We Tried It: Kristen Stewart’s Eyeliner Trick

I'm just going to admit this upfront: I really like Kristen Stewart. Her infinite indifference, her braided undercuts, the fact that she looks like she's either going to roll her eyes at you or fall asleep at any moment — it's just so oddly appealing. But, even I, of the K. Stew-loving camp, have to say — her signature second-day eyeliner trick, as discussed in an interview with our senior beauty editor Megan, is questionable.

In case you're out of the loop, Stewart has become somewhat infamous in the beauty world for never washing her eye makeup off in order to cultivate a very specific, slept-in, dirty-chic look. As she confirmed in the aforementioned interview, she not only puts eyeliner on before bed to be worn the next day — she applies more the next morning and smudges it out. "I just make sure it’s out from under my eyes and then it looks great," she said. Note: She literally doesn't own eye-makeup remover.

Once learning this, I was extremely doubtful that this would look good on anyone else. So, I tried it, because what's the sense in just wondering? After getting completely ready for bed, I lined my eyes with Jane Cosmetics' Water Resistant Eyeliner in black. I gave it a good rub and then applied a ton of Lorac's Pro Mascara. It looked pretty ridiculous, especially since my face was slathered in night cream. My girlfriend told me I looked like I had just returned from "da club."

The next morning, there was a sort of dirty gray halo around my eyes, making me look much more tired than I was. I cleaned it up with a cotton swab and was careful not to touch my eyes while I washed my face. I then reapplied the black eyeliner all the way around my lids, waterlines included, and smudged it with my finger. There was no trace of my mascara left, so I piled that on, too. I left the rest of my makeup pretty minimal, using foundation just to even out my skin. Oh, and please disregard the fact that I was wearing two jackets and a turtle neck in the photo above. Just trying to stay warm, you know?

The end result? I was worried I'd be mistaken for a raccoon on my walk to the subway. Since it was so cold out, my eyes were really watery — making the liner run even more. Apparently, though, by the time I got to the office, it actually looked good. This look received more compliments than any eyeliner situation I've tried. As a perfectionist, though, the fact that the eye makeup was uneven was hard to deal with. (Symmetry doesn't really have a place in this method.)

In conclusion, I'm going to stick to my more precise liner routine, though if I ever feel too tired to wash my eyes in the future, I'll at least know how to make it look semi-decent the next day.