Winged Eyeliner Isn’t "Cringe," You Just Don’t Know How To Do It

Winged eyeliner may as well be my religion, I believe in it that fiercely. When the cool Gen-Z girlies on TikTok denounced the cat eye as "cheugy" and "cringe," equating it to the makeup equivalent of a skinny jean, my immediate reaction was to jump to its defense and start a fight no one asked for in the comments section. That is, until I took a beat and considered everything else that had been deemed cringe. 

Long hair, an intricate manicure, basically anything that doesn’t align with the current aesthetic being pushed by the algorithm—everything is cringe, and no one is free. Even dancing in public is now considered cringe for fear of being filmed, which, as a millennial who used to hit the club on a weeknight in business casual, makes me sad. To quote my 365 party girl Lexi Featherston of Sex and the City, “No one’s fun anymore. Whatever happened to FUN?” Minimalism started trending on TikTok, I suppose. 

Granted, just about every makeup trend has fallen under criticism, only for the trend to resurrect in one way or another in a different form. “Makeup cycles move fast now because of social media, and there’s always pressure to declare something '‘over’ in favor of whatever feels newer or more effortless,” says Lori Taylor Davis, Global Pro Lead Artist for Smashbox. “We’ve seen a huge shift toward softer, minimal makeup and blurred definitions of beauty lately, so naturally a sharp, defined cat eye feels more intentional and dramatic by comparison.”

In the post-clean girl era, could it be that the cat eye’s biggest haters simply lack the skill set to execute the effect, not to mention, the confidence to pull it off? Winged liner isn’t cringe. It’s not even cheugy, you just don’t know how to do it. 

I say this with love! I’m the cat eye’s most vocal soldier and fully recognize it can be intimidating, but its impact both socially and visually can’t be argued. “In Chicana culture, winged eyeliner is like a rite of passage,” says Lala Romero, co-founder of Bella Doña and Sweet Street Cosmetics, the latter of which makes one of my favorite liquid liner pens on the planet. “This beauty ritual is usually taught to us by our big sisters, mothers, or tias, and young girls can’t wait to be ‘old enough’ to wear and perfect their wings.”

Here, I’m  making a serious, impassioned case for winged liner. Keep reading to find out about its historical significance, the recent backlash, and most importantly, how to do a cat eye suited to your eye shape and aesthetic. 

Winged Liner's Cultural Significance

While many associate winged liner with the golden age of Hollywood, the concept of the cat eye can be traced all the way back to Ancient Egypt. It became a mainstay in the ‘20s on stars like Josephine Baker, and has strong roots in the Chicana community popularized in the 1940s by Pachucas. The female counterparts to Pachucos, these bold Mexican-American women wore zoot suits to defy white, mainstream culture and rebel against gender norms during World War II, while developing new beauty standards with bold lips, sculpted brows, teased hair, and of course, winged liner. “For many Chicanas, winged liner isn’t just makeup, it’s armor,” Romero says. “It’s a way of moving through the world with confidence, protection, and presence.” 

Through the ‘50s and ‘60s, winged eyeliner continued to be popular in the mainstream, with stars like Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren wearing their own respective versions, but for communities of color, winged liner became a symbol that represented individuality and empowerment. Case in point: Donyale Luna, who has been credited as the first Black supermodel, gracing magazine covers with a bold, graphic eye in the ‘60s and ‘70s. In 1966, Luna was famously the first Black model to appear on a Vogue cover, with a mod, double-winged eye look photographed front and center. 

Davis also notes that while natural hair was the strongest visual symbol during the Black is Beautiful movement, graphic liner and dramatic eyes also became a point of expression during a time when beauty took on a deeply political and empowering meaning. “There’s also a broader connection between Black beauty movements and the use of bold eye makeup as self-definition and power,” she says. “Throughout different eras—from the Harlem Renaissance to disco, Black glam culture, hip-hop beauty, and modern editorial beauty—eyeliner has often been used as a statement of creativity, elegance, rebellion, and identity. The history is part of why the look still carries so much impact today.” 

Created as a love letter to Los Angeles and Chicana culture, Bella Doña and Sweet Street Cosmetics were founded by Romero and Natalia Durazo, who both saw endless style and beauty inspiration from the women in their family photo albums. “Latinas know exactly who they are. We are very nostalgic and look to the women who came before us as muses. We grow up honoring the past and holding on to tradition,” Durazo says. “Chicanas have long used beauty as a form of self-expression and resistance. From the Pachucas of the 1940s to the lowrider girls, pin-ups, and wing queens of today, beauty has been a way to reclaim identity, challenge stereotypes, and tell our own stories.” 

The Millennial Wing

Not unlike your mom’s fabulous childhood friend who refuses to retire the mall bangs she’s been rocking since ‘86, winged liner has apparently become one of those beauty trends that indicates the age of a person, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “My guess is that the attitude is tied to the thick, 2016-style winged liner,” says makeup artist Amber Dreadon. To be fair, 2016 was a fun time for makeup. Rolling up to the office in a full beat was the norm, and creating a wing sharp enough to cut anyone who dared come too close was an art perfected by millennials of a certain age. 

Around 2018, the “dewy dumpling” glow coined by makeup artist Nam Vō became popular, at which point I started to notice the full contour and highlight beat start to decline, but lockdown was likely the final nail in the coffin for 2016 makeup. People stopped baking their faces, started baking banana bread and sourdough, and post-pandemic, emerged to a world of minimalism and pared-back makeup. The rise of TikTok caused countless micro-trends in beauty to emerge (shoutout to the gym lip, latte makeup, and “I’m cold” makeup), but similar to my workout routine pre-COVID, the cat eye had fallen out of practice.

“Some think of winged liner as overdone and tedious,” says makeup artist Jessi Butterfield. “While I agree that every look isn’t for everyone, think of what the look achieves by lifting and defining the eye, and integrate those principles into your makeup in a way that works for you.” Perhaps due to the popularity and visibility of that 2016 wing, the idea of the cat eye became a very singular one, when really, the technique has the kind of range that would make Meryl Streep proud. “One of the things I love the most about winged eyeliner is that it can be anything, from barely-there to Amy Winehouse,” Butterfield adds. “You can channel your inner Twiggy, Barbra Streisand, or a combination of both. All that range comes down to your choices in angle and thicknesses.”

How to Perfect Winged Eyeliner

You know how people say that the thing you hate often stems from a lack of understanding? Once the technique and endless ways to wear a cat eye are understood, one would likely hesitate to write the method off as "cheugy." 

First, start by determining your formula of choice. Personally, I’m a fan of liquid liner pens, which give you the control of a pencil, as well as blendable pencils like the Thrive Causemetics Infinity Waterproof Eyeliner that you can easily smudge into your preferred look. Then, explore styles that fit your eye shape and preferred aesthetic. “A classic wing has a medium application width and a subtle pull up of the outer end of the liner, whereas a pin-up style liner might be thicker across the eyelid and has a wing that dramatically pulls upward,” says Dreadon. “Kitten liner is a more micro-thin style that begins on the outer corner of the eye and could be less pulled upward.” 

Keep your eyes open, Davis advises, and look in your mirror so that you can see the natural lift of your eyes. Then, pick up your product of choice and start mapping out your preferred shape. “I usually follow the lower lash line upward toward the tail of the brow to determine the angle,” she says. “That creates a lifting effect instead of dragging the eye downward.” Use your lower lash line as a guide, directing the liner in an upward direction to draw on the outer flick, then connect it over to your lash line and fill in the shape. 

“I recommend building slowly in thin layers rather than trying to create the entire wing in one motion,” Davis adds. “Not every wing has to be dramatic, that’s one of the biggest misconceptions. A tiny flick right at the outer corner can subtly lift the eye without looking overly done.” Rather than checking one eye at a time for symmetry, she advises taking a step back and looking at both eyes in the mirror to gauge if any adjustments are needed. 

In case you need to clean up your lines, Butterfield recommends keeping a pointed Q-tip dipped in makeup remover or micellar water nearby, and keeping in mind that they’re sisters, not twins, to avoid getting caught up in a perfectionist thought loop. “Just put it on. I always do my best work when I follow that rule,” she says. “I promise things will work out for you too if you stop thinking and just put that eyeliner on fearlessly like you really mean it.”

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The Takeaway

With a storied history and nearly a century of documented examples in its modern form, winged eyeliner is more than just visually-striking look that lifts and elongates the eye, but also, a power move in makeup form. It projects confidence before you even say a word—there's a reason Maddy chose razor-sharp "revenge eyeliner" as her look of choice in Euphoria season 3. It’s a way of paying homage to the icons that wore it before you, honoring your past, and an act of resistance. “Today, a new generation of young Latinas is carrying that legacy forward, using beauty to talk about culture, family, immigration, and what it means to be Latina in America right now,” Romero says. “The wing remains what it has always been: more than a trend. It’s a statement.” Winged eyeliner was here eons before you and I were ever a thought, and its impact will remain long after we’ve left this realm. 

“I don’t think winged liner is going anywhere. It’s more about evolution than extinction and the wing simply changes shape depending on the era—one season it’s ultra-graphic, another it’s soft and smoky, another it’s barely lifted and diffused into the lash line,” Davis says. “The beauty of winged liner is that it can be customized endlessly. Calling it ‘cringe’ ignores how universally flattering and expressive it really is.” Not to mention, ignores the extensive, fascinating history behind the method. 

As an elder millennial, I’m certainly open to inspiration from The Youths (baggy jeans are just more comfortable, as are crew socks), but mark my words, Gen-Z’s "cringe" will end up being Gen Alpha’s source of content inspo and the trend cycle will continue to rotate, likely at an even faster pace than it does currently. 

“Capitalism and social media make us believe that every few months we need a rebrand,” Durazo says. “Folks are constantly trying to hop on ‘trends’ for quick monetization when, in actuality, knowing who you are, what you like, and having your tried-and-true classic look makes your personal brand stronger and more identifiable.” 

As for me, a bold cat eye has been my personal brand ever since high school, sharpened and perfected over decades of practice. You can try to pry my liquid liner from by tightly-gripped millennial hands—which, while we’re at it, won’t align with the bare nail trend—but you probably won’t succeed. If winged eyeliner is cringe, then I will die cringe, and when I die cringe, make sure my best friend is there to apply a sharp cat eye to my lids before I’m displayed in my leopard print coffin. If not, a closed casket and cremation will do.