10 Best Eyeliners for Beginners 2024 | UK Makeup Artist Reviewed
Luckily, we're here to help! From UK drugstore favourites Maybelline and Rimmel to pro brands like MAC and KVD Vegan Beauty, we've compiled a list of the best beginner buys alongside a foolproof guide to finding your match. Moreover, we have partnered with Makeup Artist Marie Dancer for reviewing and fact-checking the article so that we can deliver the best information to our users.
Quick List - Top Eyeliners for Beginners
Collection
Easy-to-Apply Sharp, Dramatic Black Lines That Stay Put for 24 Hours
KVD Vegan Beauty
An IIntense Liner With a Pointed Tip, Perfect for Creating Cat Eye Flicks in One Swift Move
Barry M
Pencil Eyeliner for Straightforward Smoky Eyes With Excellent Staying Power
As a professional make-up artist of ten years, Marie's job has taken her all over the UK working at top events, on TV shows and making up beautiful brides. For all her clients she loves emphasising their natural beauty by creating a flawless base that still looks like skin.
A recommendation service that carefully researches each product and consults with experts across many disciplines. We are constantly creating new content to provide the best shopping experience from choosing ‘cosmetics’ to ‘food and drink’, ‘home appliances’ to ‘kids and baby’ products, reaching users all across the United Kingdom.
The expert oversees the Buying Guide only, and does not determine the products and services featured.
Fact-Checked & Approved by Makeup Artist Marie Dancer
As a professional makeup artist of ten years, Marie's job has taken her all over the UK, working at top events, on TV shows and making up beautiful brides. For all of her clients, she loves emphasising their natural beauty by creating a flawless base that still looks like skin.
Find out more about Marie and what are her favourite makeup products are through her Instagram! She even shares some industry tips on makeup application too. And if you're interested in getting your makeup done by Marie, you can contact her via her email found at the top of her page.
How to Choose an Eyeliner for Beginners in the UK
- Choose Between A Pencil, Liquid, Felt Tip or Gel Liner
- Consider Whether You Need A Long-Lasting And Waterproof Liner
- For Contact Lens Wearers, Look Out for Ophthalmologist-Tested Eyeliners
Choose Between Pencil, Liquid, Felt Tip and Gel Liners Depending on Your Experience Level and Desired Look
If you’re only just starting out with eyeliner, you’ll probably take a while experimenting to achieve your desired effect. In order to create the subtle or dramatic look you want, it’s best to chose a product you can apply comfortably and easily. Here are some of the most common type of liners:
- Pencil Liners: Work well for achieving a simple, neat line along your eyelid, or for smudging a little to give a smoky-eyed look when you’re a complete beginner. The effect will depend on how sharp or blunt your eyeliner pencil is, so consider experimenting with different tips to discover what works (and looks) best for you.
- Liquid Liners: One of the benefits of this kind of product is its staying power and overall dramatic effect. A liquid liner is best suited to creating clear, dark, sharp lines and flicks, so it’s great for beginners who want a dramatic look. When choosing a liquid liner, consider the nib. A product with a fine-tipped brush will make subtle and elegant results, while an application brush with a hard tip will also help improve your precision.
- Felt Tip Liners: For a product that combines the sharp lines and depth of colour afforded by liquid liners with the simplicity of a pencil, try a felt tip style eyeliner. These smart tubes of colour act like a kind of makeup marker pen, providing a luxurious liquid line you can apply just as you would a pencil liner. As well as being weighty and comfortable to hold, the fine tip makes it perfect for drawing a sharp, quick line mistake-free, perfect if you want to create a glamorous cat-eye flick.
- Gel Type: A bit like liquid eyeliner, a gel liner is also painted on, so controlling the brush may be a challenge for eyeliner newbies. One benefit of gel liner is that it’s extremely easy to blend, so you don’t need a rigidly straight line. This type of liner will create a smoky effect rather than a sharp, sleek line.
Further enhance your eyes by using an eyeshadow palette and volumising mascara
Select Waterproof Liner for a Long-Lasting Look or a Non-waterproof Formula if You Need Some Practice
If you choose a non-waterproof liner, it will come off nice and easily, letting you make endless mistakes without staining half your face. Additionally, it can be removed without tugging or pulling harshly at your skin. The downside is that once it’s on, it will be more likely to smudge and move around your skin.
Waterproof eyeliner will withstand a morning swim, rainstorms, and even just the moment you absent-mindedly rub your newly-lined peepers. If you want a long-lasting look, this is the best option; just keep some effective makeup remover to hand while you experiment with cat flicks for the first time.
Make removing tough eye makeup easy with an eye makeup remover.
Look for Ophthalmologist-Tested Eyeliners if You Wear Contact Lenses
Do you wear contacts? Great news – nowadays, more and more makeup brands are putting their products through tests to make them safe and suitable for contact lens wearers. This is especially relevant for contacts-wearing liner newbies, as your eyes may not be used to these products, particularly if you're applying them directly onto your lash or water line. Look for eyeliners that are ophthalmologist-tested to ensure minimal irritation!
10 Best Eyeliners for Beginners in the UK
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Key features | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Eyeliner | | Easy-to-Apply Sharp, Dramatic Black Lines That Stay Put for 24 Hours | |
2 | Clinique Quickliner for Eyes | | Create a Classic Smoky Eye in Seconds With a 2-in-1 Smudger Pencil | |
3 | KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner Trooper Black | | An IIntense Liner With a Pointed Tip, Perfect for Creating Cat Eye Flicks in One Swift Move | |
4 | Barry M Kohl Pencil Eyeliner | | Pencil Eyeliner for Straightforward Smoky Eyes With Excellent Staying Power | |
5 | Maybelline Hyper Easy Brush Tip Liquid Eye Liner | | A Felt Tip With a Comfy Grip, Sharp-Nibbed Precision and a Flex-Tip Brush | |
6 | Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner | | Create Sharp And Precise Lines Which Last Up To 16 Hours | |
7 | Stila Stay All Day® Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner | | Fine Tip, Long-Lasting Eyeliner For Expert Precision on Your First Try | |
8 | Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Eyeliner | | Award-Winning Gel Liner fo Creating Smudged Looks and Blurred Lines | |
9 | MAC Liquidlast 24-Hour Waterproof Liner | | Sharp, Dramatic Lines With a Fine-Nibbed Bush From a Makeup Powerhouse | |
10 | Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil | | A Cheap and Cheerful Pencil to Welcome You Into the World of Liner |
Easy-to-Apply Sharp, Dramatic Black Lines That Stay Put for 24 Hours
It’s not so dramatically-black that you’ll have nightmares removing it, but once it’s on you can rest in the knowledge it’ll stay where it’s meant to. The extra-fine tip makes it easy to apply neat flicks nice and quickly, perfect for dragging along your entire lash line or adding a statement flick at each end.
Create a Classic Smoky Eye in Seconds With a 2-in-1 Smudger Pencil
This easy-to-use pencil is also self-sharpening and retractable, and ophthalmologist tested to be kind to sensitive eyes. Quick to remove if you’re prone to mistakes, great for disguising less-than perfect lines with some glamorous smudging, tough enough to stay put and available in 9 shades – what’s not to love?
KVD Vegan Beauty Tattoo Liner Trooper Black
An IIntense Liner With a Pointed Tip, Perfect for Creating Cat Eye Flicks in One Swift Move
Another plus point for beginners is that the pointed tip is ultra-fine, enabling you to create a clean cat eye (or any other shape you desire) in just one swift flick. This vegan-friendly formula is highly pigmented, waterproof and smudge-proof, staying put through snow, sweat and sneezes!
Pencil Eyeliner for Straightforward Smoky Eyes With Excellent Staying Power
Never tested on animals, Barry M’s products are great value and good quality, and this particular liner sharpens up smoothly so will last a little longer than softer, smudgier eye pencils where the nib breaks more easily. It's also available in both muted tones and a couple of fun ones if you want to get creative.
A Felt Tip With a Comfy Grip, Sharp-Nibbed Precision and a Flex-Tip Brush
Unlike many drugstore-value brands, it's ophthalmologist-tested, too. With a combination of 24-hour smudge-proof wear, a rich, intense pigment, and an easy-to-manoeuvre felt-tip shape, this might be the beginning of a beautiful love affair with eyeliner.
Create Sharp And Precise Lines Which Last Up To 16 Hours
As well as classic black, there's a solid variety of other colours to choose from including brown, charcoal and sapphire. Since it is smudge-proof, it is perfect for the everyday! Yet, some have noted how the tip of the pencil does break quite easily.
Fine Tip, Long-Lasting Eyeliner For Expert Precision on Your First Try
The colour is extremely long-lasting, meaning even if you’re not used to wearing eyeliner, your makeup will stay put without fuss or smudges. That said, this liner does dry quickly, making it harder to remove. If you feel like mixing it up, try the alloy grey or dark brown shades.
Award-Winning Gel Liner fo Creating Smudged Looks and Blurred Lines
It’s extremely easy to smudge, meaning you can deliberately blur the line you draw and create a mysterious, smoky eye on your first go! One catch with this product is that you’ll need to buy a separate brush to apply it, meaning it’s certainly not the most bargainous liner on our list.
Sharp, Dramatic Lines With a Fine-Nibbed Bush From a Makeup Powerhouse
It’s a bit of an investment for a beginner, but what better brand to start your eyeliner adventure with than MAC cosmetics? The quality of the brush and liner liquid mean this product glides on seamlessly and will last up to 24 hours thanks to the all-important glycerides added to its formula. Pro tip: Practice neat lines on the back of your hand first.
RimmelSoft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil
A Cheap and Cheerful Pencil to Welcome You Into the World of Liner
At such a great price and with several shades to choose from, you can experiment with new makeup looks for less than the price of a coffee! The only downsides are that once you start using it regularly, you’ll be surprised how quickly it disappears as you sharpen it. Likewise, the staying power isn’t great, so expect to be reapplying it throughout the day.
How to Apply Eyeliner: A Handy Trick for the Perfect Cat Eye Flick
While you can find a myriad of tips online for creating a flawless cat-eye flick, we have one tip which should make your first ever attempt as easy as pie. Before putting on any other make-up, use a felt tip liquid liner to draw a tiny dot next to your eyelid, wherever you want your cat flick to finish.
Next, carefully draw a line along the top of your lid, bringing the line up to meet the dot – don’t worry if it’s a bit clumsy at this point. Now neatly fold a makeup wipe and use it to swipe your wobbly line into a sharp feline flick. Finally, apply any other eye makeup or touch up with concealer or foundation, and voila! A purr-fect cat eye technique just right for complete beginners!
Written and researched by Annie Hopkins
Top 5 Eyeliners for Beginners
No. 1: Collection ｜Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Eyeliner
No. 2: Clinique｜Quickliner for Eyes
No. 3: KVD Vegan Beauty ｜Tattoo Liner Trooper Black
No. 4: Barry M｜Kohl Pencil Eyeliner
No. 5: Maybelline ｜Hyper Easy Brush Tip Liquid Eye Liner
View Full RankingThe descriptions of each product are referenced from content available on manufacturer, brand, and e-commerce sites.