds for it to look really good.”

Ten seconds to your own masterpiece straight out of your makeup bag? Michel­angelo could never.

Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner Mark of a Kiss

Sculpt And Shade Lip Pencil

Rouge Dior Contour No-Transfer Lip Liner Pencil 720

CHANEL LE CRAYON LEVRES Longwear Lip Pencil - 180 ROUGE BRIQUE

Jones Road The Lip Pencil - Rosewood

This story appears in the May 2024 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW

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