Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a big fan of anything dramatic and theatrical. I think when the right outfit calls for it, nothing beats liquid eyeliners for creating a gorgeous eye look.  While many women are scared of liquid liners, I personally think it’s much easier to execute than blending pencils and shadows to create a smoky eye.  Also since an eye lined with liquid eyeliner doesn’t require a lot of other makeup (besides mascara of course!) it’s actually a lower maintenance look than you might expect.

Your first consideration is which style of liquid eyeliner to purchase. This is really a personal preference, and if you’ve never used a liquid version before you may want to try different kinds to discover your favorite. I find that I like to position my fingers very close to the applicator for more control. So a pen style component like Lorac’s Front of the Line is one of my favorites. This is ideal if you’re a newbie and worried you won’t be able to be as precise as you’d like. If you’re like me and hold your writing instrument close to the point, you will definitely find this works well for you. The only drawback is these tend to run out faster than other types of liquid eyeliners so if you’r egoing to be rocking winged eyes regularly you may want to go with a wand applicator.  MAC’s Liquid Eyeliner is a favorite of pros and beauty junkies and lasts forever. It’s also blacker than black so you can get a really defined look.  However, if you like the idea of a wand and know you’re going to want to wear liquid eyeliner in more than just the basic black, you should consider Too Faced’s  Liquif-Eye, which will change any eyeshadow into a liquid eyeliner instantly. Talk about multi-tasking!

All you need to achieve a perfect winged cats eye (as opposed to pulling an Amy Winehouse) is to follow these 3 easy steps…

1)    Apply powder to your eyes first  to absorb moisture. This will give your liner more staying power and will ensure a nice smooth application.

2)    If you’re right handed use the fingers on your left hand to pull your eyelid taut. This will make your eyelid skin nice and smooth and will allow for a very precise line.  Try to get the line as close to the lashline as possible so that you don’t end up with space between your lashes and the liner when you open your eyes.

3)    Apply the liner in one clean line from the inside of your eye to the outside. If your eyes are close set you may wish to start the line a little further out to give the illusion of wider set eyes. Remember to start with a think line, you can always make it thicker later. As you near the outer corner of your eye start angling the line upward.  Depending on the shape of your eye, you can angle more or less. The more you angle up the more dramatic your look when you open your eye.

It’s really as easy as 1, 2, 3 and you’ll be looking like Joan Holloway in no time.

Xoxo,

Miss T

Tags: liquid eyeliner

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 10:47 am and is filed under Makeup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.