9 Easy-To-Use Make Up Crayons

As make-up formulas go, a crayon is a great option for fuss-free, on-the-go make-up. No longer just reserved for kohl eyeliner, crayon sticks are available for lips, cheeks and foundation too –and they’re great to grab-and-go, whether you’re travelling and want a liquid-free, lightweight option, or just need a product and applicator in-one to streamline your make-up bag for multi-use, easy make-up looks.

Great for novices, the creamy, blendable and buildable formulas mean they melt easily into skin, allowing you to play with the intensity and coverage you want, using just your fingertips as tools for a natural finish.

Here are nine of our favourite buys, from hydrating lip colours to sparkly eye shades straight out of a sweet shop to clever colour-correcting complexion formulas – all in easy to apply, blendable crayons to pop in your make-up bag.

Bobbi Brown

Longwear cream shadow stick, £27



Creamy, blendable yet unbudgable, simply swipe and go and you’re all set for up to 24 hours. Available in a wide range of shimmery and matte colourways, line the eye for just a hint, or sweep up to the eye socket for a full wash of colour. Buy it.

Erborian

BB Crayon, £23


From Korean skin therapy brand Erborian, this little crayon is packed with white ginseng, liquorice and wild yam to smooth, moisturise and protect skin as it balances skin tone and conceals imperfections. Great for areas of redness, it can even be used to colour-correct eyelids as a primer before you add your shadow. Buy it.

Jones Road

Everything Stick, £23


Bobbi Brown’s latest make-up guise, Jones Road has an Everything Stick that does just that. A dab here and there and it melts away shadows, scars and uneven tone, yet crucially still allows your skin to naturally shine through, with no chalky finish. Great if you don’t want a ‘full face’, but just want to even things up a bit. Buy it.

Clinique

Chubby Stick Sculpting Contour, £22.50


One of the first brands to launch make up sticks, the Chubby range of crayons from Clinique includes blush, lip and this flattering contour shade. Just dial up the cream bronzer stick and apply the natural, non-shimmery shade to temples, under cheekbones and down the contours of your nose to sculpt and define. Buy it.

Elf

Monochromatic Multi Stick, £5


A brilliant high-street buy from affordable make-up brand, Elf. This wind-up stick is available in five pretty pinky-coral-berry tones in cream-to-powder formulas that you can smudge into lips, cheeks and eyelids for a flush of healthy colour in one seamless swipe. Buy it.

Anastasia Beverly Hills

Stick Highlighter, £32


This clever, compact stick delivers lightweight, buildable cream highlighter in a targeted twist-up bullet, with double-ended brush to blend colour for a glowy, diffused, luminous finish. Buy it.

Fenty Beauty

Match Stix Correcting Skinstick, £23


Designed to brighten and neutralise undereye discolouration in a blendable formula that won’t cake or crease, this lightweight yet long-wear formula can be used wherever you need colour correction in a creamy, buildable texture that you can tap and melt into skin with your fingertips for fool-proof application. Buy it.

Maybelline

Superstay Ink Crayon, £10


More of a felt tip than a crayon, this intense matte lipstick gives eight hours’ colour without fading or smudging and comes with an in-built sharpener to ensure precision application. Build from sheer to full coverage colour and then forget about it for the rest of the day. Buy it.

Glossier

Haloscope, £18


So named thanks to its outer ring of shimmering, skin-warming colour, applying just enough glow without the glitter, Haloszcope encloses a core of solid, vitamin-enriched moisturiser for a hydrating dewy finish. Great to swipe over cheeks and lids for a hint of healthy, subtle lustre. Buy it.

By Lydia Mansi
August 2022