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
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.”
