Every Eyeliner for Every Kind of Look (2025)

$28

Type: Liquid | Colors: 1 | Waterproof: Yes

This liner keeps it clean in more ways than one. With its inky felt tip, the liner glides perfectly and lasts all day without moving or transferring. The smaller tip also allows for the most precise wing so you can create the perfect cat-eye.

$13

Type: Gel | Colors: 13 | Waterproof: Yes

It takes a bit of work to perfect this liner, but the color payoff is definitely worth it. For example, Electric Slide, a matte green, shows up vibrantly without any eye prep or priming. But do you know what’s even better? It’s long-wearing.

$22

Type: Liquid | Colors: 6 | Waterproof: No

Liquid liners can be intimidating. After years of perfecting the cat-eye, I still have to take a deep breath before applying one. If you’re venturing into liquid liners for the first time, opt for this one from Anastasia Beverly Hills. It has the same stiff and easy-to-control felt tip brush you’re familiar with, with lots of pigment. It dries down matte, and while it’s not entirely waterproof, it is water-resistant.

$26

Type: Liquid | Colors: 2 | Waterproof: Yes

Whenever I want a softer cat-eye look, I reach for this liquid liner. Besides the inky, semi-matte, and smudgeproof formula, I really love the brush tip. It’s stiff and sharp enough that you don’t lose control and creates super-precise lines. It also comes in black if you want more drama.

$8

Type: Gel | Colors: 24 | Waterproof: Yes

Like its lip liners, Colourpop offers over 20 creamy, pigmented shades, from your standard black to bright shimmery green. Besides being affordable enough to buy multiple colors at once, it’s a solid liner for lining your waterline or creating a smokey cat-eye. It’s also waterproof and doesn’t smudge.

$12

Type: Liquid | Colors: 1 | Waterproof: Yes

I have combination skin and after a long day no matter how well my makeup is set, the oily part of that falls right on my forehead and eyelids. So after a long day with a carefully drawn cat-eye, I can usually expect to see it smudged across my lid but that wasn’t the case with this inky liner from Revlon. With a very precise tip, it was easy to make a sharp wing that stays in place all day.

$28

Type: Gel | Colors: 5 | Waterproof: Yes

Heat and humidity shouldn’t stop a good-makeup day. Even when I’ve decided to swap the heavy foundations for skin tint and concealer, I want a neat liner look. Hourglass’s gel liners are creamy and dry down and stay put, so I don’t have to worry about sweat and greasy eyelids smudging my makeup.

$20

Type: Gel | Colors: 3 | Waterproof: Yes

If you’re looking to play with color without straying too far from the norm, Rare Beauty offers this eyeliner in a classic black, chocolate brown, and a spiced burgundy (that feels perfectly aligned with the fall 2024 runways). The price point is fair, so feel free to experiment with a new hue that you might not reach for every day.

$29

Type: Gel | Colors: 3 | Waterproof: Yes

Whether you prefer a precise line or smudged look, this eyeliner can do it all. The formula doesn’t dry down too fast, so you’ll have plenty of time to shape and smudge your lines. But when it does set, it won’t budge. You can forget the worries of your eyeliner running throughout the day with this one.

$26

Type: Liquid, Gel | Colors: 2 | Waterproof: Yes

If you’re looking for a smudged look, keep scrolling. This Tarte eyeliner is ideal for a sharp look — whether you use the gel pencil side or the liquid felt tip. This two-in-one option is also waterproof, ensuring your look stays precise no matter the conditions.

$21

Type: Liquid | Colors: 1 | Waterproof: Yes

Leave it to Serena Williams to create an everything-proof liner that’s just as good off-court. Cut staffer Morgan Evans counts this among her favorites since the inky liner basically doesn’t move.

$24

Type: Gel | Colors: 6 | Waterproof: No

Whether you’re looking to create a bold smokey eye or highlight your waterline, we love this classic eye liner pencil. The long-wear liner is beloved for its pigmented color and rich formula that allows for easy and smooth application thanks to its traditional sharpen-style precision tip.

$23

Type: Kohl | Colors: 23 | Waterproof: YEs

This budgeproof pencil is wildly popular probably because it feels like coloring with an oil pastel instead of a No. 2. The formula is ultracreamy and glides on smoothy, while the color payoff is up there with something more liquid, like a marker. The formula’s also simple to play with and smudge out for an easy smoky eye before it sets for the day.

$5

Type: Gel | Colors: 6 | Waterproof: Yes

This pencil doesn’t know the meaning of drag. It glides on smoothly, but it isn’t one of those pencils whose tip breaks off if you dare to apply any pressure. In a blind test, we bet you would peg this one as being from a luxury brand, but it’s under ten bucks.

$9

Type: Liquid | Colors: 4| Waterproof: No, but long-lasting

Maybelline makes one of the best liquid liners out there. Why? Its ability to give a sharp line. This pen has a supersharp tip and an easy-control grip that helps you create smooth, even strokes. Use it to create a cat-eye, and you’ll end up with angles so precise your friends will think you used a protractor.

$24

Type: Liquid | Colors: 8 | Waterproof: Yes

If you want sapphire blue winged liner or a jade green cat-eye, you have to go Stila. No matter the shade, each performs equally well, giving you a vibrant, sharp line of pigment that glides across your skin and stays put. If you want slightly different shades of brown or black, Stila excels at those in liquid formulation too.

$32

Type: Kohl | Colors: 3 | Waterproof: Yes

Tilbury thinks beyond the usual eye-pencil shades, and her unique color blends define eyes in an effortless-looking way. Try the taupe-y Smokey Gray, a nice toned-down alternative to black, or the nude Eye Cheat, which is excellent at dialing down redness in the eye area without looking concealer-ish.

$14

Type: Gel | Colors: 18 | Waterproof:

In general, you should not sleep on the Sephora Collection. Thanks to Sephora’s manufacturing know-how, the entire collection contains very satisfying dupes for high-end products at a fraction of the price. Its eyeliners are reliably long-lasting, come in a ton of fun colors, and cost under $20. The one is particularly nice because it doesn’t require any sharpening and doesn’t smudge, but also blends easily if you want a softer look (how it manages to do these seemingly contrasting tasks is a mystery, but it works).

$36

Type: Gel | Colors: 4 | Waterproof: Yes

If liquid liners leave you blotchy and pencil liners make your delicate eyelids shudder, this gel liner in a pot will be your saving grace. Use a brush to glide the creamy formula over your lids. It’s easy to guide it into hard-to-reach places or paint on cat-eye wings without skips. Once it sets, it stays put with a long-lasting matte finish that has a unique sheen you can’t get from a liquid or pencil liner.

$36

Type: Liquid | Colors: 1| Waterproof: Yes

If you want something thin and precise, this liner is for you. The brush is small and dense but flexible enough to create thin or thick lines. It’s also a true black color that doesn’t skip or smear.

$20

Type: Gel | Colors: 8 | Waterproof: Yes

These creamy liners are great for waterline lining, tightlining, and generaldesign-drawingbecause they consistently keep their precise shape, no sharpener necessary. The nonirritating vitamin E and aloe-infused formula not only comes in classic black and brown but also lush tones like amethyst and terra-cotta that pop on darker skin tones.

$24

Type: Liquid | Colors: 2 | Waterproof: Yes

Despite its grip-friendly triangle shape, Rihanna’s liquid liner is actually quite well rounded. The shade (called Cuz I’m Black) is super-juicy and delivers an extra-saturated inky line immediately upon contact. There’s never any need to go back over your handiwork to get an opaque line, and like other Fenty products (Pro Filt’r, Stunna Lip Paint), this stuff will last you all day.