Charli XCX Shares Her Two-Step Guide to Perfectly Lived-In Eyeliner

The English pop star on TikTok beauty, lived-in eyeliner, and her secret weapon for bold, bushy brows.

Charli XCX Shares Her Two-Step Guide to Perfectly Lived-In Eyeliner

“I’m just learning to really stick to my routine,” Charli XCX tells Vogue, as she begins to layer serums and SPF onto her skin. Though the 29-year-old singer-songwriter, who recently announced her new podcast, “Best Song Ever,” may be best known for making statements in the beauty department, from graphic cat eyes to dip-dyed lengths, she has finally come around to the importance of a catered-to complexion, too. “I actually got a bout of adult acne when I was 25,” she recalls. “That’s when I was like, ‘Oh, skin care… I should probably learn about that.’” Now, thanks to a process of trial and error, she’s accrued an arsenal of hero products that work for her face. Think: a reusable cotton pad soaked with Dr. Jart+’s Dermaclear Micro Water; a hydrating eye cream from Barbara Sturm; Ole Henriksen’s Vitamin C serum, and, perhaps most importantly, a dollop of La Mer’s rich moisturizer, of which Charli says, “When my friend told me, ‘You should use it; it’s going to change your life,’ she was right.”

Unlike skin care, she’s actually deescalated her makeup application in recent years. “When I was in school I was super emo and the only thing I could do was huge black eyes, kind of like raccoon eyes,” she recalls with a laugh, adding that these days, she uses a lighter touch to her achieve her go-to, perfectly lived-in liner. “I always found that when I did go out and sleep in my eye makeup, it would always look better in the morning,” she continues as she drags a black pencil along her lower lash line and upper lid before removing it with a Q-tip dipped in Lancôme’s Bi-Facil formula. The effect? “It’s like you just woke up and had the best night ever,” she muses.

The most important step of her getting-ready equation comes next: Brushing her Frida Kahlo-esque arches up and out with a spoolie spritzed in strong-hold hair spray. “If I didn’t have time to do any makeup ever at all, but I could do one thing, it would be just doing my brows,” she reveals. Today, however, under no such constraints, she then turns to a creamy Milk Makeup blush, which she swipes across the bridge of her nose and the tops of her cheeks, followed by Glossier’s Generation G and Charlotte Tilbury’s Birkin Bag lipsticks. Laneige Sleeping Mask, dotted onto her pout with her pinky finger, provides the finishing touch—but she’ll continue to reach for the ultra-moisturizing, berry-scented balm throughout the day. As she puts it, “I’m just addicted to this.”

Below, shop Charli XCX’s Beauty Secrets.