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Beauty is full of contradictions. No makeup makeup, the naked manicure—the trends of yore are meant to look like you’re not wearing anything at all (even though you most definitely are). In this heyday of pared-back glam, it s only natural that the less-is-more philosophy makes its way to your pout too—for what I’m calling the no-liner lip liner.
Vogue’s Favorite Natural-Looking Lip Liners
- Best Transfer-Proof: Dior Rouge Dior Contour, $35
- Best Sheer: Merit Signature Lip Liner, $24
- Best Contouring: Rhode Peptide Lip Shape, $24
- Best Blurring: Refy Blur Liner, $24
- Best Shades: Fara Homidi Smudge Contour Lip Pencil, $36
The allure of the no-liner look is its undetectability. For when you want to subtly enhance the lips sans filler—that looks so natural that onlookers may just question whether you did in fact get a syringe or two. Refy calls it a Lip Blur, which should create the illusion of instantly fuller lips. Hailey Bieber, on the other hand, calls it a Lip Shape–a product known for its incredible blend-ability perfect for a natural-finish. For Merit, the answer is a sheer lip liner.
The rise of the subtle lip liner is certainly a departure from the more contrasting liner looks of the early aughts and 2010s—which can admittedly be intimidating for everyday wear. The 2020s has made it clear that simplification has found more universal resonance. It comes as little surprise then that reimagining the lip liner is Merit’s next move–a brand whose goal has always been to create impossible-to-mess-up makeup solutions.
“Lip liner felt like a category ripe for our particular brand of disruption–a classic product with pain points that tend to make it intimidating for the average consumer,” Merit’s chief marketing officer Aila Morin tells Vogue. The idea of their new lip liner is that its incredibly easy to use, designed with versatility in mind. “Our sheer liner is truly impossible to mess up, no matter how much you feel you don’t know how to do makeup. It’s more forgiving and easier to play with–you can outline, overline, or fill in lips entirely–there’s no wrong way to use it.”
The same can be said for other variants by Rhode, Refy, and Dior which instead of the sheer color provided by Merit—which celebrity makeup artist Joel Vasquez describes as a translucent finish by softly outlining the lips while enhancing your natural lip color—lean into the contoured finish; which, per Vasquez, work “to add depth and shape, emulating natural shadows to achieve fuller, more defined lips without noticeable lines.” Whichever you choose, expect subtle enhancement instead of bold definition. Ahead, the best natural-looking lip liners for your everyday look.
Best Sheer: Merit Signature Lip Liner
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- Why We Love It: Those who hate the waxy harshness of a traditional lip liner will adore Merit s take. Creamy as can be via a jojoba seed oil complex, this has a conditioning quality to it that s both beneficial for the lips and a dream to apply. “It doesn’t pull or crumble like a traditional liner, but glides smoothly and fades out naturally throughout the day, which makes it so easy to use,” Morin explains. “It’s also buildable: sheer for someone who is new to lip liner or wants something natural, but can be built into higher coverage for more payoff if that’s what you’re after.”
- Key Ingredients: Jojoba seed oil
- Shades: 8
Best Contouring: Rhode Peptide Lip Shape
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- Why We Love It: “The idea is to go outside the lines of the lips and overdo it, and then kind of blend and smudge to the capacity that you want to contour the lips,” Bieber tells Vogue of the latest Rhode launch. Creamy and well-pigmented, this is designed to tint the lips with barely-there color, applied without precision, and flushed out with the smudger tool on the opposite end of the crayon. She wanted something that achieved the “appearance of fuller, poutier lips, but still looka natural.”
- Key Ingredients: Peptide, fenugreek extract
- Shades: 11
Best Blurring: Refy Blur Liner
- Why We Love It: Creating a naturally-fuller lip is the main goal of Refy’s Blur Liner. Powered by its Blur-gel technology to visibly smooth and blur fine liners, this delivers a subtle wash of soft matte pigment where you place it. It’s available in a wash of flesh-toned shades like Teak, described as a deep brown perfect for darker skin tones, or mauve which adds a pinkish touch to any nude lip. Its wide domed tip aids in application—you can line the lips without precision or the need to blend.
- Key Ingredients: Blur-gel technology, moisturizing oils
- Shades: 7
Best Transfer-Proof: Dior Rouge Dior Contour
- Why We Love It: Rouge Dior Contour is Vogue beauty editor-at-large Arden Fanning Andrews’s pick. An “invisible lip liner” as she calls it, her favorite thing about it is that it can last all day without looking makeup-y—delivering a bit of pigment that never transfers or smudges. “The nude shade can go under anything,” she says. It applies without the harsh lines of your average lip liner; plus, there s a handy brush at the opposing end in case you d like to buff out any harsh lines or blend a bit more.
- Key Ingredients: Peony extract, pomegranate flower extract, shea butter
- Shades: 27
Best Shades: Fara Homidi Smudge Contour Lip Pencil
- Why We Love It: “Fara Homidi’s lip pencil is the dream,” Fanning Andrews says of the brand’s Smudge Contour stick. “You can’t see a line with it even though it’s liner—it gives the intended effect of pretty, picture-perfect lips without going overtly balloon-y.” Packed with a blend of nourishing agents (think: sunflower seed oil, vegan wax blend, and squalane), the formula lines the lips easily—delivering a velvet suede finish that pairs well with glosses and mattes. And in case you want a more bold lip definition, you can build up the finish to your liking.
- Key Ingredients: Sunflower seed oil, vegan wax blend, squalane
- Shades: 8
Meet The Experts
- Aila Morin is the chief marketing officer of Merit.
- Joel Vasquez is a celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Nicky Rothschild Hilton and Dorit Kemsley.
