London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jun 04, 2026

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
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
Micron Technology Crosses Trillion-Dollar Valuation Amid Unprecedented Hardware Demand
Canada and Germany Finalize Historic Long-Term LNG Export Agreement
China Expands International Travel Restrictions on Domestic AI Researchers
Japan Approves Sweeping Overhaul of National Intelligence Apparatus
Global Airlines Scramble Logistics as Middle East Airspace Remains Fractured
Japan's Naphtha Imports Plunge 47 Percent Amid Strait of Hormuz Closure
Global Crude Prices Retreat Below $96 as Gulf Tensions Momentarily Ease
Generative AI Outperforms Human Baselines in Landmark Global Creativity Study
NASA Partners With Private Aerospace to Unveil Permanent Lunar Base Architecture
South Korean Equity Markets Surge on Next-Generation Memory Chip Frenzy
×