The 14 Very Best Lip Liners

Whatwe’relookingfor

Best lip liner overall

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:38 shades |Price:$$

The wordiconicis thrown around lightly nowadays, but M.A.C’s lip liners are well and truly so. First introduced in the ’90s, they became synonymous with the dramatic, pouty, liner-heavy lip looks of the era. While the brand’s lip-liner formula has undergone a few tweaks over the years, three makeup artists we talked to assured us that the current iteration is just as good — and that assertion proved true when I tested it myself. I have a light neutral skin tone, so I decided to try the shades Cork, a golden brown, and Cool Spice, a brownish mauve. (The entire range includes 38 shades designed to complement every skin tone from fair and pale to deep and rich.) When I applied it, the texture was on the waxier side, but it didn’t catch or feel like it was tugging on my lips; makeup artistMollie Glossdescribes it as a “very traditional wood pencil that glides but has grip to it.” When I assessed its longevity at lunchtime, I was impressed that it managed to stay on and prevent my lip tint from smearing even after I ate a big salad, a bowl of yogurt, and a bag of pretzels.

“M.A.C’s lip liners are foolproof just due to how long they’ve been around,” says makeup artistNatalie Dresher.“They’ll be in my kit for as long asI’maround.” It’s a perennial favorite of celebrities as well, fromJade ThirlwalltoChloe BaileytoDebi Mazar: “It keeps my lipstick from sliding, and it doesn’t smear,” Mazar says, and Thirlwall, though she’s tried other lip liners, will “always come back to this one. I’ve used this since I was a teenager, I can’t part with it.” Based on its extensive shade range, its three-decade-long tenure, and how often and howenthusiasticallyit’s been recommended to us, the M.A.C Lip Pencil is our top overall pick.

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:30 shades |Price:$

“Great price, great colors, great formula,” declares makeup artistLindsay Kastukof these NYX liners. With 30 shades available, she says it’s possible to find any nude you could possibly need, which Strategist deals editor Sam Daly confirmed to be true; Daly has a pale complexion with pink undertones and finds that most products skew too orange on her. She was on the hunt for a basic cool-toned brown lip liner and settled on the NYX liner in the shade Moonwalk. “It applies smoothly and is easy to clean up mistakes or blur it out, but has surprisingly good staying power,” Daly reports. Though she found the pencil tip to be a bit delicate, she prefers that over the ones “that feel like the No. 2 pencils you use in school. It just means I can easily change the pressure to decide how much product to apply,” she says.

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:7 shades |Price:$$$

Victoria Beckham’s entire beauty lineis reliably excellent, but the Lip Definer has the distinction of being the product that converted Strategist writer Tembe Denton-Hurst into a VBB acolyte: “I have a darker top lip and a lighter, pinkish bottom one, and I’d never found a brown that complemented both,” Denton-Hurst writes. “Then I met shade No. 5. The first time I applied it, I was stunned by the close color match.” The pencil continues to be her trusty go-to thanks to its smooth pigment that doesn’t skip or “move around when layered with something slick” and enhances her lips “without screaming I’m wearing lip liner.” The Lip Definer’s different shades in particular were called out by multiple makeup artists, with makeup artistEmma Elizabethcalling them “some of the most perfect ’90s, early 2000s shades for that neutral rosy-brown lip.” Makeup artistElika Hilataadds that although the range isn’t huge, they go seamlessly with many different complexions because the shades seemed to have been developed “not based on colors, but based on how they match skin tones.” And although they’re admittedly pricey, makeup artistMolly Fredenbergassures that she’s had the same ones for months now and they’ve yet to dry out or go waxy.

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:11 shades |Price:$$

Strategist writer Brenley Goertzen puts on Make Up For Ever’s lip liner daily and has repurchased it multiple times in the warm nude shade Wherever Walnut. “It glides so effortlessly and it’s easy to make it darker if I press harder or layer on more applications,” she says. It was the liner she chose to wear to her best friend’s wedding, and Goertzen was amazed to find that it lasted through Champagne, her maid-of-honor speech, and a three-course dinner. The brand also recently released awaterproof versionof the liner, which, if the longevity of the non-waterproof version is any indication, likely has the power to last through an apocalypse.

Format:Retractable |Shade Range:7 shades |Price:$$

After having lip filler injected and then dissolved into her lips, Strategist writer Rachael Griffiths was left with a not-very-defined lip border. “I find it really hard to find a liner that doesn’t emphasize the lack of definition — I’m like, where do I even draw this line?” Griffiths says. She turned to the Refy lip blur to help create a soft, hazy edge: “Once I apply it, my lips look plumper, but also, crucially, that lack of definition isn’t noticeable at all,” she says. Though it has a luxuriously creamy texture, Griffiths says it lasts impressively long — she only has to reapply once or twice throughout the day — and doesn’t appear feathered or like she’s just eaten a sandwich either.

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:4 (or 8?) shades |Price:$$

Mixing multiple liners in lighter and darker shades can create more depth and dimension for a highly sculpted and contoured lip look. Picking the right two shades to work together can be a bit daunting, but these Charlotte Tilbury duos make it easy for you. Griffiths is used to using two different liners to contour her lips, and has found that having makes it easy to just pop one into your bag. The brand’s Lip Cheat liners have garnered a cult following because “they’re super smooth to apply, they feel good on, and they have great staying power,” explains makeup artistAmanda Thesen. “They feel just emollient enough where they’re not going to move, but they aren’t drying or skipping either.” The dual-ended pencil comes in four combinations, and while they’re the same size and price as the single-sided Lip Cheat, having two shades to work with provides more versatility for the price of one. “They’re definitely worth the investment. You’ll use them down to a nub,” Kastuk says. .

Format:Retractable |Shade Range:11 (or technically 22?) shades |Price:$$

While the majority of the liners on this list tend to stick with neutral browns, beiges, pinks, and mauves, Half Magic’s Sculptitude liners dare to break out of the box — as one would expect from brand founder andEuphoriamakeup artist Donni Davy. These dual-sided retractable liners are equipped with complementary hues like peach/brick and pink/terracotta, but there are also some more outre color combinations, such as sky blue/pink and neon orange/coral. When I tested them myself, I found that they’re about the same thickness as a ballpoint pen with a very smooth, creamy consistency, which means it’s a little harder to create very precise line, but I personally prefer a more blurred look anyway. While I’m usually more understated with my lip makeup, I found the easily blendable texture and pre-approved color combos made me more confident and inclined to experiment with ombre and halo looks.

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:20 shades |Price:$$$

When Strategist senior editor Hilary Reid got her makeup done at the Chanel beauty atelier (sadly now shuttered) ahead of a friend’s wedding, the makeup artist used a lip liner in the shade Nude Brun. Reid had never worn lip liner before, and found herself “blown away by how it subtly made my lips look more defined, and could be blended in a way that truly matched my lip color and didn’t look like an outline,” she says. It’s now a staple of her makeup bag, and she’ll often layer it with lipstick or lip gloss on top. And for those who aren’t quite as skilled at blending as a professional makeup artist, the pencil comes with a handy brush on the other end that can be used to sheer out the liner with exact precision.

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:6 shades |Price:$

Strategist writerAmbar Pardillalikes a beauty product with a variety of potential applications, and calls Tower28’s OneLiner “a hardworking multitasker for your eyes, cheeks, and lips.” When she applied it to her Cupid’s bow and along her bottom lip, it created a sharp, defined line that didn’t drag. But it also glided seamlessly along her lash line, and stayed put after eight hours of interviews, meetings, and a quick cry. Additionally, she’ll use it to draw a circle on her cheeks before blending it out, and likes that she has more control over the application than with regularblush. “Each stroke was blendable, and the final look was a pinched pink and very natural,” Pardilla writes. That’s a lot of versatility for a product that’s just $15.

Format:Pencil |Shade Range:5 shades |Price:$$

After trying a whole host ofnewly released lip liners, Denton-Hurst says this Ami Colé Soft Shape liner is the only one that’s still in her rotation. It comes in five shades, from warm pink to rich chocolate; she tried the three darkest shades (Petit Cola, Cafe Touba, and Midnight) and liked Cafe Touba the best. “It’s a little darker than my natural lip color but adds dimension,” Denton-Hurst writes. “The consistency was perfect for me. The tip is sharp and it goes on smoothly, but it doesn’t feel slippy.” She’ll pair it with Ami Colé’s lip gloss, another one of her favorite offerings from the brand, and found that even after the gloss rubbed off, she still saw hints of the lip liner — it wasn’t until she wiped her makeup off at the end of the day that it fully disappeared.

Format:Stain |Shade Range:7 shades |Price:$

There’s a good chance you’ve seen this peel-off lip liner, from beauty content creator Sarah Cheung’s brand Sacheu, all over your TikTok feed. The liner has an initial liquid consistency, then dries and peels off to leave behind a long-lasting stain that promises to be smudge-proof. There was a slight learning curve when I tried it — the liner needs to be applied in one fell swoop, not in sections — but once I got the hang of it, it left a distinct but soft, not sharp line. One thing to note, however, is that the liner takes about ten to 15 minutes to dry, meaning I wouldn’t recommend reaching for it if you’re crunched for time and need to do your makeup in a rush. Once it’s on, though, it’son— even after a double-rinse with a cleansing balm and a face wash, I could still see faint traces of the stain.