12 Pro Eyeliner Tricks to Upgrade Your Look
For many of us, eyeliner is a makeup essential we just feel a bit naked without. Eyeliner can really make your eyes pop, drawing attention to the liveliest and most interesting part of the face. Even on days when you’re short on time, a slick of eyeliner can make you look like you’ve made an effort. But sometimes eyeliner can be a tricky thing to get right. Here are 12 pro tips to help you nail it every time and upgrade your look in the process.
1. Use a guide
We’re all searching for the perfect winged eyeliner, but not many of us have mastered doing it freehand. Don’t be afraid to hack it and use tape to guide you. Gently place a small piece of Stay Put gentle skin tape next to the eye where you want your eyeliner wing to go and use it as a guide.
2. Spoon it
If you don’t have our Stay Put tape on hand, use a spoon handle and hold it at the outer corner of your eye. Follow along the line of the spoon handle with a straight line. Use the rounded edge of the spoon to create a curvy wing tip.
3. Get the angle right
To make sure winged eyeliner is at the right angle, take your eyeliner pencil and place one end at the side of your nose and the other end at the end of the eyebrow. That line is the general direction your winged eyeliner should be heading in.
4. Tightline it
Also known as invisible eyeliner, this is a technique guaranteed to instantly upgrade your look and it’s simple to do. Tightlining is lining the upper waterline to give the illusion of thicker, fuller lashes. Gently hold the upper eyelid up and carefully line the upper waterline. Not everyone feels comfortable doing this, but if you do, it will instantly make your eyes pop while looking like you haven’t got any eyeliner on at all.
5. Apply eyeshadow first
Makeup artists use powder eyeshadow first before applying eyeliner. It provides a better, smoother surface for eyeliner to glide on to and acts as a guide for eyeliner. It also helps eyeliner to stay in place for longer.
6. Join the dashes
A lot of people try to apply eyeliner in one single, continuous sweep. This is tricky, even for the pros. To make it more manageable, do a series of three small strokes across the lash line up to where you want the wing to go and then go back and join them together.
7. Connect the dots
Another pro tip for mastering that tricky winged liner is to use a dot. Line your top lash line but stop at the end of the eyelid. Then, draw a dot where you want the winged flick to end. Connect the liner to the dot. Breaking it down like this makes it so much less daunting to tackle.
8. Stop the shakes
Getting the perfect eyeliner is tricky if your hand is shaking or unsteady. Clench your toes to instantly stop those shakes. It's strange, but it really does work.
9. Go nude
Black is easily the most used and most popular eyeliner shade, but pro makeup artists swear by a slick of nude or white eyeliner on the bottom waterline to instantly make your eyes look bigger, brighter and fresher. Using nude or white eyeliner will make the whites of your eyes appear extended and therefore wider. It’s a secret makeup artists have been using for years. While we’re talking color, brown eyeliner, such as Socal Beauty’s Brown Designer Eyeliner, is a softer alternative to black. It is often used to define more mature eyes or to create a slightly less intense daytime look.
10. Use the right liner
Think about what look you want to create when reaching into your makeup bag. A liquid eyeliner pen with a thin tip, such as this Black Designer Eyeliner, will give you a more precise and defined finish. For a softer, more smudged look opt, for an eyeliner pencil in kohl or a creamier finish. These will smudge easier for a more undone, smoky eye effect.
11. Keep help on standby
Nobody gets it right all the time. Keep a good stash of pointed cotton swabs on hand or a thin, unused sponge applicator soaked in micellar water to correct small slip-ups quickly and easily.
12. Practice makes perfect
Applying eyeliner is a real skill. Practice to find out which tips, tricks and hacks work best for you.