The Outdated Eyeliner Trend You Need To Ditch In 2025

First, it was skinny jeans and the side part, and now, Gen Z is coming after winged eyeliner. Apparently, younger trendsetters have deemed the fierce cat-eye outdated in their quest to make understated makeup fetch, leading one TikTok user to ask, "Can one of the young people let me know, are we still doing winged liquid liner? Because I don't see the young people doing it anymore." A user replied, "You can do any makeup you like but the cat eye is out, straight liner is in but i mostly see liquid liner with alternative looks."

I have been a makeup artist for over a decade, and doing a winged eye is one of my favorite looks. Like the TikTok responder mentioned, you can rock any makeup your heart desires, but if you want to follow the new trend, there are still plenty of other ways you can do your eyeliner. For example, a widely beloved style that hails from South Korea is to line the eyes in a straight or slightly downward angle. This method, along with tightlining, is great for those with hooded eyes, as the liner won't look uneven when you open your peepers. Another option is to extend the liner just slightly past the ends of your eyes into a very subtle point rather than bringing it dramatically up and out. You can also ditch liquid liner completely and line your eyes with shadow, which is a softer way to define your eyes while still being on-trend.

These days, the predominant eye-makeup trends are getting softer, leaving the more rigid winged liner in the dust. Although we will never get tired of seeing, say, Taylor Swift nail her signature cat eyeliner, it's fun to play around with different trends, and this shift doesn't mean we need to stop defining our eyes. In fact, a dark eyeshadow is perfect for making them pop as long as you have the right tools.

For a slightly smudged effect, I like to use a small, stiff rounded brush and an eyeshadow in either dark brown or gray. Simply swipe the brush onto the shadow, tap it once or twice to get rid of any fallout, and draw along your lash line. For a more intense color, you can wet your brush with water first, making sure to blot any excess onto a piece of tissue. If you want a more defined look, take a small, angled brush and line your eyes with your preferred eyeshadow. 

Lastly, even though winged eyeliner is out, according to younger folks, I still like to make a little flick at the end to lift the features, though this is completely optional. After all, if you're a millennial or older, we typically want to avoid making makeup mistakes that can leave us looking older — and lifting our features upward is guaranteed win every time.

Now, if you want to buck the trends and keep your eyeliner fierce, check out this makeup artist's easy hack for a perfect winged liner.