Prescience is a beautiful thing. We are all neophiles now, and we crave what's new and what's next. In the world of make-up, that means eyeliner ¨C dramatic swathes of liquid liner drawn like a hieroglyph across the lid.

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, it was a signature look. You might see it in an Erwin Blumenfeld or Louise Dahl-Wolfe photograph, drawn on some long-necked swan with cigarette holder in hand. Today it springs from pop¡¯s hip chicks: Amy Winehouse's thick slashes of black winging out from her eyes across the geography of her thin face, and Lily Allen's penchant for multicoloured flicks of liquid eyeliner on the upper lid. It is a trend that is set to continue well into the new fashion season. Theatrical eyeliner was a motif used on the autumn catwalks by Pat McGrath at Prada, Louis Vuitton and Alexander McQueen. The make-up artist Ashley Ward is another enthusiast. "I'm feeling very excited about the return of the cat's eye," she says. ¡°It's of my era, the late 1970s and 1980s, and I feel it's part of a movement where people are going to be more expressive and more individual again.¡±

The brands to check for liquid eyeliner include Max Factor, Chanel, Guerlain and Revlon. Experiment, and don¡¯t worry if you make a mistake ¨C just pick up the pen and graffiti your face.