Forget the eyes for a second. This week, alt TikTok has completely lost its mind over lips, and honestly, we get it. The look everyone's calling "witch lips" is a smoky, gradient pout that fades from a bruised black edge into a deep, wine red centre, like something out of a fairytale you weren't supposed to read as a child. It's soft where trad goth lips are sharp, moody where a classic red is confident, and it photographs beautifully in low, candlelit light. 🦇
The technique itself borrows from the ombré lip trend that's been floating around for years, but the witchy 2026 update swaps the usual soft pink fade for something considerably darker. Think less "your lips but better" and more "you've just finished a very dramatic incantation." Here's how to get the look with our vegan, cruelty free lip kit, step by step.
Step 1: Lay down your colour
Start with a full, opaque base across your whole lip. Our Eternal Lip Stain in Inferno is a deep berry red that's perfect for this, since it's buildable, long lasting and fades to a soft, sheer flush later in the night if you want the gradient to relax. Apply it generously, right out to your natural lip line.
If you'd rather work with a lipstick base, our Air Matte Liquid Lipstick in Til Death (a muted purple with a lavender grey undertone) also gives a beautifully moody starting point.
Step 2: Build the shadow
This is where the magic happens. Take our Air Matte Liquid Lipstick in Grave Digger, a deep grey shade, and dab it onto the outer corners of your lips only, working inward. Use a small flat brush or your fingertip to blend it into your base colour so there's no harsh line, just a soft, smudged shift from grey to red. This is the "bruised" gradient that makes the whole look feel witchy rather than just a normal ombré lip.
Go slowly here. It's much easier to add more shadow than to take it away, so build it up in thin layers until the fade looks right under your lighting.
Step 3: Sharpen the edges
Once your gradient is blended, use a liner to clean up your lip line and add definition. Our Eternal Lip Liner in Tainted, a gorgeous violet shade with a pink undertone, works well for tracing just inside your natural line to keep everything crisp. For a softer, rosier finish instead, reach for Eternal Lip Liner in Veil. Both are creamy, smudgeproof and were basically made for this kind of gradient work.
Step 4: Seal it with shine
The final touch is what takes this from "interesting lipstick" to full witch lips. Sweep our Holographic Glitter Lip Gloss in So Below, a black holographic gloss, lightly over the centre of your lips only. It catches the light with a wet, otherworldly shimmer without muddying the gradient underneath.
Feeling a little more mischievous than macabre? Swap the black gloss for our Multichrome Lip Gloss in Hex Potion instead. It's part of the Spellbound collection and shifts from a light golden green into teal, which gives the whole look a slightly more fae, less funeral edge.
A few tips before you summon your own version
Blend with a light hand and build slowly. Gradients live and die on their transitions, so it's worth taking an extra thirty seconds to soften any hard lines with a clean finger or brush. If you're pairing this with an eye look, keep things simple there, perhaps just a soft smudge of shadow or a thin liner, so the lips stay the main event. And if your gradient smudges a little over the course of the evening, don't panic. A slightly blurred witch lip is arguably more in the spirit of the trend than a perfectly crisp one.
As always, everything in this look is vegan and cruelty free, so you can go full incantation with a clear conscience. We'd love to see your version, tag us if you give it a go. 🖤