How to apply eyeliner to make your eyes look bigger or stand out. Eyeliner can even change the shape. Some do wish to but never have experienced it as they have never worn eyeliner before.
But, it can be done with a little practice. The regular usage of the stuff will take the art of self grooming through makeup to the next level!
All you need is to follow your heart, some colour combinations and a few basic steps to conquer the art. Let’s start in a step wise manner to understand the whole process. There are few broad steps for a great eye makeup and they are :-
- Choosing a Liner
- Applying Liquid Liner
- Applying Pencil Liner
How to Apply Eyeliner : Choosing a Liner
Use a pencil liner for natural and smudged looks. Pencils are easy to apply as these work like any other pencil. Lightly apply the pencil for a subtle, natural look. Smudge pencil to create smoky or dramatic eyes. These do not run into eyes like liquid liners. You only need to sharpen the pencil, occasionally.
Liquid liner for smooth lines and a great look. Find liquid liner as a marker pen or with a brush. Draw lines with first stroke and fill in gaps with a second stroke of liner. Create a range from liquid liner, thin to natural to dramatic. Liquid marker pens are easy and handy to use. A vial with brush needs some practice to use.
Get a gel liner for dramatic lines. Gel liner with a small brush, has a thicker formula to make dramatic looks like cat eyes or wings. The brush is easy to use. An angled brush works best for applying the liner. Ensure to clean it to help prevent eye infections.
How to Apply Eyeliner : Applying Liquid Liner
Shake the liner. Ensuring liquid liner is well-mixed and shaken, unscrew the cap to pull the brush out. If there is too much liner on the liner, swipe it along the edge to remove the excess.
Start from the middle. Place the brush against upper lash line as close as possible to eyelashes. Apply eyeliner to upper lash line. Move towards the outer edge. Do it two times, first with pencil liner and then with liquid liner.
Fill the gaps. After you finish lining the outer corner, line the inner edge of upper lash line. Connect line up with the first line. Small stroked drawing will connect lines and fill as need be to make single line to appear. Use a cotton swab dipped in liquid oil or makeup remover to fix any mistakes.
Draw a winged look with lower lash line. Wings are optional but add even you need to intensify the look. Follow the curve of outer lash line upwards. Draw and fill in the wing as needed. Longer wing make a high drama look.
Edge of a hard card can create a straight wing line. Place the card against the outer edge of eyelid at an angle to trace the edge using liquid liner.
You can also use tape to create wings. Place some tape on your lower lash line so that it is at an angle. The tape should be right up against the outer edge of your lower lash line and extending up towards your eyebrow. Tape both sides before you apply the liner to ensure an even application. You can tilt the tape as much or as little as you want, but keep in mind that more tilt will look more dramatic. If you want a less dramatic look, reduce the amount of tilt in your tape.
How to Apply Eyeliner : Applying Pencil Liner
Sharpen liner pencil when needed. The sharpness of eyeliner pencil affect the eyeliner looks. Create thin precise line by sharpening pencil. For a rounded look, make a thick line through a dull pencil. Use pencil sharpener to shard the liner pencil. Gently rub the tip of the pencil to dull the pencil. Use a a tissue or piece of cloth.
Prepare liner pencil. To ensure liner goes on smoothly, must ensure a right temperature. A cooler pencil provides a softer and lighter application. A warm pencil will get you a darker and more pigmented look. Turn on hair dryer on its highest setting towards the eyeliner for a few seconds, to give it a gel-like consistency. Place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to cool down to prevent the pencil from crumbling.
Hold the outer corner of eyelid. Place fingers on the outer edge of upper lash line and pull outwards gently so that the eyelid becomes taut. Ensure to create a straight upper lash line. Raise eyebrows so that eyelid does not block lash line. Put elbow on counter top to keep hand steady.
Start at the inner corner. Begin lining the inner corner of eyelid and move towards the outer edge of eyelid. Go slow and use short strokes. To make eyes look bigger, apply a lighter color to the inner corner of upper lash line. Use an angled brush to blend more than one color.
Consider tight lining for natural look. For a natural look, tight line the eyes. To tight line your eyes, only apply the eyeliner to the spaces between lashes on upper lid in order to accentuate eyes without creating a dramatic line.
Line lower lash line. Place a finger on the outer edge of lower lid and pull it taut. Apply liner with short strokes. Line bottom lash line for a dramatic look. Line the outer half of the lower lash line for a subtle look.
How to Apply Eyeliner : Applying Gel Liner
Apply liner to one side of the liner brush. Gel line comes in a small pot with no liner brush to apply it. Dip liner brush into the gel liner to touch the tip. Gel liner dries out quickly, so replace the lid quickly. Put it in a warm water to make it easier to use, in case the gel hardens inside the pot.
Start at your inner and outer corners. Apply the gel liner to inner lash line moving towards the center. Do not fill in and apply liner to outer lash line moving towards the outer edge. Apply the liner in an arch shape ensuring to see the liner when eyes are open.
Fill in the center. Fill in the gap along the center of lash line using soft small strokes for creating an even line along upper lash line. Ensure that the line is even. Get gel liner on brush if need be. Try to blend eye shadow along the edge of the liner for creating smoky or smudged effect.
How to Apply Eyeliner : Creating a Smoky Cat Eye Look
Create a base. Apply a neutral tone of eyeshadow to eyelids up to brows to begin and follow with a slightly darker color on lids and crease.
Add eyeshadow to the outer edges of your eyelids. Apply some medium brown eyeshadow to the outer edges of eyelids. To enhance outer eyelids, create a nice backdrop for cat eye eyeliner. Apply black eyeshadow to the inner edges of eyelids to create the smoky effect.
Highlight the center. To brighten the eyes, add a bit of light, shimmery eyeshadow to the centers of eyelids. Use light, shimmery color like champagne, cream, or white color and pat the eyeshadow onto the centers with a fluffy brush.
Line upper lash line. Start to line upper lash line with black eyeliner. Take the eyeliner and apply it to the outer and inner edges of upper eyelids and fill in the center. Evenly coated and no clumps of liner stuck on the brush will give a clean look.
Create wings. Extend eyeliner out of edge of eyelid and upwards. Follow the curve of lower lash line to create the bottom of wings and do some to gap filling.
Apply mascara and false lashes. Finish look with mascara and false lashes if you wish. Adding mascara help to define eyes and false lashes gives more dramatic look. Try curling lashes before applying mascara to get extra volume and definition.