Lip liners have become an essential part of my makeup routine in the past couple years, and I’ve amassed quite a collection of lip liners.  I don’t overline my lips but I like lip liner to make my lips look a little more sculpted. Aside from the overall effect, I love wearing lip liner under glosses to increase longevity, while under lipsticks lip liners are great tone adjusters to make a lip color blend in a little better with my lips After trying many many formulas I have really figured out the types of formulas and finishes that I really love to wear and the lip liners on the market now are nothing like the hard and waxy lip liners of the 90s and 00’s.

While I can pretty much get on with most formulas as long as there’s a shade I like, there are a few that have risen to the top of the list in terms of my most reached for items and most lost within my handbag items – because let’s be honest with ourselves, the products we throw into our handbags most often are also the ones that inevitably end up lost the most often. 

But before we get into the list, let’s talk about what I like in my lip liners.

What I look for in a lip liners: 

Everyone has different preferences for lip liners (and makeup, that’s what makes it fun!) and what I like might not be what you like. Before I bring you too deep into my universe of ideal lip liners, let’s talk about what I like. 

I want something that looks natural on my lips, almost like a second skin kind of look. I love a lip liner that has a soft matte finish and isn’t too pigmented or creamy from the start, so I’m usually looking for something in a pencil format rather than a gel liner as I find gel formulas can sometimes deposit too much pigment and creaminess at once. I want the pencil to apply a soft layer of pigment without any dragging, and I want it to have a soft blurred finish as soon as I apply it.

Lastly, I obviously want a lip liner that will stick around a couple hours, but it’s not necessarily important to me for a lip liner to last for hours on end. For a liner that will last all day and through a meal, I would then reach for a gel formula. 

Aside from formula, there have to be enough neutral shades that can sculpt my lip and look harmonious with my skin without looking heavy. I love anything with rosy brown tones, neutral browns, as well as muted pinks and mauves.

Here are the 6 lip liners that I reach for the most:

1. Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner – Pillow Talk is iconic and for good reason. This lip liner formula is reliable and always delivers a knockout look. It’s slightly heavier and creamier than the Victoria Beckham liner but the soft velvety finish can create a defined lip line as easily as a soft blurred lip line (my usual preferred finish) makes this a versatile formula for creating the illusion of a fuller and more defined lip. While Pillow Talk really is that perfect pinkish beige shade that I reach for over and over again for a soft natural everyday pink lip, I love Iconic Nude just as much for a warmer nude look. It’s so tempting to grab a bunch of shades from their very extensive line of shades but for me, Pillow Talk and Iconic Nude are absolute essentials.

2. Chanel Longwear Lip Pencil – It doesn’t get more luxurious than a Chanel Lip Pencil, and everything about this formula lives up to the name. It is the softest formula of the group with great blendability, and it is also the most long-wearing formula of the lip liners featured here. Once it’s blended out, it feels feather light but extends the wear of any lip product I wear on top so I can go hours without retouching. I only have one shade – 162 Nude Brun – and it is a stunning warm rosy brown that just goes with everything. It’s a little deeper than my lip color so this is great if I want some extra definition with a neutral lip product or if I wear a deeper lipstick. 

3. Fara Homidi Smudge and Contour Lip Pencil  – a newer lip liner in my collection and this has the really beautiful soft velvety formula that I really look for. This reminds me of the Victoria Beckham Lip Definer, but these are even a tiny bit softer . This pencil is not going to give you a harsh lip line, but it will make your lips look contoured and fuller with a je ne se quois effect. It also has a really nice wear time that lasts easily for several hours before fading off in a really graceful way.

4. Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil – the newest lip liners to my collection and I definitely see what all the hype is about. These have the type of formula that I really love with a really smooth finish, plus there’s a large range of nuanced shades so I can find just about any undertone I want. It blends really well for the soft blurred finish that I like, but they can also be applied for a really defined line. I also find this formula wears well for several hours, and don’t dry my lips out at all. This long wearing formula is also safe to wear on my eyes, and I like wearing the deeper shades as an eyeliner as well.

5. Lisa Eldridge Sculpt and Shade Lip Pencil – I would trust Lisa Eldridge with my life when it comes to lip products, and the new(ish) Sculpt and Shade Lip Pencils are an exceptional formula. They are soft and smooth with that perfect soft matte blendability that I love in a lip pencil. They are described as a soft focus lip pencil and I couldn’t agree more with that description, since the soft blurred finish really tints my lips in a really pretty natural way. I’d say these are in between the Victoria Beckham and Fara Homidi formula in terms of softness and blendability, and the 3 formulas have a lot of similarities with each other. The shades are also fantastic, with a range of neutral shades in cool, neutral, or warm undertones, which makes these perfect for sculpting a natural or or more defined lip. 

6. Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer – this is the OG lip liner that got me fully into the world of lip liner and made me realize how great lip liners can be. These have the ideal soft, but not too soft or mushy formula, look like second skin, and have a great wear time without being drying at all. The shades are also absolute perfection for my skintone, with 02 being a slightly warmer beige shade for my lips and 03 being the perfect muted pinky mauve shade. I love pairing 02 with just about anything – under a brown toned lipstick or gloss for a tonal look, or as a contouring shade under pinker or redder shades. However, 03 is my second most used shade since the pink tone can help liven up lighter nude or beige shades in addition to being a perfect base for a my lips but better lip combo. A more recent addition to my collection is shade 04, which is a deeper rosy brown shade that I love to reach for when I want a bit more definition.  

Looking at these 6 formulas together it’s clear I have a preference for a specific type of formula – something soft but not too soft, blendable, creamy, and longwearing. Most of these are wood pencils which have a slightly drier (though not necessarily drying on the lips) and initially have a softer color payoff than a gel liner. The Chanel lip liners are the most long-wearing of these 6, with Charlotte Tilbury following closely behind, although I would consider all 6 to be long-wearing. The LIsa Eldridge and Victoria Beckham formulas are my favorite of these 6 (though not by a long shot) with their soft finish, blendability, and longwear, but I have lip liners I like to use for different occasions. 

It’s also clear that I like the same types of shades: a neutral shade that works as a nude, or a slightly deeper than nude, for my lips to define and contour them; and a pinker shade that matches or slightly emphasizes the natural pink-mauve in my lips. Here are comparisons of both types of shades:

There’s also a lot of other runner up formulas that I like to use but don’t reach for as constantly as these 6, although I would consider these all to be excellent lip liners as well: 

• Anastasia Beverly Hills Long Lasting Velvety Matte Lip Liner – this has the type of formula I like, though the shades aren’t quite as flattering on me as the ones featured here. I have 3 shades: Muted Mauve, Deep Taupe, and Cool Brown, though maybe I just haven’t found the right shades.
• Mob Beauty Smooth Precision Lip Liner – there’s only one shade, 1990, that I adore, an the formula is slightly less long-wearing as the 6 I featured, but I have been reaching for this quite a lot as 1990 is a versatile shade to use with any lipstick.
• Pat McGrath PermaGel Ultra Lip Pencil – the gel formula can sometimes be a little too opaque for my liking, but these can be blended out and are also ultra-long wearing. 
• Tower 28 Beauty OneLiner – this has the formula that I like although the shade range was pretty limited at the beginning for me to have a shade I would constantly reach for. There are now a few new shades I’m interested in.

I should also add that I love the Dior Rouge Dior Formula, and my favorite shades, Brown Fig, is one of my most used lip liners but is sadly discontinued. I haven’t found a dupe for it in my own collection but I am trying to find a dupe from other brands. I am  curious about their new shade range, though it doesn’t look like there’s a new version of Brown Fig.

What are your favorite lip liners? What other formulas do I need to try?