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Welcome to the complete guide to the best MAC lip liners for overlining!
I’ve written plenty of guides about different must have MAC lip liners on The Working Line, from the Chestnut lip liner to Cork, Soar, Spice, and Whirl.
But there are many, many more than those classic MAC lip liner colors, and today, I’ll tell you all about them.
Whether you’re looking for the best MAC lip liners for brown and Indian skin, dark skin or everyday MAC lip liners for fair skin, you’ll find it all here.
And if you need to see some MAC lip liner swatches more closely, check out the huge MAC lip liner review and swatches post I’ve written for you!
14 Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining & Ombre Lip Looks
I have built this guide to the best MAC lip liners for overlining in a different way than I usually write my posts on The Working Line.
Indeed, beyond just writing about must have MAC lip liner colors, I have also included some possible matching lipsticks for each.
That way, if you’ve never tried MAC products, you’ll see what could possibly look good with such and such lip liner shade.
And before we go further, let me answer a few questions for you.
How to choose a MAC lip liner?
The lip liner you choose should match your skin tone, for starters.
If you have super pale skin and want to go for an everyday pink lipstick, for instance, go for a nude pink lip liner.
If you are looking for a MAC lip liner for brown skin and want a nude result, maybe go for something like the Cork lip liner, or Stripdown if you’re on the lighter side.
If you’re looking for a MAC lip liner for olive skin, try to avoid lip liners with warm undertones.
Rather, go for something like the Soar lip liner or the Whirl lip liner, or, if you’re super light-skinned, the Oak lip liner.
Can you put lip liner all over your lips?
Yes, you can.
When I was working at MAC Cosmetics in London and Paris, I would often do that on myself and on customers.
The MAC lip liners are very longlasting because the formula is on the dryer side.
You can definitely apply them all over your lips, and make them glide better with some lipbalm and Prep + Prime for lips (or my favorite, the 3ina Lip Primer).
In my experience, the MAC lip liners last all day, but if you eat, you might want to touch up the middle after lunch/dinner.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Soar Lip Liner
First up, and one of the best MAC lip liners for overlining overall, is the MAC Soar lip liner.
There are plenty of dupes for MAC Soar to check out if you don’t want to splurge, but I’ve always felt that the real deal was the best.
You can create lots of lip combos with the Soar lip liner, too, from the Mehr lipstick to Brave and Velvet Teddy, and from Blankety to the Modesty lipstick.
There are lots of cool mauve MAC lipsticks to wear with this one, which is perfect whether it’s spring or winter.
Is MAC Soar cool or warm?
It’s more of a mauve lip liner, so its undertone is definitely cool.
Perfect to wear on its own, and there is also a really cool Barry M lip liner dupe for MAC Soar as well if you can get your hands on this British makeup brand.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Stone Lip Liner
One of my favorite MAC lip liners for overlining is the Stone lip liner, which tends to make people scared as it’s a proper greige lip liner.
I’ve told you time and time again how much I love greige lipsticks, and while the Stone lipstick has been discontinued, we still have the Stone lip liner (fortunately, tbh).
It’s one of the most unusual MAC lip liner colors, but on fair skin to dark skin, its grey undertone is perfect to shade the outer corners of the lips.
And since the Stone lip liner is a really desaturated color, you can legit wear it with any kind of nude MAC lipstick, up to red lipsticks like Ruby Woo.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Stripdown Lip Liner
If you like the Stone lip liner but would like to go for something lighter and more of a brown lip liner, check out Stripdown.
It’s another one of the most popular MAC lip liners for overlining, and from pale to medium skin, it’s an amazing shade to have in your stash.
I would recommend getting the MAC Stripdown lip liner for olive skin, pale and fair skin, and in general for skin with cool undertones – and neutral undertones.
With it, some of the coolest MAC lip liner and matching lipstick combos could be Creme Cup or one of the most popular Powder Kiss lipsticks, Sultriness.
You could also pair Myth, Viva Glam 2, Honeylove, Velvet Teddy...
Plenty of options.
On the eyes, something a bit more loaded, like some dark blue eyeshadow or some bright purple eyeshadow, since the lips are so nude.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Chestnut Lip Liner
One of the most famous MAC lip liners for dark skin and medium skin, and amazing with shades like the Whirl lipstick…
The MAC Chestnut lip liner.
It’s that neutral to cool-toned lip liner, super dark, that goes with all of the MAC brown lipsticks, and it’s clearly amazing.
One of my very first MAC lipsticks was Antique Velvet, and with the Chestnut lip liner, you have there one of the darkest, richest nude MAC lipstick and lip liner combos.
If you want to create some cool MAC Chestnut lip liner and lipstick combos, you can pair with it Creme in Your Coffee, Sultry Move, the Satin lipstick Mocha, Spirit…
Lots of possibilities, and you can also easily find some cool MAC Chestnut lip liner dupes on the market.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Cork Lip Liner
Where the Chestnut lip liner is cool-toned, the MAC Cork lip liner is more yellow-toned.
That means it will be easier to wear with warmer-toned brown lipsticks like Impulsive from the Powder Kiss range.
Or Consensual, one of the most nude matte MAC lipsticks for medium and dark skin.
However, if you’d rather wear something like a pink lipstick with the Cork lip liner, you can try warm pinks, like A Little Tamed.
Or Mull It Over, Stay Curious, that kind of shade.
In any case, there are also plenty of cool MAC Cork lip liner dupes on the market, and since it’s so wearable on a daily basis, it’s really one to have in your stash.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Half Red Lip Liner
Now, we’re talking about one of my ultimate favorite MAC lip liners for overlining; Half Red.
It’s very much like the Soar lip liner, only redder – that means that with some brown lipsticks and warmer toned, muted red MAC lipsticks, it works really well.
When I was working at MAC, I would often wear the Half Red lip liner on its own, or with some Lipglass in Clear on top of it.
It’s just that beautiful that you want to wear it on its own.
Whether you’re looking for MAC lip liners for Asian skin, olive skin, medium or pale skin, it’s an amazing one to have.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Plum Lip Liner
Compared to the Half Red lip liner, the MAC Plum lip liner is more desaturated.
It’s indeed plum, and goes amazingly well with some of the burgundy MAC lipsticks, but it boasts way less color, and seems more brown at times.
It goes perfectly well in contrast with some cool coral MAC lipsticks.
In my opinion, it is clearly one of the best MAC lip liners for overlining some really light shades like Please Me, Blankety, or Creme Cup.
And if you would like the same shade with a bit more color, you can also check out the MAC Burgundy lip liner, which has a bit more red in its shade.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Whirl Lip Liner
How could I talk about MAC lip liners for overlining without mentioning the Whirl lip liner?
The Whirl lipstick, of the same shade, was one of my very first shades.
And honestly, the dirty pink color is amazing whether you’re looking for MAC lipsticks for olive skin, pale skin or dark skin.
You can create plenty of MAC Whirl lip liner and lipstick combos, and it’s just that wearable whether you want to pair a pink or a nude lipstick with it.
Also, if you don’t want to splurge, you can find lots of cool MAC Whirl lip liner dupes on the market.
Starting with one of the most classic NYX lip liner dupes for MAC, the Mauve lip liner.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Spice Lip Liner
In one of my reviews lately, I talked about the MAC Lipglass in Spice.
That there is one of the most beautiful MAC lip glosses ever created.
So very versatile, really.
Well, another one of the best MAC lip liners for overlining is the Spice lip liner, which is exactly the same shade.
Both look so amazing together – if you’ve never tried the combo, you really have no idea how beautiful that looks.
There are some cool MAC Spice lip liner dupes here and there, from Barry M to more mainstream brands to check out.
Spice is described as a cinnamon pink color, but it’s more of that cinnamon, light and warm brown color.
It’s oh, so amazing whether you’re looking for MAC lip liners for fair skin, olive skin, Asian skin or medium skin.
And the perfect warm nude shade if you want to top it with some gold lipstick, or wear some really strong, metallic eyeshadow on the eyes.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Nightmoth Lip Liner
Then we have the MAC Nightmoth lip liner, described as a blackened plum lip liner shade.
Perfect to match with some winter MAC lipsticks, like one of my favorites ever, the Flat Out Fabulous lipstick.
Although Flat Out Fabulous is also one of the coolest MAC lipsticks for summer in my opinion, but that’s not the subject now.
You can use this MAC lip liner for overlining some purple MAC lipsticks like Rebel or Heroine, or you can choose something even lighter.
That could be Bronx from the Retro Matte lipstick range.
Or that could be the Myth lipstick, Honeylove, Velvet Teddy, Mehr, the You Wouldn’t Get It lipstick…
There are so many options.
On the eyes, some simple black MAC eyeliner is definitely enough if you put the emphasis on the lips!
However, on the cheeks, you could try out one of the MAC Extra Dimension blush shades, with their shimmery finish – that could look absolutely peng.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Oak Lip Liner
For those who like how the Stone lip liner and Stripdown look, the Oak lip liner is one of the currently most famous MAC lip liners for overlining.
Let’s thank Sofia Richie for this, shall we?
But even before her wedding, the Oak lip liner was one of the coolest MAC lip liners for pale skin, redheads, blondes, and brunettes.
It’s just got that perfect brown to grey ratio, really good for shading the outer corners of the lips.
Lots of MAC Oak lip liner dupes are to be found here and there.
Plus, with some really light pink lipsticks like Creme Cup or Velvet Teddy, it does indeed look amazing.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Auburn Lip Liner
When I first found out about the MAC Auburn lip liner a few years ago, I stocked up on it.
It was just always out of stock.
It’s one of the most beautiful MAC lip liner colors ever created in my opinion, that kind of strong brownish red shade.
I personally wore it on its own a lot, but I can remember wearing the Marrakesh lipstick with it too.
But honestly, even if you’re looking for matching lipsticks for MAC Auburn lip liner, just try it with clear lipgloss.
It’s really the most beautiful way of wearing it in my opinion, and with some neutral eyeshadow, it just looks amazing.
Also, if you really do want to wear eyeshadow with it, one of the coolest MAC eyeshadow palettes, Flame-Boyant, has some good eyeshadows that match Auburn perfectly.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Mahogany Lip Liner
Compared to the Auburn lip liner, Mahoghany is completely brown with a red undertone.
As a reminder, the Auburn lip liner is red with a strong brown undertone.
The Mahogany lip liner is amazing if you’re looking for a brown lip liner but not as cool-toned as Chestnut, and not as yellow as Cork.
You can wear it with some really warm-toned lipsticks.
That means shades like Chili, Kinda Sexy, So Chaud, or even shades like Hug Me, one of the most hydrating MAC lipsticks, to change the color of the lipstick a little bit.
Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining: MAC Chicory Lip Liner
Last in this guide to the best MAC lip liners for overlining…
The MAC Chicory lip liner.
OMG, the beauty.
Luckily, you can find plenty of cool MAC Chicory lip liner dupes on the market, and that’s good because once you try it, you’ll never want to let go.
It’s part of the same color family as Auburn and Mahogany, and again, you can wear it with lipsticks with warm undertones.
I have seen it worn with lipsticks like Honeylove, Taupe, Modesty, Yash…
And it looked banging every singly time.
It’s one of the coolest nude MAC lip liners to wear with nude lipsticks, and its peachy red undertone makes it perfect for skin with warm undertones.
On the eyes, something warm, like some copper gold eyeshadow or some really strong red eyeshadow would look absolutely beautiful.
14 Best MAC Lip Liners for Overlining & Ombre Lip Looks
There you have them, all the best MAC lip liners for overlining!
Hopefully, you’ll have found here lots of amazing MAC lip liner shades to create the cutest ombre lip looks.
I’ve mostly focused on beige, pinkish and brown lip liners here since they’re the easiest to wear on a day-to-day basis.
However, if you’d like to find some other cool shades, with combos with the Nightmoth lip liner, or the coolest MAC lip liners for Ruby Woo, check out my other guides on The Working Line!
Until next time!
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The Working Line
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Sam is a certified fashion makeup artist, a freelance writer, a blogger and a digital nomad. Since 2019, she roams around the world, from London to Rome and shares her knowledge about makeup, scented candles, travel, blogging and the digital nomad lifestyle.