13 Best Pencil Eyeliners for Endless Smudgy, Grungy Looks

An "absolute favorite" of makeup artist Rose Siard, the Makeup by Mario Master Pigment Pro Pencils marry intensity and effortlessness. "They blend easily and have a built-in brush for smudging, but once they dry, they set and stay in place," Siard says, raving about the long-lasting formula. Each pencil also comes with a sharpener, and the sharpener comes with a removable cleaning stick to ensure even sharpening each time.

Siard also adores this Wet n Wild Mega Last Breakup-Proof Retractable Eyeliner, which she says performs very similarly to the Makeup by Mario Master Pigment Pro Pencil for a fraction of the price (though it's BYOBB — bring your own blending brush). The Best of Beauty Award-winning pencil earns its following by going on silky-smooth and actually staying put throughout sweating, humidity, and tears.

This Pat McGrath Labs Permagel Ultra Glide Eye Pencil comes infused with silicone and feels velvety smooth as you line your lids. You can easily diffuse the color with a cotton swab for a smokier look, too. We love how the rich, long-wear gel eyeliner creates bold, defined lines in seconds.

There's a good reason certain products stick around for decades: They work, and they work well, garnering countless fans like makeup artist Nydia Figueroa. "If you're looking for an eyeliner to create a sexy, smoky, and sultry look in a pinch, then I would go with the Eye Kohl by MAC," she tells Allure. "It comes in many colors, and I love to use this formula on the eyelid as a base for my eye shadows."

If you love the intensity of gel eyeliner, but you prefer the control of a pencil format, Ilia's Clean Line Gel Eyeliner is the ideal combination. As if by magic, it's blendable only when you want it to be, setting once you're satisfied with the smudge. You can also use the precise, super-smooth tip to closely define your lash line without a hint of smokiness.

If you're on a tight budget with your beauty spending, there's great news: You don't need a designer eye pencil to get a gorgeous eye makeup look. Makeup artist Cara Lovello loves the long-wearing, longtime drugstore go-to Revlon ColorStay Eyeliner. The black eyeliner should be distributed to literally everyone who does makeup — it has won numerous Readers' Choice Awards — but Lovello is especially fond of the brown shade "for the perfect natural 'kitten' look."

Halsey's About-Face is no stranger to picking up Best of Beauty Awards — the brand's Matte Fluid Eye Paints were an incredibly worthy winner last year — so it's no surprise that the Line Artist gel eyeliners knocked it out of the park and picked up a 2022 award only months after their launch. We fell head over heels for the Brights collection, in particular — a set of eight highly pigmented, matte gel liners in a rainbow of bright, curated shades.

It's hard to believe that Flypencil Longwear Pencil Eyeliner is Fenty Beauty's first eye pencil considering it seems like it was made with the expertise of a brand that has lots of eye pencils under its belt. Well, sometimes the first time's the charm, because this creamy, intensely pigmented formula doesn't disappoint in any of its 20 matte, metallic, shimmery, and glittery shades.

"The gorgeous texture and stunning colors of this long-lasting, waterproof eye pencil make it one of my go-to formulas," Black tells Allure, adding that it's easy to apply for a smoked-out look or clean, graphic lines. As luxurious to use as it is to behold, it's a truly versatile pencil. "I also love it layered under powder eye shadow to add some drama," Black says.

Let's be real: Eyes are delicate and temperamental. The skin around them is about as sensitive and fragile as it gets, and they can expel water at any given moment. Yet we still wield eyeliner dangerously close to our eyeballs to etch along our waterlines. Taking this into account, you need a liner that won't aggressively tug at your lids and won't disappear with the tiniest drop of moisture. That liner: Urban Decay 24/7 Waterline Eye Pencil.

New York City-based makeup artist Stevie Huynh loves to use the Lancôme Le Crayon Khol eyeliner as a creamy base to amplify the pigment of powder eye shadows. Huynh swears by its wax-to-pigment ratio and blendable texture.