How To Rock The Transparent Eyeliner Trend

Along with millions of other beauty enthusiasts, we're obsessed with eyeliner and how it makes our eyes pop. Of course, we love classic winged looks and simple outlines for traditional eye enhancement. But we also enjoy exploring newer styles, such as "barely-there" eyeliner and the super easy kitten eyeliner trend. Plus, we like to incorporate white eyeliner into our beauty routines for a modern look that helps us open up our eyes and make them appear brighter.

Over 18 million posts popped up when we searched #eyeliner on Instagram, and we're not surprised, as beauty lovers are always coming up with more ways to get creative with those versatile makeup pencils, pens, and brushes. Just when we thought we've seen it all, we've even stumbled upon daring yellow-green eyeliner looks and graphic purple liner vibes. But a new eyeliner trend isn't like anything we've encountered before: It's called transparent eyeliner, and it's every bit as alluring as it sounds. Would you be willing to try it?

The goal of the transparent eyeliner look is to imply the presence of eyeliner without actually using any. We understand that this sounds confusing — after all, how could there be a new eyeliner fad that doesn't involve actual eyeliner? We were somewhat baffled at first, too, but this trend is all over the platform that continues to influence the beauty industry: TikTok. Essentially, the idea of transparent eyeliner centers around using lighter products to outline near your eyelids, leaving negative space of your natural skin tone as your "liner."

One beauty-loving TikToker with the username @lenkalul decided to try the trend, showing viewers the basics of creating the look in a tutorial video. In her TikTok, she seemed to put some concealer on a slim makeup brush and outline the outer part of her eyelid to create a winged effect, so her natural skin served as the "eyeliner" for a subtle look. Makeup enthusiast May Akhtar created a more dramatic variation of the transparent liner look in her own TikTok. Outlining her eyelids with what appears to be concealer, she used that light, subtle product to create external contrast around her lids before filling in the outline with gloss for a more noticeable effect.

As much as we enjoy watching makeup tutorials on TikTok to stay trendy, many videos on that social media platform don't go into as much detail as YouTube tutorials. For instance, a YouTube tutorial by Denitslava Makeup explains that ultra-light concealer is required to create this look. You'll need the concealer to work on your outline, and then you'll need to blend the edges and overlap with a light, neutral eyeshadow to complete the look.

Another honest YouTube video by Ely's Life shows how making this design can be more challenging than some other videos make it look. Her video starts with an example of someone showing off the invisible eyeliner technique, then her more realistic attempt at creating it — including the outline smudging when she tries to blend it. That's always something to keep in mind when trying any makeup trend you find on social media. It probably won't look perfect on your first try, so keep trying and remember that practice makes perfect — or, at least, leads to improvement.