Best Eyeliner: The 2024 List Beauty Awards
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Very few moments in life have you holding your breath like applying eyeliner. One wrong flick, and you're bound to reach for the micellar water and start all over. Arguably no other makeup step carries that kind of pressure, so it's important to pick the eyeliner you can count on to do right by you the first time. Too often those eyeliner mishaps aren't even user error; the wrong eyeliner can smudge, drag or splotch its way to makeup disaster.
That's why for many, the search for the best eyeliner is deeply personal and can be a lifelong quest. Whether you're aiming for sultry siren eyes, doe eyes, or an old school thick wing, you deserve an eyeliner that doesn't disappoint. Speaking from the perspective of an aging millennial, eyeliner can be a challenge with crow's feet and hooded and oily eyelids. As such, the right eyeliner has to be committed to me like I am to it.
I tried out 10 top-rated eyeliners in hopes to find a product with seamless application and staying power. Five liners remained in my beauty bag, with one becoming a bonfire holy grail in my makeup routine.
Best Overall: Benefit Roller Liner True Matte Liquid Eyeliner
Just like its sister mascara, Benefit's Roller Liner is an instant cult favorite for all the right reasons. If you're looking for that staple eyeliner to add to your beauty routine, Benefit has you covered. Roller Liner glides on like butter with a flexible felt tip. There's no skips, no dragging, and absolutely no drawbacks to the application of this product. Too often eyeliners go on with the same impact of an old Expo marker — streaky and dried-up — but you won't find that in Benefit's liner. This product applies with a punch of pigment off the bat, and dries to a beautiful matte.
This liquid liner survived several hours of wear and crossed the finish line of a hot barre workout with zero smudging. Suffice to say, Benefit Roller Liner True Matte Liquid Eyeliner will not be rolling out of my beauty routine anytime soon.
Buy Benefit Roller Liner True Matte Liquid Eyeliner on Amazon for $21.
Best clean: Honest Beauty Longlasting Vegan Liquid Eyeliner
Your eyeliner may look slayed, but with so many irritating ingredients on the market, they may not feel so fabulous. Skin and eye sensitivity can throw another wrench into the already difficult search for the perfect eyeliner. Luckily, there's Honest Beauty, who makes good on their promise to offer consumers clean makeup worth the purchase in their Longlasting Vegan Liquid Eyeliner. Free of those pesky irritating ingredients, this is a safe bet for makeup lovers with sensitivities.
Conscious formulation doesn't mean this eyeliner skimps on performance, either. Honest Beauty's brush tip liner offers precision in its application, ideal for the thinnest or boldest graphic liner looks. This vegan liner dries down to a velvety satin finish that stays put throughout the day, until a bit of makeup remover gets the job done without dragging.
Buy Honest Beauty Longlasting Vegan Liquid Eyeliner on Amazon for $15.
Best pencil: NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Jumbo Eye Pencil
There's a reason NYX's Jumbo Eye Pencil is a tried and true favorite among longtime beauty experts. This eyeliner pencil — nay, eyeliner crayon, as the brand describes it — is as versatile as it is dependable. Buy other shimmering colors in the line to draw all over the lid for a shadow look, or have a waterline eyeliner moment with a deeper shade. I tried out the latter, and NYX helped give me the grungey, smoked-out eye look of my dreams.
Their black jumbo eye pencil is the darkest, boldest black eyeliner of the products I tested. Unlike too many pencil liners that fade away after an hour or two, this product never lost its pigment on my eyes, even in the waterline. If you favor the punchy payoff of a pencil over the precision of liquid liner, this Jumbo Eye Pencil holds up to its hype. One thing about NYX, they never miss!
Buy NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Jumbo Eye Pencil on Amazon for $6.
Best budget: Physicians Formula Ultra-Fine Liquid Eyeliner
Just because stunning eyeliner can look expensive on the eyes, doesn't mean the product itself has to be pricey. In this economy, we all could use an eyeliner that doesn't break the bank, as well as one that's easy to find at your local drugstore in a pinch. Physicians Formula has been a dark horse among budget beauty brands with staple products that rival the quality of high-end makeup. With Physicians Formula Ultra-Fine Liquid Eyeliner, they can add another notch in their belt of incredible, underrated products at an accessible cost.
I was stunned by this liquid liner's capabilities at its price point. It checked all the boxes: seamless, slick application with a flexible applicator. Even though the clean eyeliner pick in this awards series is more expensive only by a margin, Physicians Formula is also a clean brand with hypoallergenic products, making this comfortable on the eyes. As for its staying power, Physicians Formula lasted through the ultimate eyeliner killer: a heated eyelash curler. The silver, weighty component even makes this liner feel like a splurge.
Buy Physicians Formula Ultra-Fine Liquid Eyeliner on Amazon for $10.
Best brown: LAURA GELLER NEW YORK Kajal Longwear Eyeliner
Clean girl aesthetic lovers know not every eyeliner look needs to pull off Amy Winehouse vibes. Sometimes all you need is a good brown liner to complete a more subtle, everyday look, and the Laura Gellar New York Kajal Longwear is the product for the job. This pencil offers a rich, medium-toned brown color payoff with the most subtle shimmer. It's uber-blendable upon application but, true to its name, doesn't budge throughout the day.
While I can't speak to Laura Gellar's claim that the caffeine and Vitamin E in this liner improves the look of eyes themselves, this liner felt the best and most wearable as I tried out these products. If big, bold eye looks don't do it for you, and brown liner is a more comfortable makeup go-to, grab LAURA GELLER NEW YORK Kajal Longwear Eyeliner for a product that's as easy to use as it is gorgeous.
Buy LAURA GELLER NEW YORK Kajal Longwear Eyeliner on Amazon for $17.