3 Editors Try the TikTok Hack Using An Eyebrow Pencil and Blush for Lips

It’s fair to say that there’s no shortage of unique — sometimes downright strange — beauty trends on TikTok. If you’ve recently seen creators trying to find their ideal lip color using their eyebrow pencil as lip liner and their go-to blush as lipstick, we wouldn’t fault you if you were skeptical about the idea — we were too. 

However, when scrolling through the countless videos of people testing out the hack, we couldn’t deny that some of the results were so good. So, it made sense to test it out to see for ourselves and see if this hack is truly a foolproof way to nail your most flattering lip color. Keep reading to hear what three of our editors thought after trying the social media hack. 

The Viral Eyebrow Pencil and Blush Combo TikTok Hack 

Before we dive into our experiences testing it out, allow us to break down the hack for you. The viral trend is believed to be started by @yokenzieb. In her video, she suggests that your perfect lip shade will be achieved by lining your lips with your eyebrow pencil, blending your blush color into the center of your lips and topping it off with a gloss. 

How Can An Eyebrow Pencil Work As Lip Liner? 

If you’re wondering how you can make your eyebrow pencil work as lip liner, you’re not alone. Eyebrow pencils are typically stiff and waxy which isn’t necessarily ideal for the lips. The lips can be sensitive, so a very stiff formula that tugs at them is a no no. With most brow pencils, you also won’t get the smoothness and glide that’s typically characteristic of a traditional lip liner.

So, if you’re going to try out the trend, opt for a brow pencil that is soft and blendable, like the L’Oréal Paris Brow Stylist Definer Waterproof Eyebrow Mechanical Pencil. This is also a great option because the tip is extremely fine, so you can line your lips with precision. Also, apply lip balm onto your lips a few minutes before trying the hack and be sure to pat off the excess right before lining your lips for comfortable application.

What’s the Best Blush to Use for This Hack? 

If we learned anything over the past year that was full of love and admiration for blush, it’s that not all blushes are created equal. For this trend, it’s best to opt for a cream or liquid blush because it can be blended onto your lips with ease. A formula like the L’Oréal Paris Glow Paradise Glow Paradise Lip and Cheek Tint is a great option because its thin formula is comfortable and lightweight on the lips. 

Our Editor’s Experience With the Hack  

This trend is surely intriguing, so three of our editors put it to the test. Read on to learn more about their experiences and final thoughts. 

Alyssa 

As a major skeptic of TikTok beauty trends, I didn’t set my hopes high when trying this out — but I was pleasantly surprised. I was also skeptical of this trend in particular because I have very dark eyebrows and pretty fair skin, so I figured my eyebrow pencil would create harsh contrast when used as a lip liner. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot using my L’Oréal Paris Brow Stylist Definer Waterproof Eyebrow Mechanical Pencil in Dark Brunette. 

I began lining the edges of my lips with the pencil and I immediately noticed that the color payoff was not as saturated on my lips as it appears to be in my brows — which is good considering my hesitation. Although I’ll admit that by the time my pout was fully outlined, I felt pretty silly with a cool-toned brown color defining my lips. 

I then blended out the edges a bit with a lip brush to diffuse the line, and applied a soft terracotta cream blush to my lips using my fingertips. I made sure to work the blush from the center of my lips working outwards towards the edges to ensure it blended seamlessly with the liner, and then I topped off my lips with a clear lip gloss.

To my surprise, I really liked the outcome. The cool-toned lip liner created a subtle lip contour, and the cream blush made my lips and cheeks look really cohesive. It’s a simple hack that didn’t take all but three minutes, so if you’re intrigued, I say give it a shot. 

Shalwah

In short, it’s a no for me. There are two important things that this hack doesn’t take into account:  If you typically use an eyebrow product that’s not a pencil and the color of your brows. My go-to brow product is the L’Oréal Paris Unbelieva-Brow Longwear Waterproof Brow Gel, which wouldn’t work for this hack, so I switched it up and opted for the L’Oréal Paris Brow Stylist Definer Waterproof Eyebrow Mechanical Pencil instead. 

While lining your lips with an eyebrow pencil can be no different than using a lip liner or eyeliner, the color is also super important. My eyebrows are dark brown (if not black). That’s not a lip liner color that I gravitate towards unless I’m trying to do a throwback ‘90s look. If that wasn’t enough to stop me from adopting this technique, it absolutely lost me with all the work that came with the blush.

Traditional blush products are not made to saturate the lips and tf you use powder blush it’s even harder to get the pigment to stay on. I found out by trial that you need to use a cream blush or liquid cheek tint and pick a color that’s really saturated and bold so it shows up. This of course poses a problem for blending when your liner is deep, dark brown and your blush is a  peachy color.

My top lip is also much darker than my bottom lip so in order to get the color to show up there I had to really layer it, which made my lips feel heavy and uncomfortable. I also had to apply more brow pencil after I applied blush because the top line kept disappearing under the blush. When the colors are not the same, it’s very obvious where you’ve made mistakes or have unwanted blending. Then, there was all the blending!

Overall, I could see how this could work in  a pinch — you’re out and about, forgot your lipstick and need to touch up your lips. But for a huge lipstick lover like me, this isn’t efficient. For one, I never not have lipstick or lip liner at home — so substituting my favorite lippies for an option not really made to do what they do doesn’t make sense for me. It’s just a lot of formula hacking and more work to get the same result, which is not guaranteed. I’ll skip this and continue to use my favorite lipstick while I wait to see the next makeup hack that TikTok has in store. 

Caitlyn

I love TikTok beauty trends specifically because they constantly make me wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” This hack, however, gave me a bit of pause at first. I don’t usually wear eyebrow pencil because when I do, my brows look too dark. Nonetheless, I was intrigued by the idea that you could use just about any color on your lips for the perfect cohesive makeup look. I grabbed my go-to pencil for those rare times that I do fill in my brows — the L’Oréal Paris Age Perfect Brow Magnifying Pencil in Blonde — and sat in front of a mirror. 

I started off by gently outlining the shape of my lips with the pencil. Right away, I was surprised to find that the color wasn’t as dark as I thought it would look on my fair complexion. Instead, it actually complemented it quite well and gave my lips a fuller, more plumped appearance. I decided to bring the color onto my lips by filling in my bottom lip with more of the pencil. 

Then, I used a rosy-toned cream blush and blotted it along the inside of my lips where there was no liner. I took a step back to admire the finished product and, honestly, I was shocked by how it seamlessly tied my entire no-makeup, makeup look together in seconds.  

Next: I Tried the Viral TikTok Highlighting Hack to Make My Eyes Pop — and I’m Hooked

Written by: Alyssa Kaplan, Photo Credit: Alyssa Kaplan, Shalwah Evans and Caitlyn Martyn