12 shades, each one sharing its name with a lipstick in the range, so the line and the colour can match exactly rather than approximately. A creamy pencil that glides without dragging, holds its edge through a meal, and stops colour travelling into the fine lines around the mouth.

Lip Liner

The step that separates a lip that looks finished from one that looks applied. A liner gives the mouth an edge, corrects asymmetry without anyone noticing, and gives whatever goes on top something to hold onto.

It also solves the problem most people blame on their lipstick. Colour that bleeds into the skin around the mouth is not usually a fault in the formula. It is the absence of a border to stop it, which is what a pencil provides.

Find Your Lip Liner Shade

Nudes. Light Nude, Nude and Pink Nude define the mouth without adding colour to it. These are the ones to reach for when you want your lips to look like your lips, only more deliberate.

Browns. Brown, Dark Brown and Brown Red carry the nineties line that never really went away. Worn alone with a balm on top, or beneath a matching lipstick for depth.

Reds. Warm Red, Classical Red and Maroon Red run from a bright everyday tone through to something considerably deeper. Red is the shade most likely to travel, which makes a pencil underneath it less optional than elsewhere.

Statement. Runway Rouge, Purple and Deep Berry are for occasions when the mouth is the entire look and nothing else on the face needs to compete.

Matched to Your Lipstick

Every name here appears in our matte lipstick range too. Buy Maroon Red in both and the border vanishes into the colour instead of sitting against it, which is the difference between a mouth that reads as defined and one that reads as outlined.

Most brands leave you approximating. Matching a liner to a lipstick from separate ranges means holding two pencils against a wrist and hoping. Sharing the shade names removes that guesswork entirely.

How to Use a Lip Liner

Start at the cupid's bow and work outward in short strokes rather than one continuous sweep, which is harder to control and shows every wobble. Follow your natural border. Going outside it is a technique rather than a default, and it needs a steadier hand than most mornings allow.

Fill the entire mouth once the outline is done. This is the step people skip and the one that matters most for wear, because a fully filled base gives lipstick something to grip and leaves colour behind even after the top layer wears away. Finish with a matte formula for depth, or a lip gloss over the top for shine.