How to Wear Flawless Eyeliner

The secret to wearing eyeliner that stays put and doesn't smudge in all the wrong places is easy. Find the formula that works for you. Read on to discover the other little tricks you can play with that will make you look and feel like an eyeliner expert in no time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Eye makeup base or primer
• Pencil eyeliners
• Gel pencil eyeliners
• Gel eyeliners
• Powder eye shadows
• Liquid eyeliner
• Various makeup pigments
• Small angled brush
• Cotton swabs
• Clean water

1. Begin with clean skin. Dirt, grime, oils and leftover make-up from the day before all contribute to today's make-up fading rather quickly. Be cautious of any oil-based products. These might be good for the delicate skin on your eyelids, but detrimental to how long your eyeliner and the rest of your eye make-up lasts.

2. Apply an eye make-up base or primer to your lids. This helps your make-up stay put much longer than usual, or perhaps even the whole day .

3. Experiment with various eyeliner consistencies. You can choose from pencil, gel pencil, gel, powder, liquid and pigment formulas, for instance. The tools you use for application make a difference as well in how your finished product looks and holds throughout the day. Have a small angled brush and cotton swabs handy.

4. Wear the pencil and the gel pencil eyeliners by smudging them into your lash line. If the line is not perfect, don't fret--that's what the cotton swabs are for. Use these to smudge your eyeliner a little bit more, thus creating a softer line. You now have a mild smoky eye makeup effect. The choice is yours whether to keep your line defined or not. Gel pencils in particular are known to last longer and don't necessarily have to be smudged to fake a perfectly imperfect style. The regular pencils, on the other hand, can benefit from layering powder eyeshadow of the same color over the line. For this you use the fine tip of the angled brush.

5. Use the angled brush for precision when you apply the gel eyeliner. This can be worn either as a clean line or softly smudged as with the pencil and gel pencil eyeliners. If you find that gel easily messes up the make-up on your top lids due to oils that build up over the day, it may not be right for you or you could wear just a tiny amount on your lower lash line instead.

6. Line your upper lash line with liquid eyeliner for a look that is not only classic--it has literal staying power. Liquid eyeliner is especially ideal if your eyelids have no crease so that any eyeliner you wear other than liquid immediately disappears or smudges off. You can keep the line thin, or you can add some drama by extending the ends slightly into little wings. For this look, you can choose to leave your lower lash line bare. If you want a bit of balance between top and bottom lash lines, simply define lower lower lash line with an eyeliner that is softer in appearance.

7. Wet the tip of your angled brush with clean water. Shake off excess. Dip into a tiny amount of the pigment of your choice before lining your eyes. Adjust the amount of water and pigment accordingly to perfect the appearance of your eyeliner. Let dry before blinking unnecessarily. This step is also applicable to powder eye shadows that you want to wear in the more vivid form of eyeliner.

8. 
    
   Eyeliner can make a statement. Shown here: Winged liquid liner.

   Make sure that your under-eye area is smudge-free after makeup application. Blending your everyday foundation into this region and topping it with translucent powder is an excellent way to keep makeup from seeping into under-eye oils. Throughout the day, periodically and discreetly check your make-up so that you can clean off any eye makeup that has migrated underneath your eyes.

Tips & Warnings

• For a steadier hand and line, rest your elbow on a firm surface such as a table when you face your mirror to apply eyeliner.
• Keep eyeliner on lash line, not above it! The main point of using eyeliner is to enhance the appearance of lash thickness, not to seem as though you deliberately drew lines on your eyelids.
• Take into account your skin texture as you choose your favorite kind of eyeliner. For example, crepey skin might be challenging to manage with regular pencil eyeliners. You might have a better option by going with either gel pencil or liquid eyeliner, provided that the line stays thin to avoid emphasizing wrinkles.
• Try different colored eyeliners to see which one makes your eye color pop, or complements the rest of your makeup and your clothes. To stay on the safe side, error-proof choices are black, brown and gray.
• Sometimes, eyeliner with just a hint of mascara is good enough to define eyes but, for a more noticeable look, you can either wear tasteful eyeshadow along with it or even have on expertly applied fake eyelashes.
• Never line eyes in a moving vehicle. Doing so may cause injury or even lead to blindness.