Today I will be talking about Eyeliner!
Eyeliner is a product that is used near the lash line to make your lashes appear, thicker, darker, and fuller. It is usually used to make the eyes appear bigger, rounder, and/or longer.
Do I need eyeliner?
Haha, nope! You don't have to use eyeliner if you don't want to. =) It's your preference! Some people like to make their eyes look bigger or give their eyes a more defined appearance.
Types of eyeliner
There are 3 main types of eyeliner: pencil, gel, and liquid. They all come in a variety of colors and can be matt or shimmery. You can also use eyeshadows to apply eyeliner!
In general pencil is the easiest to apply and liquid is the hardest. I wouldn't know, because I started off w/ liquid eyeliner =P.
However liquid and gel liners tend to last longer than pencil or powder/eyeshadow liners.
Pencil and eyeshadow give the most natural look while gel and liquid give a stronger, harder, and more defined look.
How to apply different types of eyeliners
Generally, you want to draw your eyeliner in a way that it is thicker on the outer corners of the eyes and thinner on the inner corners. This gives a more flirty and enlarging effect. You can also wing out your eyeliner to make it more flirty as well. Winging out the eyeliner is also great for older people because it helps lift and brighten the eyes.
If you want something more natural, stick with a thin liner that doesn't change much in thickness and stop where your eyelashes stop.
Pencil eyeliners are of course applied with the pencil. If you are comfortable with this, you can draw long strokes however if you are new, shorter smaller strokes work just as well. Just stay in a uniform direction and take your time =) You will learn fast! I have seen people melt their pencil eyeliners with a blow dryer and use an eyeliner brush to apply the pencil liner in a more gel form.
Gel liners are applied with eyeliner brushes or a Q-tip. When you use an eyeliner brush with a gel, it doesn't matter what kind of brush it is, just make sure to use small gentle strokes and gradually connect them together. Some people like to use a Q-tip for the lower lash line because it gives a softer look. Many people also set their gel liner with an eyeshadow powder of the same color. This helps it last longer and prevent smudging.
Liquid liner brushes are applied w/ the applicators they come with. It is either a brush or felt/sponge tip. It is better to draw longer strokes because short strokes can build up layers of liner which could cause unevenness.
Eyeliner brushes
There are soo many kinds of eyeliner brushes, and you can use whatever kind you want, some are better for other purposes than others
-Push-liner/flat brush, good for push-lining powders, thin flatness can easily wing a liner out
-winged/angled liner brush, good for gel liners, and the wing can easily give a winged look
-small flat "V" pointed liner brush, good for gel liners
-angle liner brush, good for liquid or gel liners
-round pointed liner brush, good for gel liners, but you can use it to smudge gel and powders too
Lining the waterline(s)
You can choose to line your water line or tight-line which is lining the upper water line with pencil or certain gel eyeliners. This is done by many people because the dark liners will contrast with the whites of the eyes, making the eyes stand out more and appear larger and brighter. However, depending on your eyeshape, if you line your entire eye with a dark liner like black or dark brown, it can close off the eye and make it appear smaller (like me =/ )
Tight-lining alone gives one of the most natural liner looks. It involves lining the upper water line of your eyes and filling in the gaps in between your eyelashes. Bubzbeauty has a good tutorial on tight-lining: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp02tRP2XaI
You can also use an eyeshadow with a push-liner brush to fill in the gaps between the lashes and this also gives a very sweet and natural look. Gossmakeupartist has an excellent tutorial for push-lining: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IunkBu5L7z0
If you do not wish to apply eyeliner all around the eye but you want more than just the upper lash line, you can bring in eyeliner on the outer corner of the eye into the lower lashline and stop when it hits your iris. I really like to do this a lot because it makes my eyes look bigger but is not as noticeable as applying all around the eye. Cl2425 has a good tutorial for this method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_S2LIS5zSA
Personally, I don't like rimming the entire eye, not only because it makes my eyes appear smaller, but it is also too obvious. People naturally have a darker lashline on top, not on the bottom, so it is very easy to see and point out. It's the first thing I notice when I talk to a person, lol XP.
Also, there are many techniques for eyelining the top lashline/lid. If you have large double eyelids/large folds above your eyes, you can do whatever you want. However, it is more difficult for people with different folds or no folds to put on eyeliner that works for their eyelid. Therefore, I will be explaining more techniques for lining those kinds of eyes.
Eyeliner techniques for hooded eyes and monolids
hooded eyes:
If you have hooded eyes and monolids, stick with tight-lining and push-lining. This gives a very beautiful and natural effect. You don't need a lot of makeup to be beautiful =)
The reason why I am saying this, is for hooded eyes, the lid folds over your eyelid crease so if you applied eyeliner how others do, you and others wouldn't be able to see it. And you can have a stick residue when you close your eyes when the liner touches the folded skin.
The reason why I'm saying this for monolids is that to see a layer of eyeliner, you would need to put a thick layer of eyeliner on your eyes for you and others to see it. This is a problem because when you close your eyes, there is a ton of black eyeliner on your lids and that looks very unattractive.
Eyeliner techniques for small double lids
Small double eyeslids are crease that are largest at the outer corner of the eye and then quickly taper to a curved triangle at the inner corners of the eyes. So, I have small double eyelids. And like many others with the same fate, we realize that if we put too much eyeliner on the lid, it will make crease disappear and your eyes will appear smaller.
There are some ways to line the eyes for small double lids so that the crease line doesn't disappear.
-you can tight-line or push-line your eye
-you can put a very thin layer of eyeliner (like the picture above)
-you can put eyeliner on the outer corner of the eyes and then draw the liner in until it is halfway into the iris and stop there (which is what i do)
Tips and Tricks!
-when you are lining your eyes, try to get as close to the lashes as possible, if you are too high above your lashline you (and other people) can see a gap of skin in between the eyeliner and your lashline which looks weird
-if you are using any eyeliner, get a waterproof one, they last much longer and are less likely to smudge and smear
-if you like pencil lines, try to find one that does not tug on your eyelid so much so it won't irritate your skin and you won't get premature wrinkles!
-you can use a Q-tip to help you with your waterlines (such as lifting or lowering skin), it is a lot more gentle than your fingers and more clean
-if you want your pencil, powder or gel eyeliner to look more smokey and natural, you can smudge it out with a Q-tip or a smudge brush
-if you ever mess up on your eyeliner, don't panic! Take a bit moisturizer on your finger and press and roll a Q-tip into the moisturizer until it is full absorbed. Then gently wipe off the eyeliner. You don't want to use a dry Q-tip for this because it can tug on your skin, irritating it and creating premature wrinkles, and a dry Q-tip is more likely to smear your eyeliner on your skin.
And just because I'm talking about different kinds of eyes, does not mean that I think that big eyes are the best or any sort of annoying crap like that. Big eyes is a style and a makeup style, and so are elongated eyes which I like to do on myself. Asian eyes, white eyes, etc. doesn't matter okay, eyes are wonderful and they are wonderful canvases for a variety of makeup styles.You do whatever you want, I do whatever I want! =P So, be happy!
So, I hope you liked this post. It was very long and I probably didn't cover as much as I wanted to. But I hope these will help beginners who are just learning about eyeliner and give them a basic background to read upon.
Thank you for reading and I hoped this helped you.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to write in the comment box below! =)
bye byee!
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