Katie Holmes Revived the One and Only Eyeliner Trend From the 1990s — See the Photos

EYE SPYKatie Holmes Revived the One and Only Eyeliner Trend From the 1990sAnd it looks so good.

By Kara Nesvig

September 8, 2023

Getty Images

Katie Holmes just brought a touch of the '90s to New York Fashion Week. The actor hit up a Madewell event looking like she stepped right out of 1999 thanks to some strategically placed black eyeliner, and now I'm having flashbacks to my junior high days.

Makeup artist Vincent Oquendo, who also works with stars like Gabrielle Union and Lily Collins, reached for a classic black pencil liner when crafting Holmes's NYFW look, but he didn't just draw the liner on her upper lids. Oquendo also tightlined Holmes's upper and lower waterlines, emphasizing the inner corners to really make her light green eyes sparkle. It's a teeny-tiny tweak to the go-to black liner, but it makes all the difference. And yes, my friends and I absolutely poked ourselves in the eyes trying to replicate this exact look when we were tweens, though I'm happy to say I've figured it out in adulthood. On Holmes, it was perfectly sophisticated without trying too hard, which is basically her entire style philosophy in a nutshell.

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The rest of Holmes's makeup was equally '90s in tone, with slim, arched brows, fresh skin and just a slick of shiny lip gloss to finish it off, plus her adorable gold hoop nose ring. Hairstylist DJ Quintero, who often works with the star, let her natural waves out to play, styling her hair in glamorously messy bends that looked as carefree and effortlessly cool as Joey Potter on a beautiful day in the fictional town of Capeside. Holmes has fun throwing it back to the '90s and 2000s via her hair and makeup, like the perfectly flat-ironed, pin-straight style she wore in June, not to mention her viral dress-over-jeans outfit. She may not be pairing her tightliner with frosty eye shadow like we did at the beginning of the new millennium, but Holmes does love a well-timed beauty surprise, so you never know.

More on eye makeup:

• Eye Shadow Tips Makeup Artists Want You to Know
• The Best Waterproof Eyeliners for Smudge-Free Looks
• Hailey Bieber Somehow Made Bright Yellow Eyeliner Look Subtle

Now, see how eye makeup has evolved within the past 100 years:

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Kara Nesvig is a freelance writer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her writing has appeared in publications like Teen Vogue, People, Apartment Therapy, and Brides. Her love of all things beauty started as a child when she would sneak into her mom’s bedroom to play with Dior Poison bottles. Kara is... Read moreContributor

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