The internet is still completely obsessed with peptides—and for good reason. Peptides are a favorite among dermatologists for boosting collagen and elastin production, and they’ve moved beyond skincare into makeup. You can now find them in skin tints, glossy balms, and even peptide lip liners. In a beauty world that’s all about hybrid formulas, peptides offer real benefits for your lips. As well-known cosmetic chemist Ron Robinson explains, people are drawn to multitasking products that give both color and skincare in one swipe.
“Peptides are short chains of amino acids—when applied to the skin, they can act like messengers, telling cells to produce more collagen and elastin,” Robinson tells Vogue. “They can also soothe lips, repair the skin barrier, plump, and reduce the look of lines around the mouth.” In practice, that means peptide lip liners feel much different from the drying pencils of the past. “Peptides in lip products help with hydration, smooth texture, and overall lip comfort,” adds celebrity makeup artist and m.ph Beauty founder Mary Phillips.
Vogue’s Favorite Peptide Lip Liners
– Best Waterproof: Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer, $33
– Best Long-Wearing: m.ph Beauty The Overliner, $25
– Best Shade Range: Bobbi Brown Lip Liner Pencil, $35
– Best Subtle: Rhode Peptide Lip Shape, $24
– Best Stain: Kulfi Beauty Lassi Lips Staining Lip Liner, $24
What’s more surprising is how few brands have actually added peptides to their lip liners—despite the internet-wide obsession. I can personally confirm this. While searching for the perfect peptide lip pencil, I looked through dozens of options and realized the category is still surprisingly small. Last year, Rhode became one of the first brands to get major attention for featuring peptides in its retractable Lip Shape pencil, after the viral success of its cushiony lip treatment. But brands like Bobbi Brown and Victoria Beckham Beauty had quietly included the ingredient in their liners long before the trend took off. Since then, a few other brands have started putting their own twist on peptide-powered pencils.
“Lip liner formulas are more technically limiting than people think,” says Phillips. “Unlike glosses or balms, liners need a very specific balance of structure, precision, payoff, and wear time. Adding peptides requires extra formulation work, testing, and investment to make sure they improve the formula without hurting performance.” That balance comes down to texture and personal preference. While Rhode and Kulfi Beauty lean creamy and smooth, the formulas from m.ph Beauty and Victoria Beckham Beauty are grippier and more sculpting.
With that in mind, here are five of the best peptide lip liners we’ve tested. Grab them while the trend is still slow-burning—because Robinson thinks it’s only a matter of time before this skincare-makeup hybrid goes mainstream.
In This Story
– The Best Way to Apply Lip Liner
– How We Tested
– Meet The Experts
Best Long-Wearing: m.ph Beauty The Overliner
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m.ph Beauty
The Overliner
$25
M.PH BEAUTY
Vogue’s Concetta Ciarlo uses m.ph Beauty’s Overliner lip pencil.
Why We Love It: Phillips’s natural-yet-sculpting lip liner strikes the perfect balance between skincare benefits and long wear. “Formulating the Overliner was about solving the common tradeoff between longevity and comfort,” she says. “Texture was especially important—we wanted enough grip for shaping and definition, while still keeping it creamy for easy glide and blendability.” For Phillips, that meant avoiding a formula that was too creamy or slippery, so the product wouldn’t move when worn as part of a lip combo. That balance is achieved with Kaolin clay to lock the product in place, plus hyaluronic acid and vitamin E.
Editor’s Experience: “When this product arrived on my desk, I was delighted.”The box was lined with brown velvet and held a red sharpener along with several shades of these lip liners. I’m always amazed by how long they last and how perfect the neutral shades look. My favorites are Skinny Dip (a nude pink) and Tease (a cool taupe brown). —Conçetta Ciarlo, beauty shopping writer
Key Ingredients: Synthetic Japan wax, tocopherol, jojoba seed oil, sunflower seed oil, hyaluronic acid, kaolin
Type: Sharpenable wooden pencil; creamy and slightly waxy
Finish: Soft focus, natural
Shades: 8
Size: 0.04 oz
Love It: Easy to blend, soft-focus finish, comfortable and long-lasting formula
Leave It: Shades aren’t as good for deeper skin tones—the darkest shade, “Double Shot,” is a cinnamon brown
Best Waterproof: Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer
Vogue’s Concetta Ciarlo uses the Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer.
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Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer, $33 at Nordstrom and Blue Mercury
Why We Love It: Beauty experts and polished lip fans alike love Victoria Beckham’s Lip Definer. “I’ve spent so much time in the makeup chair and have always looked for my perfect nude liner, so I knew exactly what I wanted,” Beckham told Vogue. Available in seven modern shades—from soft blush to rich mauves—this precise pencil gives smooth, natural-looking color that lasts. When freshly sharpened, it easily defines the cupid’s bow and shapes the lip line for a fuller look. Even though it’s waterproof, it glides on comfortably without pulling, thanks to nourishing peptides and vitamin E.
Editor’s Experience: “For me, lining my lips means going just slightly above the cupid’s bow and under the center of the bottom lip for a subtle boost. While some liners smudge in a bad way, Victoria Beckham Beauty plumps perfectly. The texture is waxy, not scratchy, and lines with great precision. I like using the rounded back of the pencil to blend. It lasts a long time.” —Conçetta Ciarlo, beauty shopping writer
Key Ingredients: Palmitoyl tripeptide-1, vitamin E
Type: Sharpenable pencil
Shades: 7
Waterproof: Yes
Size: 0.04 oz
Love It: Long-lasting and waterproof, gives sharp lines no matter where you draw
Leave It: The waterproof formula sets quickly, so you have to blend fast
Best Lip Contour: Rhode Peptide Lip Shape
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Rhode Peptide Lip Shape, $24 at Rhode
Vogue’s Concetta Ciarlo uses Rhode’s Peptide Lip Shape.
Why We Love It: It’s not a lip liner—it’s a lip contour. “The idea is to go outside the lip lines and overdo it, then blend and smudge as much as you want to contour the lips,” Bieber explained about her 2025 Rhode launch. Creamy and well-pigmented, it tints the lips with a subtle color that you apply without precision and blend out using the smudger on the other end of the crayon. She wanted something that gives “the look of fuller, poutier lips, but still natural.” That said, this one doesn’t last as long, so be ready to reapply.
Editor’s Experience: “Rhode’s Peptide Lip Shape is my go-to when I want a plumper look. I see it as a true lip contour—less about color, more about definition.” —Kiana Murden, beauty shopping editor
Key Ingredients: Peptides, fenugreek extract
Type: Retractable pencil, creamy
Finish: Soft matte
Shades: 11
Size: 0.026 oz
Love It: Subtle, natural color payoff, broad and true-to-tone shade range, built-in silicone smudger on the back
Leave It: Not the most long-lasting, most shades suit warm undertones
Best Shade Range: Bobbi Brown Lip Liner Pencil
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Bobbi Brown Lip Liner Pencil, $35 at Nordstrom and Blue Mercury
Why We Love It: Legendary makeup artist Bobbi Brown has used peptides in her brand’s lip liner for a while. We can’t say for sure they were in the original 1991 launch, but today, this skincare-infused formula has been ahead of some newer products.Now, viral options. With a blend of peptides, olive oil, and vitamin E, this pencil glides on smoothly without dragging or pilling. It’s not waterproof, but the brand promises up to eight hours of wear.
Key Ingredients: Hydrogenated olive oil, candelilla wax, peptides, tocopherol, lactic acid
Type: Sharpenable wooden pencil
Finish: Soft matte
Shades: 18
Size:
Love It: Tug-free application with lots of glide
Leave It: While the shade range is large, it could use a richer brown for deeper skin tones
Offers a wide range of both natural and bold shades
Best Stain: Kulfi Beauty Lassi Lips Staining Lip Liner
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Kulfi Lassi Lips Staining Lip Liner, $24, KULFI BEAUTY
Vogue’s Conçetta Ciarlo uses Kulfi Beauty’s Lassi Lips Staining Lip Liner.
Why We Love It: Can we get some excitement for Kulfi’s innovative staining lip liner? It’s the only product of its kind so far, since staining lip liners are usually marker or peel-off formulas. Instead, this one goes on almost like a creamy crayon. “Our community wants makeup that lasts, but they don’t want to feel like they’re wearing something heavy,” founder Priyanka Ganjoo said. “It gives you six hours of defined color, and as it fades, it leaves behind a soft stain that’s unique to you and can last up to 10 hours.”
Editor’s Experience: “Kulfi Beauty’s Lassi Lips liners are super creamy and slippery, but as the cream-based product wears off, a very subtle, blurred stain remains. As someone who prefers cool undertone products, the pinks are a bit too pink-y for me. Instead, I use the shade Platonic (a cool taupe) and blend it out right after applying.” —Conçetta Ciarlo, beauty shopping writer
Key Ingredients: Synthetic wax, candelilla wax, tocopherol, peptides
Type: Retractable, staining pencil
Finish: Satin (but blurred when the stain dries down)
Shades: 7
Size: 0.0141 oz
Love It: Creamy, tug-free application
Leave It: Depending on application, some say the stain can settle unevenly
Long-wearing
Everything You Need to Know
The Best Way to Apply Lip Liner
Whether they’re infused with peptides or not, there’s a certain skill to applying lip liners—especially when it comes to tastefully overlining for a more pillowy pout. Phillips is an expert on this, as overlining is one of her signature techniques. First, she strongly recommends always lining your lips with a freshly sharpened pencil for precise application. “I like to start from the corners of my mouth and stay close to the natural lip line, then work my way toward the center,” she says. “Then, I overline just above the cupid’s bow to give the upper lip a lifted look. Finally, I repeat the same process on the center of the lower lip.”
How We Tested
When we test and review a product, we take a complete approach to give well-rounded recommendations. First, we rely on Vogue’s wide network of experts—from cosmetic chemists to professional makeup artists—to get professional insight on the industry’s standout products, ones these specialists would actually use on their clients. We combine their expertise with our editorial best practices to create the thoughtful edits you see on our site.
For peptide-infused lip liners, we chose the best based on these features: ingredients, texture, finish, wear time, and shades. We did this by testing each formula ourselves, along with expert guidance and reviewer feedback, to decide which ones we would recommend to you.
Meet the Experts
Mary Phillips is a well-known celebrity makeup artist and founder of m.ph beauty. Her clients include Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Kaia Gerber, and more.
Ron Robinson is an experienced cosmetic chemist with over 30 years of creating products for top beauty brands. He is also the founder of BeautyStat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about peptide lip liners written in a natural tone with clear simple answers
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What exactly is a peptide lip liner
Its a lip liner that contains peptides Peptides are small proteins that help stimulate collagen making your lips look plumper and smoother over time So its like a treatment and a liner in one
2 How is it different from a regular lip liner
Regular lip liners just define and shape your lips A peptide lip liner does that plus works to hydrate and plump your lips gradually which regular liners dont do
3 Does it actually make my lips bigger
It wont give you immediate dramatic injections results But with regular use it can make your lips look fuller and more defined by boosting collagen and hydration Its a subtle naturallooking improvement
4 Can I use it alone or do I need lipstick
You can definitely wear it alone Many people love using it all over their lips as a subtle tinted lip treatment You can also use it as a base under lipstick to prevent feathering
5 Is it safe for sensitive skin
Most are formulated to be gentle but it depends on the brand Look for ones without fragrance or essential oils Always do a patch test on your wrist before using it on your lips if you have sensitive skin
Intermediate Advanced Questions
6 How long does it take to see plumping results from a peptide lip liner
You wont see results overnight Most users notice a difference in lip fullness and texture after about 4 to 8 weeks of consistent daily use The peptides need time to boost collagen
7 Will it sting or tingle like a traditional lip plumper
No this is a big difference Peptide liners dont usually tingle or sting Traditional plumpers use irritants to cause temporary swelling Peptides work gently over time without irritation
8 Can I use a peptide lip liner with other lip plumping products
Yes you can Use the peptide liner to define your lips then apply a peptide lip gloss or balm on top Just avoid using it with harsh irritating plumpers at the same time as that might cause