The 8 Best Lip Liners According to ELLE Editors

The whole point of a lip pencil, IMO, is precision: Glosses and lipsticks might deliver pigment in one efficient sweep, but a pencil lets me micromanage. Kandee Johnson taught me her secret to the perfect red lip: start with the neutral M.A.C Soar to give shape to the lip, drop some M.A.C Cherry for a color bomb, then highlight the cupid's bow with M.A.C Eye Kohl in Fascinating. — Emily Dougherty, Beauty & Fitness Director

M.A.C Lip Pencil in Soar and Cherry, $17.50 each; nordstrom.com

M.A.C. Eye Kohl in Fascinating, $17; nordstrom.com

This turned me into a lip pencil believer. The pinkish-nude is ideal for everyday wear and, when I slightly overline them, make my lips look enviably plump. — Kristina Rodulfo, ELLE.com Associate Editor

ColourPop Lippie Pencil in Oh Snap Pencil, $5; colourpop.com

There are a lot of hot pinks out there, but this one is electric and full-on summery exuberance. I scribble it over my (dutifully hydrated) lips—maybe I dop some gloss over if I'm feeling decadent/intrepid—and it's instant bombshell. — Megan O'Neill, Beauty and Fitness Editor

Givenchy Beauty Crayon Lèvres in Fuchsia Irresistible, $29; barneys.com

This stuff goes on smoothly and is nearly mistake-proof. Somehow I can swipe this on and make a few quick smudges with a clean finger to clean up the corners, encourage the color to stay inside the lines, and it looks sexy, not sloppy. — Sally Holmes, ELLE.com Deputy Editor

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella, $27; narscosmetics.com

I love lipstick, red particularly, but I've been tempted into espressos and plums as well as the rosier variety. The key to finding the very best color? Making your own by layering different shades, and this is where the hero emerges- the pencil. To get my perfect red, I'll fill in my entire lip with a pencil (I love urban decay 24/7 glide-on because I won't find it exclusively on my napkin and not my mouth at the end of dinner), and top it with another shade or two of lipstick. As the hours go by, the base color (liner) starts to shine through for some multidimensionality. Never would my color theory professor be as proud as when I'm getting ready for a night out.  — Cotton Codinha, Associate Beauty and Fitness Editor

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in 714, $20; urbandecay.com

I still remember the cosmetics counter genius who gently, helpfully showed me how to turn my It-like lipstick application into a neat, matte cupid's bow. The agent of my salvation showed me how to use this M.A.C. lip liner to keep everything clean, and I was duly amazed at the newfound precision of my look. — Estelle Tang, ELLE.com Culture Editor

MAC Lip Pencil in Redd, $17.50; nordstrom.com

When it comes to perfectly nude lips, Bite Beauty is where it's at. They strive to match your lip, not force you to go ghastly neutral just so you can layer on a flattering lipstick. For my naturally pink lips, their 020 shade was basically made for me. — Justine Carreon, ELLE.com Associate Market Editor

Bite Beauty The Lip Pencil in 020, $18; sephora.com

I have always been bad with a lip pencil. Give me a small brush and I can create smooth, beautiful lines with my lipstick, but hand me a pointed stick and all of a sudden I cannot color inside the lines to save my life... Until I found Bobbi Brown's Art Stick. It's chunky enough that it acts as a liner and a lipstick and makes application 1000 times easier. — Emily Tannenbaum, ELLE.com Social Editor

Bobbi Brown Art Stick in Cassis, $28; bobbibrowncosmetics.com