London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Dec 14, 2025

From Chanel to ‘Batman’, Dark, Intense Eye Makeup is Having a Moment

From Chanel to ‘Batman’, Dark, Intense Eye Makeup is Having a Moment

Sharpen your kohl liner, because word on the street is that over-the-top eye makeup is having a moment. And no, we don’t mean the sparkly wings and neon lids of Euphoria, we’re talking dark, black, smudged smokey eyes that look like they just made it through a very rough night. Over the past week, intense black eye makeup has shown up in the holy trinity of popular culture—on celebrities, in fashion, and in film—meaning it’s time to get heavy handed and prepare to waste a lot of your black eye shadow.

The recent charcoal eye renaissance began on Sunday, when Julia Fox stepped out with Kanye West for the Kenzo menswear show in Paris. Fox wore a Schiaparelli jacket and Daniel Roseberry’s own Carhartt jeans, but the real focus of the look was the actresses’ eyes, which featured a swipe of black shadow across her lid, reaching up toward her temple. The look immediately caused a stir, with memes popping up on Twitter in record time, but Fox wasn’t scared away by the ridicule. The next day, she stepped out again, in a new Schiaparelli look, but with the same dark makeup. This time, the shadow lifted up toward her eyebrows, but in such an imbalanced way, it looked like West flew his eight-year-old daughter, North, in for his girlfriend’s glam. In reality, the look was executed by a makeup artist working with Pat McGrath studios, with some touchups by Kanye, of course.


On Tuesday, just as the Fox jokes were getting stale, the Chanel couture show was warming up. Following an opening featuring Grace Kelly’s granddaughter on horseback, a parade of tweed, structured jackets, and tulle tiers came down the runway. Offsetting the femininity of Virginie Viard’s show, however, was the makeup of the models. Thick double liner wrapped around entire eyes, drooping on some in an almost depressing aesthetic. Others looked like they took a tissue to one of their lids, smudging the black to form a dark circle on one side. According to The New York Times, the technique was “meant as a nod to the constructivist set by the contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan.”



But these dark, brooding eyes aren’t only for couture week, they’re actually perfect for everyone’s favorite dark, brooding hero. Just as the world of fashion finished up calculating how many makeup wipes they would need to invest in if this black eye trend catches on, Batman’s director, Matt Reeves, spoke out about Robert Pattinson’s heavy, smudged liner in the movie’s trailer.

“You can’t wear a cowl and not wear that,” Reeves told Esquire UK, referring to the the vigilante’s honestly kind of chic neckline. “I just loved the idea of taking off [the mask] and under that there’s the sweating and the dripping and the whole theatricality of becoming this character.”

And thus, Batman looks like he just stepped off the Chanel runway, or was sitting in the makeup chair while Julia Fox was getting in glam when he beckoned a makeup artist and said, “I’ll have what she’s having.” Though, considering the Batman trailer came out long before Fox’s run in with eye liner, or Chanel’s 2022 couture show, it’s possible both parties were inspired by the dark night.


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Government Declines to Comment After ICC Prosecutor Alleges Britain Threatened to Defund Court Over Israel Arrest Warrant
Apple Shutters All Retail Stores in the United Kingdom Under New National COVID-19 Lockdown
US–UK Technology Partnership Strains as Key Trade Disagreements Emerge
UK Police Confirm No Further Action Over Allegation That Andrew Asked Bodyguard to Investigate Virginia Giuffre
Giuffre Family Expresses Deep Disappointment as UK Police Decline New Inquiry Into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Claims
Transatlantic Trade Ambitions Hit a Snag as UK–US Deal Faces Emerging Challenges
Ex-ICC Prosecutor Alleges UK Threatened to Withdraw Funding Over Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Bid
UK Disciplinary Tribunal Clears Carter-Ruck Lawyer of Misconduct in OneCoin Case
‘Pink Ladies’ Emerge as Prominent Face of UK Anti-Immigration Protests
Nigel Farage Says Reform UK Has Become Britain’s Largest Party as Labour Membership Falls Sharply
Google DeepMind and UK Government Launch First Automated AI Lab to Accelerate Scientific Discovery
UK Economy Falters Ahead of Budget as Growth Contracts and Confidence Wanes
Australia Approves Increased Foreign Stake in Strategic Defence Shipbuilder
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson proclaims, “For Ukraine, surrendering their land would be a nightmare.”
Microsoft Challenges £2.1 Billion UK Cloud Licensing Lawsuit at Competition Tribunal
Fake Doctor in Uttar Pradesh Accused of Killing Woman After Performing YouTube-Based Surgery
Hackers Are Hiding Malware in Open-Source Tools and IDE Extensions
Traveling to USA? Homeland Security moving toward requiring foreign travelers to share social media history
UK Officials Push Back at Trump Saying European Leaders ‘Talk Too Much’ About Ukraine
UK Warns of Escalating Cyber Assault Linked to Putin’s State-Backed Operations
UK Consumer Spending Falters in November as Households Hold Back Ahead of Budget
UK Orders Fresh Review of Prince Harry’s Security Status After Formal Request
U.S. Authorises Nvidia to Sell H200 AI Chips to China Under Security Controls
Trump in Direct Assault: European Leaders Are Weak, Immigration a Disaster. Russia Is Strong and Big — and Will Win
"App recommendation" or disguised advertisement? ChatGPT Premium users are furious
"The Great Filtering": Australia Blocks Hundreds of Thousands of Minors From Social Networks
Mark Zuckerberg Pulls Back From Metaverse After $70 Billion Loss as Meta Shifts Priorities to AI
Nvidia CEO Says U.S. Data-Center Builds Take Years while China ‘Builds a Hospital in a Weekend’
Indian Airports in Turmoil as IndiGo Cancels Over a Thousand Flights, Stranding Thousands
Hollywood Industry on Edge as Netflix Secures Near-$60 Bln Loan for Warner Bros Takeover
Drugs and Assassinations: The Connection Between the Italian Mafia and Football Ultras
Hollywood megadeal: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery for 83 billion dollars
The Disregard for a Europe ‘in Danger of Erasure,’ the Shift Toward Russia: Trump’s Strategic Policy Document
Two and a Half Weeks After the Major Outage: A Cloudflare Malfunction Brings Down Multiple Sites
UK data-regulator demands urgent clarity on racial bias in police facial-recognition systems
Labour Uses Biscuits to Explain UK Debt — MPs Lean Into Social Media to Reach New Audiences
German President Lays Wreath at Coventry as UK-Germany Reaffirm Unity Against Russia’s Threat
UK Inquiry Finds Putin ‘Morally Responsible’ for 2018 Novichok Death — London Imposes Broad Sanctions on GRU
India backs down on plan to mandate government “Sanchar Saathi” app on all smartphones
King Charles Welcomes German President Steinmeier to UK in First State Visit by Berlin in 27 Years
UK Plans Major Cutback to Jury Trials as Crown Court Backlog Nears 80,000
UK Government to Significantly Limit Jury Trials in England and Wales
U.S. and U.K. Seal Drug-Pricing Deal: Britain Agrees to Pay More, U.S. Lifts Tariffs
UK Postpones Decision Yet Again on China’s Proposed Mega-Embassy in London
Head of UK Budget Watchdog Resigns After Premature Leak of Reeves’ Budget Report
Car-sharing giant Zipcar to exit UK market by end of 2025
Reports of Widespread Drone Deployment Raise Privacy and Security Questions in the UK
UK Signals Security Concerns Over China While Pursuing Stronger Trade Links
Google warns of AI “irrationality” just as Gemini 3 launch rattles markets
Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
×