Brown or black eyeliner: how to choose

The choice between brown and black eyeliner is a choice about contrast. Black is the darkest pigment on the lid and the white of the eye is the lightest surface next to it. Every black line is therefore a hard edge. Brown lowers that edge by a few tones, which is why a brown line looks like more lashes and a black line looks like make-up.

Editors have moved brown into the daily slot. Who What Wear's round-up of the eyeliner looks of 2025 grouped chocolate and burgundy liners under the name alt-black, and Marie Claire's report from the spring 2027 New York shows wrote that black eyeliner is almost too basic to have real estate in a make-up bag this year (Who What Wear, Marie Claire). Black has moved to the editorial end of the range, where a line is meant to be seen.

What is the difference between brown and black eyeliner?

Black eyeliner is a liner pigmented with carbon black, listed on the ingredient list as CI 77266, which gives jet-black opacity in one stroke. Brown eyeliner is pigmented with iron oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492 and CI 77499), which are the same pigments used in bronzer and brown eyeshadow. The two families behave differently on the eye because of how much light they absorb.

Black absorbs almost all light, so the line has one job: to define an edge. Brown reflects a little red and yellow, so it takes on the warmth of the skin around it and softens. The same wing drawn in both colours looks a size larger in black and a size smaller in brown.

Which colour suits your hair and eye colour?

Hair and brow colour set the contrast the face already has. Dark brows and dark hair share the depth of a black line, so black looks native. On blonde, red, grey and light brown hair, a black line becomes the darkest thing on the face, while brown, taupe and plum match the brows and look like a natural shadow.

Eye colour decides the third option. Complementary colour logic, the opposite side of the colour wheel, is the rule most make-up artists use: bronze and warm brown for blue eyes, plum and burgundy for green eyes, purple and bronze for hazel, and almost anything for brown eyes (Jane Iredale).

When is black the better choice?

Black is the right colour when the line itself is the point. A winged liner, a siren flick, a double wing or a graphic shape all depend on a clean edge, and the edge is sharpest in black. The autumn 2026 runways used it that way: Who What Wear described a thick pen stroke of onyx eyeliner edging up toward the hairline at Harris Reed, Toga, Proenza Schouler and Dries Van Noten (Who What Wear).

Black also suits eyes that lose a thin line. On a monolid or a deeply hooded lid, a brown line can disappear once the eye opens, and a black line drawn a touch thicker than feels natural survives the fold. Black is also the colour for a lash-line liner drawn between the lashes, where the aim is denser lashes and no visible line.

Under warm indoor light, brown loses depth and can read as nothing, while black keeps its edge. India Anaïs Midnight Muse, a brush-tip liquid in a blue-black, was made for this end of the range; the first edition is sold out, and the next edition is planned for spring 2027.

When is brown the better choice?

Brown is the right colour when the line should not be noticed. Daytime liner, a tightline through the upper waterline, a smudged lower lash line and a first liner all work better a few tones down from black. The 2025 tightline revival was in brown, and editors advised pencil or shadow, then smudging, for autumn 2026 (Who What Wear, The Zoe Report).

Mature eyes are the clearest case. Make-up artist Jade Griffin advises cream and gel pencils over stiff liquids for older eyes because they glide on smoothly and are easier to control, with soft browns, navy and plum in place of harsh black (Women.com). A black line on a lid with fine lines settles into them and draws the eye to every one. A brown line sinks into the shadow the lashes already cast.

Brown has its own shade decisions. Espresso is a near-black brown for dark colouring, chocolate the middle brown for most people, taupe a grey-brown for blonde and ash hair, and copper brown the warm choice for blue and grey eyes. Match the brown to the brow colour and it looks intended.

Is plum the third option?

Deep plum is the colour between the two. From a distance a plum so dark it is nearly black reads as black, so the eye keeps its definition. Up close it reads as violet, which brings out the green in green eyes and the gold in brown eyes. Plum was the colour of the spring 2027 New York shows, where Who What Wear named the direction purple haze after lilac lids at Anna Sui, mauve under-eyes at Sandy Liang and amethyst cat-eye press-ons at Christian Cowan (Who What Wear).

Plum behaves like brown on fair colouring and like black on dark colouring. On blonde or red hair it is a soft contrast with a little colour. On black hair it is a black with a warmer undertone. India Anaïs Plum Ink, a gel pencil in a deep plum, is one example of the shade.

Gold is the accent, not the line. A dot of metallic gold at the inner corner, or a fine gold stroke just above a plum or black wing, lifts either colour without changing the decision.

How do you apply each colour so it looks intended?

You will need

• A liner in the colour you have chosen, in a pencil for brown or plum and a liquid or gel for black
• Mascara in a matching depth: black mascara with black liner, brown or black-brown mascara with brown liner
• A small flat brush or a smudger for softening a pencil line
• A matching eyeshadow to set a pencil

1. Curl the lashes and skip mascara for now. A bare lash line shows exactly where the liner is going.
2. For brown or plum, draw a pencil line into the base of the lashes with short strokes, then press it in with a small brush so no skin shows between the line and the lashes.
3. For black, draw the line with the eye open and relaxed. Keep the inner half hair-thin and build depth only in the outer third.
4. Soften a brown or plum line with the brush or the smudger before it sets, working outward. Leave a black line crisp.
5. Set a pencil line with a matching shadow pressed on top. This keeps a soft colour from transferring on a hooded lid.
6. Finish with mascara in the same depth as the liner. A brown line under black mascara looks like a mistake; a brown line under brown mascara looks like a decision.

Brown, black or plum: which one for which job?

Most people need two of the three: a brown or plum pencil for every day and a black liquid for evenings when a line should be seen. The pencil can also go under the liquid, since pencil under liquid sharpens the edge and locks the line in place (L'Oréal Paris).