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My now-fiancè—weird!—has many marriageable attributes, but a capacity for sneakiness isn t among them. So when this past Valentine s Day (also the three-year anniversary of the day we met) rolled around, I figured I should look hotter than usual. You know, just in case anything important came up. I didn t not get a blowout, and I definitely didn t not tap manicurist Julie Kandalec to transform my bare, stubby nails into red claws the night before Fairy Godmother-style. I figured it was money well-spent either way—if nothing of note arose, I d just look extra chic while downing tartare and Beaujolais at our favorite French place.
I also knew I wanted to play the hits makeup-wise: a cool-nude lip, party lashes, and a bold, black wing. I laid down a smooth canvas with a little Glo Skin primer and Dior foundation, then toned down some redness with concealer. I chiseled my cheekbones with Westman Atelier’s contour stick, Gucci bronzer, and a wash of Violette_Fr blush. I raked Anastasia Beverly Hill’s curiously strong brow gel through my arches, tapped Chanel’s subtly glossy Glow Stick in a half-moon on my cheekbones, and shellacked my lips with Charlotte Tilbury’s satin-y new lipstick. At that point, I was ready to paint on my eyeliner and go, but my go-tos were nowhere to be found. After searching every purse and tote in my room, I gave in and desperately rummaged through The Archives, a.k.a. my makeshift beauty closet that s more chaotic than cohesive. I grabbed the first one I could find, a tiny white tube that ended up being the hero of the night: af94 Backline Liquid Liner in Eyes Wide Shut.
As a former beauty editor who considers a ‘60s-style wing something of a signature, I’ve tried hundreds of pens, pots, and pencils in pursuit of the perfect cat-eye. Testing a new product on a potentially photo-heavy evening wasn’t ideal—even with a steady hand and a trusted formula, a wing can go awry. But I’m a frequent user of Halsey’s first beauty brand, About-Face, so I figured I could trust their sophomore makeup line, too.
Thankfully, it was love at first dip: I pulled the point-tipped brush from its teeny pot and saw the liquid was that inky, deep-space black I crave in an eyeliner. The pencil-like shape of the brush s handle gave me all the dexterity I needed to keep my hand steady, and as I dragged the formula across my lids and out towards my temples, there was no skipping or bleeding in sight. The thin brush-tip made it easy to sculpt and sharpen the edge of my wing, and I could touch-up the spots I missed on my waterline with precision. It also pulled off a rare feat for the liquid formula world: it gave me plenty of play-time to fix any missteps, but once it dried, it was there to stay.
And stay it did: through cocktails and the proposal itself, through an hours-long steak dinner. But this $8 liner—yes, $8—showed its true merit through what I thought was just a nightcap, and instead turned out to be a surprise party with our closest friends. The second I walked into the wine bar and saw my girlfriends, the tears started and didn’t stop coming.
While shuffling through the stack of photos the next morning in a hungover stupor, I couldn’t believe how well my makeup had held up through all the blubbering and glasses of Champagne—especially the inky wing I’d drawn on in a rush. The brand claims the formula is water-resistant and transfer-proof, but I wouldn’t have believed how true that was without the cold, hard proof in front of me. (If you need any more reassurance, the Vogue editor who asked me to write this story was in attendance and witnessed the liner in action, and her shoulders were stain-free to boot.)
Pulling that tube out of the depths of my eyeliner drawer turned out to be the second-best decision I made that night.
