Aleph Beauty’s new multi-use liner pencils were tested and trialled backstage at London and New Zealand Fashion Week.
Word on Fashion tried them too and had a face-to-face with Aleph founder and make-up artist Emma Peters to get the complete lowdown.
Multi-use makeup specialists Aleph Beauty have raised the bar with their new liner pencils – designed for eyes, lips and cheeks that are also perfect for contouring, and versatile enough to use on brows too.
They define, shape and shade and are stunning to use – gliding on effortlessly when applied directly to the skin. For the brows I used a brush to transfer pigment directly from the pencil nib, then brows. You can also do the same thing with a brush and apply as a contour to the cheekbones or apply directly to cheeks as a blush and blend with the fingers. Outline or colour in your lips.
You can literally whip out one pencil and apply it everywhere and you’ve got a nice monochromatic look.
Organic carnauba wax is the secret to the smooth glide as well as silica which softens the texture, while other botanicals such as organic jojoba seed oil provide hydration and maintain moisture balance. Another key ingredient is oryzanol from rice bran oil for antioxidant protection because like all Aleph cosmetics they are formulated to benefit skin health. They also embody Aleph’s philosophy of minimal products with maximum impact.
Ahead of the liners official launch the Aleph team covertly tested the liners at New Zealand Fashion Week as official make-up partners for Taylor, Untouched World and Breast Cancer Cure shows, and Rory William Docherty at London Fashion Week.
Aleph founder Emma Peters (centre) with designer Rory William Docherty backstage at London Fashion Week in September 2025. Photography Alessandro di Rosa
“It was really great to be able to test drive things in real time,” says Aleph Beauty founder and make-up artist Emma Peters. “The shade that came out above everything else at New Zealand Fashion Week was Fig, which is our plum shade with cool tones. It ended up featuring so much because it’s so versatile and mimics the deep purply tones that we all have in our lips. It meant we could give a really natural looking lip but still moody and edgy at the same time. We would blend it on so gently and then fuzz it out with a smudge brush so it was barely there, but it was still giving a little bit of intensity to the lip line.”
For Taylor, Peters used Fig heavily for some of the eye looks. “Vicki [from Taylor] had some beautiful purply and green tones so it complemented that really well.”
Taylor at NZ Fashion Week 2025. Radiant skin as the canvas, with each model receiving unique details inspired by light and shadow – soft smudges, hyper realistic glowing skin, sculptural applications. Make-up Aleph Beauty. Hair Dani Pato. Photography Patty Lagera
Prior to launching the pencils Aleph’s multi-use product range could do a whole face, though since launching the pencils they’ve quickly become a staple for Peters. “I didn’t know how much I wanted and needed them until I got them,” she laughs.
They come in five versatile shades – Noir, Umber, Fig, Blush, and Nude – for eyes, cheeks and lips. “They’re technically called Eye / Lip Multi-Liner Pencils because I thought Eye / Lip / Cheek Multi-Liner Pencils was too much and Multi-Liner Pencils too generic,” says Peters.
London Fashion Week
For Rory William Docherty’s debut London Fashion Week of his spring/summer 2026 collection The Tides, Peters used the pencils as a contour. By buffing a brush against the side of the pencil, Peters used Noir (black), Umber (deep rich brown) and even Fig (to create a moody contour) to shape and sculpt on the models skin tones which ranged from dark and brown to fair.
It was also Aleph’s official London Fashion Week debut as official make-up partner with Docherty whose collection drew inspiration from the underwater landscapes of Aotearoa, New Zealand’s rugged coastlines with a palette that flowed between inky anemone beside coral pink, kelp green, sun-bleached sand and volcanic earth.
“Aleph’s signature skin finish is normally glowy and dewy. Rory wanted a completely matte texture to the skin,” says Peters.
Rory William Docherty ‘The Tides’ Spring Summer 2025 at London Fashion Week. Make-up Aleph Beauty
She achieved this using all the same Aleph products by using them in a slightly different way. “Normally we’d load the skin with emollients – juicy hydrating products. This time we took all the emollients out of the skin first by using a generic micellar water to prep the skin and get rid of any excess oils. We sent straight onto the skin with Concealer / Foundation and one small drop of the Serum / Primer mixed together and buffed that into the skin so that it was barely there but providing nice coverage and evenness to the skin.”
After sculpting in a with a little bit of contour using the Multi-Liner pencils she added a little neutral blush. “We primarily used Emanate [Cheek / Lip Tint] because it gives a bit of a pinched cheek, bitten lip look and we used the tiniest amount of that across the cheek, just to bring a little bit of colour back.”
To complete the look, Peters used Aleph Prep / Finish Powder, carefully pressed into the entire face to give it a nice mattified look.
For the eyes, she went very natural but still focussing on a little bit of definition using Aleph’s new Multi-Liner pencils. She used Hybrid Eye Pigment on the brows when needed. “We didn’t go too heavy on the brows at all. It was mainly bare brows for that look.”
On the lips, she mainly used a Multi-Liner Pencil in Fig with a bit of contouring on the lips with Noir on the darkest skin tones.
“Honestly we didn’t have to do any touch ups in the line-up. Everyone was done and their skin was flawless,” says Peters.
Rory William Docherty ‘The Tides’ Spring Summer 2025 at London Fashion Week. Make-up Aleph Beauty
Other ways to use pencils on the eyes
For a long wear look the Multi-Liner Pencils are great used on the eyes layered with Prep Finish Powder. First apply the powder as a primer, then sculpt the pencils over the top – along the lash line and up into the crease, then blend to the edges with a smudger brush, and it will set in place for the day.
Another way is to use a Nude powder so that eyes are more emollient says Peters. “Then it gives you a creamier finish to your application. Literally just blend [the Multi-Liner Pencil] with your fingers and powder on top.”
Lip tips
Key ingredient plant-based silica gives the pencils a semi-matte texture. Colour in the whole of your lips for a semi-matte look or layer with Cheek / Lip Tint mixed with Mixing / Treatment Balm or Gloss for some shine.
You can literally whip out one pencil and apply it everywhere and you’ve got a nice monochromatic look.
Planet-friendly formula
The pencils are made in Italy and crafted from natural, organic, and vegan ingredients, free from microplastics, silicones and synthetic fragrances. And formulas dermatologically tested.
Encased in a wooden barrel with a recyclable aluminium cap, the pencil is 100 per cent plastic-free and part of Aleph’s recycling programme, supporting responsible beauty waste practices across NZ, AU, US, and Canada.
Colour guide lowdown
Noir is a quintessential deep black, delivering bold, deep definition for the eyes, and doubles beautifully as a smudgy base for smoky looks. Clean, classic, and endlessly versatile.
Umber is a deep neutral brown with a hint of warmth. Perfect for a softly defined eye or rich, deep retro lip. Umber brings understated depth that suits a wide range of skin tones. Softly sultry, effortlessly wearable.
Fig is a rich plum that brings soft definition and depth, subtly mimicking the natural undertone of the delicate vein line around the eyes, making it especially flattering for all eye colours, particularly green, hazel and blue. This shade enhances the lash line with a lived-in elegance, or works beautifully as a sculpting lip contour on deeper skin tones.
Blush is a warm dusty rose designed for natural lip shaping, soft definition around the eyes or a wash of colour across the cheeks. Blush creates that your-lips-but-better effect, with just enough colour to lift and enhance.
Nude is a soft peach-beige neutral that brings quiet structure to the lips. Nude is perfect for contouring or subtly refining the lip line, eye line or cheek, blending seamlessly into the skin to enhance without overtaking. Create a polished, barely-there finish that layers beautifully with any lip colour.
The Multi-Use Liner Pencils come in five versatile shades – Noir, Umber, Fig, Blush, and Nude.
New Zealand Fashion Week
Using the pencils at New Zealand Fashion Week ahead of the launch was invaluable for the Aleph team as they experimented with the different uses and applications while developing the looks with designers they partnered with.
For the Breast Cancer Cure show, the team used a little bit of Umber Pencil “to amplify the lashes”. The look was dewy skin, using Smoothing Skin Tint as a base with Concealer / Foundation over the top, and a wash of Meteorite Hybrid Eye Pigment (warm brown) over the eyelid.
For eco brand Untouched World Aleph stuck with its trademark dewy skin, again using Smoothing Skin Tint as a base to provide “juiciness to the skin” before applying Concealer / Foundation and “a wash of Emanate Cheek / Lip Tint on the lips”.
For Untouched World Aleph stuck with its trademark dewy skin. Photograhy Luke Foley Martin
For Taylor, Peters leaned into glowy skin which was the basis of the look, mixing a high amount of Radiance Moon Balm into the Concealer / Foundation to provide an ethereal glow. Pencils in colours Fig and Noir featured heavily, as well as Nude for one of the looks which the Aleph team used on the cheeks as well as eyes and lips.
Peters also created a bespoke white tint for the eyelids and it’s not the first time she’s created a bespoke product for Fashion Week. In 2024 she created a particular red lip shade for Kate Sylvester which led to a limited edition release of Gloria, now part of the core range.
“I’ll take my cue from the designer first, get the feel of what they want and any must haves like a particular shade, which in Kate’s case was a particular shade of red,” says Peters. “I take their lead but also figure out, ‘do we need to create something to go along with this and what does that look like? And is this just for the moment or could this be turned into a commercial product?”
Aleph Beauty founder Emma Peters backstage at Rory William Docherty’s show at London Fashion Week September 2025. Photography Alessandro di Rosa
She hopes that in the future Aleph will have more moments to create for shows and limited releases for the public.
Aleph’s recent partnership pop-up with Karen Walker at Walker’s Britomart store has also been a natural collab and spotlit not only the new pencils but also Ascend, Aleph’s coral shade Cheek / Lip Tint which not only works in beautifully with Walker’s current collection but is perfect for summer.
“Because it’s juicy and glowy,” says Peters. “It emulates how the skin looks when it’s hit by the setting sun or a beautiful sunrise.”
