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How do you apply liquid eyeliner?
How do you apply liquid eyeliner? What is your current technique? Share!
When I’ve done it, I try to get a thin line across, and then if there are any wings/thicker areas, I’ll work on those. If you’re going for winged eyeliner, one of the keys is really playing and practicing with the right shape and angle (usually as if your lower lash line was extending beyond your mobile lid)!
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I don’t have a lot of lid area, so I usually only apply liquid eyeliner about halfway or a third in from the outer corners, as for the rest, I just tightline with a pencil liner. It lifts up and elongate my eyes while leaving me some visible lid space for eyeshadow.
…badly? 😛
More seriously, I tend to dab it along the roots of the lashes (on the ‘bevel’ of my eyelid? Where the lashes grow from) to get rid of the pasty eyelid line, then do the line across the lid (in whatever shape I choose) followed by any art or flicks, etc. For me they key is to have a felt tip – I can’t stand those long, skinny, unwieldy brushes!
I’m no expert because I gravitate to pencil or gel formula which is a lot easier and friendlier to my aging eyes. The winged bit, I find if I visualize a continuing line from my lower lash line out towards the tail end of my eyebrow, I get the right angle for me.
This is something I’ve always had problems with (except actually with my first liquid liner from a couple of years ago, which had a perfect brush and consistency), but lately I’ve been wearing it more often and got much better, I think. My tips are:
Practise on days when it’s not important that your makeup be perfect. Try to do it every day for a week or two and you’ll notice it gets much better.
Don’t try to make both eyes look exactly the same; don’t strive for perfection, stop when it looks all right.
Start from the outside and work your way in, so you have less product when you reach the inner corner. It’s hard to clean up a mess in the inner corner.
Do it with your eyes open, resist the temptation to pull your eyelid taut, because that changes the shape you’re going for.
If you want a very thin line, actually apply on your lashes – the area where your lashes meet your lids. It’s not a flat surface, but slightly curved under.
Wing first, then go on the lid.
I use the tape trick. It helps me make both sides mostly look the same. I envy the people who can effortlessly do the eyeliner flick.
I don’t. Too much of a hassle. Also I think the liquid liner kinda think make me look too severe. So rather go for less dramatic looks, softer ones to sweeten my features. But then Im not an expert.
When I use liquid liner it’s with a felt tip pen.
I use a thin, felt tip that I wipe to get rid of the excess. I start on the middle of the lash line and making a thin line from there to the outer part of the eye, then I work my way from where I started to the inner corner and the wing is the last thing I do. I find this works best to create a thin line on my hooded eyes.
Practice, practice, PRACTICE!
I begin by resting my elbow on the table, and apply in the middle of my eyelid, in short but precise and even strokes. I never wear liquid liner without making it a cateye, which can be tricky, but only in the beginning! To make the wings even from the start, place the tip of the liner in the lower corner of your eye and aim the wing in the direction of the end of your eyebrow tail, and err on the side of aiming high and not low and droopy. Then join the top part of the line (what you did on your eyelid) to the wing and fill in. Kat Von D has a great tutorial on this.
I draw a thin, sharp line across the lash line and build from there, thickening the outer portion and thinning it toward the inner eye. Because I have hooded eyes, I actually think it’s easier to draw the wing separate and then connect it to the rest of the eyeliner. I’ll do a basic shape and then connect it to the eye, then go back and gently extend the wing more naturally.
I think the tool you’re using is also important. Because I have limited hood space, I generally find a thin brush tip is the best for a winged look, while a felt tip works better if I just want to swipe across the lash line.
Cant seem to wear liquid liner as much as I would like to because it seems to fade even if I use primer. Liquid liner looks so sexy too,darn!
I never do a winged liner. I just don’t like the effect that it gives. I tightline my upper waterline in black. I use liquid eyeliner on the upper lashline, thin on the inner corner and significantly thicker on the outside edge. I then use what’s left on the brush to make small dots on the outside third on the lower lashline. Sometimes, if I’m so moved, I’ll put something festive on the lower waterline. Mascara, and BAM! I know it seems like the longest process in the world, but it makes my eyes look wide and sleepy at the same time. I love it.
I thought you didn’t wear eyeliner on your top lashes, Christine! Did you change that recently??
Hi Polly,
I don’t – it doesn’t mean that I haven’t ever applied it previously or don’t have a technique, if were to.
Definitely practice! I find its easiest to use an eyeliner with a brush-like tip rather than a sponge one. Kat Von D Tattoo liner is the BEST! It makes drawing the wing/flick so much easier and gives you much more control.
I start with inner eye corner and draw a thin line and then flick it at the outer corner.. give the appropriate thickness to wing and a final touch to finish up! 🙂
If I’m doing a wing, it’s usually a pretty big wing, so I’ll do the tape trick if I’m using a liner with a tiny, thin brush (I sometimes use MAC Liquid Last and that’s messy as heck) to get the angle just as I want it and then I’ll carefully do a thin line over the lid into the inner corner. Usually, I end up making the whole liner really thick and it gets lost in my hooded eyelids, but I kind of like the look.
If it’s a pen style liquid liner with a built-in brush (like Physicians Formula 2-in-1), I don’t really need the tape because it gives a lot of control on its own.