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Rant & Rave: Brown Eyeliner

Tell us what you love and hate about...

Brown Eyeliner

I don’t often wear matte/semi-matte brown eyeliners, but I love a shimmery brown eyeliner to give definition without overwhelming the eyeshadows I’m wearing.

— Christine

29 Comments

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helen Avatar

Brown eyeliner (pencil) is my go-to to help my lashes (tight-lining) look fuller. Couldn’t live without a true, solid dark brown (espresso) liner.

Julia Avatar

Brown eyeliner is an absolute staple for me, I wear it almost everyday. You can warm up a look with a reddish brown, or get good definition without going too harsh with a deep blackened brown. All raves here!

xamyx Avatar

When my hair is auburn or brown, and I’m going for a more “natural”/less dramatic eye, I’ll use it if I have one in my stash, but I won’t make an effort to buy one. My hair is currently black, so it’s not even something to consider. If I want a softer eye, I’ll forgo liner altogether. Brown just looks odd…

Lilinah Avatar

I never wear black liner. It’s too hard and too harsh on me. So brown is my basic liner color for a “normal” natural look. I prefer liners with at least a little shimmer because my eyelids are a bit hooded and a little shimmer makes them look brighter.

Nancy T Avatar

I totally love a good, preferably dark, shimmery brown eyeliner sometimes. Especially if I’m doing a more casual neutral look, or for some other reason, I just don’t feel like using a black or color liner that day. Sometimes, I also use a very deep matte brown liner for a softer and smokier cat-eye liner. Both give my eyes a more turquoise appearance, so that’s cool!

Codename Duchess Avatar

I love brown eyeliner. Brown and plum are the two liner colors I wear most. My only complaint is that it can be tough to find cooler shades of brown in liquid or gel form. Even neutral browns can look too warm against the mauve and taupe eyeshadows that I favor for everyday wear.

Wednesday Avatar

I used to wear a matte espresso eyeliner every single day. That was my go to simple makeup look for years. Swipe on some liner, smudge it out a bit, mascara, done. It’s got to be a cooler brown for me though and cool browns bring out the green in my eyes whereas warm browns muddy them.

Now I do not wear brown liner all that much, but I don’t wear black either (exception: tightlining). I prefer to pair my neutral makeup looks with either a plum or burgandy coloured liner which plays up my eye colour more intensely and also looks far softer on me. If I do go for brown, it definitely has to have some shimmer it in.

Cory Avatar

It took me a while to find the right brown liners. I finally settled on Ardency Inn Modster eyeliner in Brown & Maybelline gel liner in Espresso, & I am def happy with both.. I also have UD’s Underground, which is very shimmery & cool, but also super light so it’s good for work… not that I don’t rock out “full” makeup at work, but when it comes to a choice of getting enough sleep/being on time or having my eyes done, I pick getting enough sleep/being on time every time 🙂

I don’t have much to rant about brown liners… Only thing I can think of is that it’s hard to find good shades of brown. At least it used to be lol

Erica Avatar

Black liner is actually too harsh I find so I wear brown on most occassions. I prefer bronzey brown shades. My favorite is from Rimmel and Mac’s Teddy

Anne Avatar

I like how it’s more subtle than black liner. For someone who is not as good with liner as some other makeup things, it’s also less noticeable when you mess up. I tend to use it more than black as I usually wear brown liner when I wear neutral eye looks.

Natalia Avatar

My favorite eyeliner color. Don’t usually wear black (dark grey instead), although MAC Phone Number liner looked pretty good on me. I used to own MAC Teddy, but it was too warm for me, now I have MAC Dipdown fluidline and looove it. Don’t need anything else in brown I feel.

KJH Avatar

There’s a nice brown range in UD. Wear it if I’m doing yellow, orange, gold eyes. But by coloring and preference, gravitate to taupe or accent color, picking up the outer v color…could be anything. At least there’s good choices, unlike in brown mascara. I love lighter brown masc., esp with nude eyes.

Marissa Avatar

brown liner looks less daunting when i’m going for a simpler look that i would get using black liner.

mac ‘coffee’ is my go-to pencil!

HeavyMetalJess Avatar

No rants to share. I love brown eyeliner. I used to be really confused about liquid brown liner until I tried it out with orange/red/copper shades. It really does look fantastic and lets the eyeshadow color be the star.

Beth Avatar

Honestly I love brown eyeliner. It’s my go to for every day. I have a sapphire and burgundy that I rotate as well but on those days where it needs to be quick mindless makeup for work brown is a no brainer. It’s also softer than black for daytime and will warm up a blue toned black liner as well so mixing is a great option for it.

Emilie Avatar

I love that a brown liquid liner still defines the upper lashline without being overwhelmingly dark (same goes for brown pencil), but I don’t like brown mascaras so my only gripe would be that I feel it looks odd when my lashes don’t match my liquid liner sometimes, especially in photographs. I usually only wear brown liner on days when I’m going for a more natural, soft, simple look (which I have no reason to photograph) so it’s not a big deal.

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