Tarte Fake Awake Eyeliner: How to Use the Brightening Liner

Ancient Egypt, the 18th Dynasty, around 1550 to 1292 BCE. Kohl was ground from galena for black and malachite for green, then drawn on with a stick from a small tube. People wore it for looks and for the health of their eyes. Wikipedia even says Hatshepsut had frankincense ground into hers. Three thousand years on, the eye is still the first place we go to look more awake.

That is the job of tarte Fake Awake. The brand's founder, Maureen Kelly, started tarte in 1999 with a cheek stain, and the company's own timeline later marks Amazonian clay in 2008 and the Shape Tape concealer in 2016. Kose bought a majority stake in 2014 and Kelly stayed on as CEO. What I like about the brand's point of view is that it treats the eye area as a system: a liner, a mascara, a concealer, a corrector, each built to work with the others.

The trick is to start with the pencil. Fake Awake Waterproof Gel Eyeliner Highlight is, in tarte's words, a no-tug gel with a built-in smudger and Amazonian clay. The white, nude and opal shades go on the inner corner, the brow bone and the waterline, and the colours trace the lash line. Fake Awake Duochrome Liner is the playful sibling for when you want a shift of colour.

Around it sits the rest of the eye kit. Tartelette Tubing Mascara, which the brand says wraps each lash in tiny tubes, and Lights, Camera, Lashes, Maneater and Big Ego are the mascaras. Double Take is the liquid and gel liner, and the Tartelette Toasted Amazonian Clay palette covers the lid.

Dab a little concealer on the back of your hand, blink, and look at how it sits on the skin after a minute. If it looks like a thick patch, go smaller and use the tip of the brush.

Shape Tape Concealer is tarte's hero, the product Kelly names as the brand's hero. The brand describes it as full coverage and matte, with wear of up to 16 hours, and it is built for people who want the eye area to look done and finished. Shape Tape Corrector goes under it to neutralize darkness first. Maracuja Creaseless Concealer and Maracuja Creaseless Corrector are the creaseless pair, named for the oil the brand started using in 2011. CC Undereye Corrector is the quick fix for the days you need less, and the Shape Tape Blurring Concealer Stick is the one to keep in a bag for touch-ups.

Tools matter here more than anywhere else on the face. The Concealer Paw Brush and the Dark Circle Defense Corrector Brush are both made for the small, curved space under the eye, and I would pick one brush and use it for both corrector and concealer so nothing gets overworked.

Fake Awake in nude on the waterline, then a thin swipe of Shape Tape at the inner corner, makes the eye look open, because the concealer blends into the highlight.

What I would skip: full-coverage concealer over a very dry under-eye with no cream underneath. It will crease, however good the formula.

Draw a line on your hand and press your thumb across it. If it smears in a second, it will smear on your waterline in an hour, and that is worth knowing before it goes near your eye.

Urban Decay's 24/7 Waterproof Waterline Eyeliner Pencil is named for what it is built to do, and Laura Mercier's Caviar Tightline Eyeliner sits closest to the lash roots. Huda Beauty's Creamy Kohl Longwear Eye Pencil promises a creamy, longwear feel, and Lancôme's Le Crayon Khol Smoky Eye Liner is the one to try for smudged, smoky edges.

Kulfi's Underlined Kajal Clean Waterproof Long-Wear Eyeliner takes its name from kajal, the South Asian word for kohl, and Sephora Collection's 12 Hour Colorful Contour Pencil Eyeliner is the everyday one, with twelve-hour wear in the name. NUDESTIX's Magnetic Eye Color Pencil is the colourful alternative, and RMS Beauty's Straight Line Kohl Eye Pencil keeps things plain and dark.

Any of these will do the dark job. Fake Awake, from the first grid, is for the opposite job: lift on the waterline instead of depth.

What I would skip: a black pencil on your waterline when you are aiming for a bright, awake look. It closes the eye, so switch to nude or white.

Tap, never rub. Put brightener on with your ring finger, use three dots, and pat outward. The skin here is thin, and dragging it is the quickest way to an irritated, blotchy eye.

Rare Beauty's Positive Light Under Eye Brightener and NARS's Light Reflecting Undereye Brightener are the two that most directly say what they do in the name. bareMinerals' WELL-RESTED Under Eye Brightener SPF 20 adds sun protection to the job, and RMS Beauty's ReFresh Eye Brightener carries Broad Spectrum SPF 30. Saie's Hydrabeam Hydrating & Concealing Under Eye Brightener is named for two jobs in one.

Then the creams. Glossier's Full Orbit is an entire-eye brightening cream, ILIA's Bright Start is a retinol alternative, and Sephora Collection's GLOW is a brightening eye cream with vitamin C. These are skincare, so they go on before makeup and have time to settle.

A pairing I like: a brightening eye cream at night and a light brightener in the morning, then Fake Awake only on the waterline. You are not stacking five things at once.

What I would skip: layering a cream, a brightener and a concealer in the same minute. Wait a moment between layers.

My pick for a first purchase is the Fake Awake pencil in a nude or white shade, used on the waterline and the inner corner, and nothing else at first. I would live with it for a week, then add a mascara you like once you have seen what a brighter eye does for your face, and only after that think about a concealer.

Shape Tape and its corrector come second, if shadows are your main worry. The Egyptians had kohl and a tube. You have a pencil with a smudger on the end, which is a kinder design. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Tarte Shape Tape Creamy Concealer and Best Fake Nails, From a Dentist's Broken Thumbnail to Your Kit.