Eyeliner with contact lenses
Yes, you can wear eyeliner with contact lenses. Most lens wearers do, and most of the trouble they have with it comes down to three things: the order they do things in, where the line sits, and what is in the product. Get those three right and liner and lenses coexist without the blurry-by-lunchtime problem.
This page is the routine, in order. It is written with daily soft lens wearers in mind, but the placement rule is the same for anyone with a lens on their eye.
On this page
The order: lenses first, remover last
The rule is simple. Lenses go in before any makeup, and they come out before any remover. The reason is transfer. A lens goes in on a fingertip, and whatever is on that fingertip goes onto the lens and then onto the eye. If you have already applied liner, mascara or a cream shadow, there is pigment and oil on your hands and around the eye, and some of it rides in on the lens. So the morning order is: wash and dry your hands, insert lenses, then start on makeup. Give it a minute after insertion so your eyes stop watering before you go near them with a pencil.
At night, reverse it. Remover is designed to dissolve oil and pigment, and if the lens is still in you are dragging that dissolved mixture across it with a pad. Take the lenses out with clean hands first, then remove makeup. The removing guide covers which remover suits which formula; the point here is only the sequence.
Placement: keep the inner rim clear
The inner rim of the lid, the waterline, is where liner meets the tear film. The tear film is also what your lens floats on. Product deposited on the rim does not stay on the rim: the blink moves it into the tear film, and from there it settles on the lens surface as a fine smear. That is the "why does my eyeliner keep getting on my contacts" complaint, and it is also the blurry-by-lunchtime one. The lens has not moved. There is a film on it.
The fix is placement, not product. Keep the line on the skin outside the lash line, where it has no route into the tear film. That still gives you a wing, a thin line, a smoked-out pencil, everything on the winged eyeliner guide. What it removes is the waterline. OHSU Casey Eye Institute's contact lens safety advice says the same in plainer words: "apply makeup after inserting contact lenses" and do not "wear eyeliner at the inner edge of the eyelid". Our waterline guide explains why liner does not stay on the rim in any case. With a lens in, the case for leaving it alone is stronger still.
Particles: glitter, shimmer and fibres
The second thing lens wearers need to know is what flakes. A lens sits on the eye with a thin layer of tears between it and the cornea. A particle that gets under the lens is trapped there and moves with every blink, which is why a lens wearer feels a speck that anyone else would blink away in a second. Glitter is the worst offender: the American Academy of Ophthalmology's eye-cosmetics safety page warns that glitter eye makeup is a common cause of corneal irritation, especially for contact lens wearers. Shimmer liners and shadows shed smaller particles for the same reason, and fibre mascaras shed fibres. Keep all three away from the eye on lens days.
A dry, crumbly pencil counts too. If the tip sheds when you draw on the back of your hand, it will shed on the eye. Sharpen it to a clean surface, warm the tip against a fingertip for a second, or retire it.
Which formulas behave
| Format | With lenses | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Long-wear liquid pen | Best | Dries to a film that does not flake or migrate. Once it has set, nothing enters the tear film. Worn outside the lash line only. |
| Pencil that sets | Good | Soft going on, firm after a minute. Set it with a matching powder shadow to be sure. |
| Gel pot | Good | Film-forming and controllable. Load the brush lightly so nothing sits wet near the lashes. |
| Soft kohl or kajal | Avoid | Never sets. Migrates into the tear film within the hour, and onto the lens with it. |
| Glitter, shimmer, fibre products | Avoid | Particles under a lens scratch. |
Of the liners already on this site, Stila Stay All Day and NYX Epic Ink are the long-wear liquid pens (compared head to head in Stila vs NYX Epic Ink), and Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On is the pencil that sets. The smudging guide explains what "sets" actually means and why a soft kohl never does. Our liner finder narrows the choice by how you wear it and what your eyes do, in about a minute.
If liner gets on a lens
- Do not rub. Rubbing pushes the smear across the lens and against the cornea. Leave the eye alone.
- Take the lens out with clean, dry hands.
- Rinse and rub gently with fresh lens solution. Never tap water, and never saliva.
- If it still looks smeared, bin it. The same goes if the eye stays gritty or red after the lens is out. A lens is cheaper than a scratched cornea.
A smear that comes back every day is a placement problem, not a bad batch of lenses. Move the line out from the rim and switch to a formula that sets before you blame anything else.
Hygiene, and eyes that water more
Lens wearers get less margin for old products, because anything that grows in a liner tube goes straight into an eye that already has a foreign object on it. Replace liquid liners and mascaras on the schedule printed on the pack, sharpen pencils before every use so you are drawing with a clean surface, never share, and never wet a tip with saliva. Wash your hands before lenses go in, and again before makeup if you have touched anything in between.
Eyes that water more with lenses in are common, particularly in the first weeks with a new lens and in dry or air-conditioned rooms. A watering eye floods the lower lash line and takes liner with it. The watery eyes guide covers where liner survives on a wet eye and which formulas hold; the short version is upper lash line only, film-forming, and nothing below. If your eyes react to products as well as watering, the sensitive eyes guide has the ingredient notes. And if they are still watering, red or blurred after a full day without makeup, that is a lens question for your optician, not a liner one.
Sources: OHSU Casey Eye Institute, safety for contact lens wearers; American Academy of Ophthalmology, how to use cosmetics safely around your eyes.
Questions people actually ask
Can you wear eyeliner with contacts?
Yes. Put lenses in before any makeup, keep the liner on the skin outside the lash line rather than on the inner rim, avoid glitter and shimmer, and take lenses out before remover.
Do you put contacts in before or after eyeliner?
Before. Lenses go in on a clean, dry fingertip before any makeup, so nothing is transferred onto the lens. At night, lenses come out before remover touches the eye.
Can you put eyeliner on your waterline with contacts?
Best not. The inner rim is where liner meets the tear film your lens floats on, so product there ends up on the lens as a smear. Keep liner outside the lash line.
Why does my eyeliner keep getting on my contacts?
Usually placement. Liner on the waterline or packed between the lash roots migrates into the tear film with every blink and settles on the lens. Soft kohls that never set do this fastest. Move the line outside the lashes and switch to a formula that sets.
What eyeliner is best for contact lens wearers?
A long-wear liquid pen or a pencil that sets, worn outside the lash line. Avoid soft kohls, glitter, shimmer and anything that flakes when you draw with it.