How to Rock Guyliner Like Pharrell

It seems Pharrell Williams just can’t help but make waves when it comes to his personal style. First it was The Hat. Now it’s guyliner, which he wore on several occasions in Paris this week, out and about with his wife, Helen Lasichanh, in Paris and at his Dear Girl Tour concert. Paired with an embellished blue hat and plenty of necklaces, the look was all his own.

“It’s been around since the Egyptians, so why not?” says celebrity hairdresser Sunnie Brook, who has groomed Mumford & Sons, Imagine Dragons, Robin Thicke, Alice in Chains and Bush, to name a few. “It takes a pretty secure man to rock guyliner. Musicians can get away with being more creative with their look — I mean, look at KISS.”

While we’ve seen everyone from David Bowie and Steven Tyler to Jared Leto and Adam Lambert rock male eyeliner in the past, Pharrell’s version — he wore it simply on his lower lash waterline — feels minimalist and modern, appropriate for the fashion icon. “It completely depends on your eye shape and the look you’re trying to achieve,” Brook says about how to best wear it. Regardless of whether you’re doing it just under the eye or going grungy all around it, she says, a little goes a long way on a man.

“Use a good kohl pencil — I like MAC Kohl Pencil in Teddy for lighter complexions, or if you’re going for black make sure it doesn’t look blue-ish when it goes on,” Brook says. “And give it a smudge with your fingers to make it look more natural and lived-in. Ideally you want people to think, ‘Wow, you look great,’ vs. ‘That’s some guyliner you’ve got on!’” Note taken.

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