Eyeliner Help..

Apple Diva asked for some eyeliner help. Yummy411 has got some basic tips for you!

Start out with a sharpened pencil. We have options of eye pencils/kohls (pencils), technakohl liners (various names for various companies; pencils that don't need to be sharpened), liquid liners, and gel based liners. Pencils are easiest to use, so we'll start with that. My picks: MAC eye kohl liner in Teddy or Prunella, N.Y.C. liner in Black, or Lancome's Design Color Duo Pencil in Posh Purple. Keep your pencil as close to the lash line as possible, starting from inner corner to outer corner. This isn't law, but whatever works for you.


It should look like this:


Did your line turn out like this instead?:


Don't worry.. it takes practice, but until you get a good straight line, you can take a smugde stick, cotton swab or the shadow applicator that comes with a lot of drugstore cosmetics and go over the line, like this:


Here's what both look like:
(My left eye is straight pencil and my right is smudged out.)


Putting on liner seals and neatens eyeshadow. Using different colors accentuates the eyes and compliments shadow colors. The smudged out liner, is part of the steps to creating smokey eyes!

Now, we are going to line the bottom of the eye. This time with a gel based liner. My choice MAC Fluidline Liner. To do this, I'm using my trusty, flat brush on my two sided eyebrow brush.
Don't laugh at the busted comb side. This is my friend and I use it frequently! Hush! I'm getting my nails done soon too! lol



I dip the brush in the potted color and go from inside to outside corner, more or less brushing my bottom hairline. A lot of people get a clean, sleek look by putting the color on the waterline (the part of the lower lid that is wet) but that's pretty serious and should only be done with a lot of practice. I won't do it here, but this fluidline is a good coating on the waterline. You'll find that a lot of liners just rub off because it's wet there. There are other brushes that can give an even better effect like MAC's #209 brush*, but we can upgrade when we get really good at this. (*sigh* I have to add brush #209 to my wish list. My double sided eyebrow brush is better for the upper lid than the lower lid.)
Here's what we have:




To clean up down there, I used my smudge stick. Even in my efforts not to hit my waterline, I still managed to get more closer to it on my left eye than the right. Tip: Dip brush light handedly and then add as needed. Also, when I'm doing my makeup, I use liner before mascara as to not mess up my lash work =)




Practice, practice, practice! Some people prefer just to line the lower lid, some only line the upper lid (like me.) I usually do all around when going out for a more sultry look. Have fun! Hope this helped and let me know what you used and what you did..... =)

*Please don't think that I feel MAC is be all, end all. I just love their products and can think /refer to their products a little easier. There are all different products for your needs in different places.