Liner Love – Part 1

Pencil? Crème? Liquid? How do you line? Eyeliner in all its fabulousness comes in many colors and forms, each with a different purpose and the utmost potential to enhance your finished look and make those eyes pop.

Many have an aversion to eyeliner thinking that lining the eyes results only in the likes of Cleopatra and Adam Lambert. While both are tremendous trendsetters in their own right, most would opt for a more understated look…which is totally do-able. The next three posts will highlight the benefits of each form; pencil, crème, and liquid, as well as, provide tips for application. Read on to find out which liner fits your look.

Eyeliner Pencils: The most common liner of all, eyeliner pencils offer the greatest selection of color. In addition to the traditional blacks and browns, eyeliner pencils can be found in pastels, bolds, metallics (I LOVE these), and for those days where you feel like channeling your inner – 80’s diva, there are pencils in colors infused with glitter (can you even deal?!) These vast color options give you the ability to liven up your look and play with colors that are a bit out of your comfort zone. Go ahead, pair a lavender liner with neutral pink shadow and see what ya think?! I’m confident you’ll fall in love with a color you would have never expected. I for one, tend to default to blacks, browns, sage greens, and bronze as my primary liner loves, but I experimented with a cerulean blue and forgive the pun, but it “blue” me away and now it’s one of my absolute favs.

Enough with the color. Moving on to techniques. Pencils are ideal for smudging out and smoky eyes. You know that dark, dreamy look where the lines are softer, but the effect is still super dramatic? That’s prime pencil usage ladies and just the reason for you to keep a slew of your favorite pencil colors in your make-up kit.

Before I go much further let me insert a quick tip: eyeliner pencils are a thousand times easier to use when they are sharpened. Remember back in elementary school when your #2 BIC pencil was newly sharpened, it left a much more defined line on the paper? Same idea. However (and this is new – you probably didn’t do this part in grade school), after you sharpen your eyeliner pencil, rub it once or twice over the side of your hand to dull the tip just a bit. This prevents the super fine tip from chipping or breaking during application. Additionally, it prevents you from getting lines of two different widths. If you apply the pencil directly after sharpening (without dulling the tip) you’ll notice that the beginning of your line is much thinner than the end of your line. So here’s a super quick remedy for you to stick in your bag of make-up tricks.

Okay so back to application. Pencils may be applied at the lash line on top of your eye, via the eyelid and/or just below the lash line underneath your eye. Some liner ladies opt for both. I find that lining both all the way across tends to make my eyes look smaller. However, on some – it’s totally fabulous. I altered my application method a bit by lining all the way across the bottom and just on the outer corner of my eyelid. Imagine just lining a quarter of the way into the eyelid. This gives me more definition, than just lining the bottom, but it also opens my eye, as opposed to making it look smaller. Another great trick is to have the lines from underneath the eye connect to the line (if any) from above the eye. You don’t have to fishtail it out too much, like you’re the leading lady on Broadway’s Cats, but if you just connect them at the very corner of your eye, it provides a great frame for the eye, as well.

On a rainy day (ugh like today in DC) when lounging poolside or dining al fresca just isn’t an option, take a moment to experiment with this and see what works best for your eyes. I often find that taking a self-shot (think teenagers on Facebook) picture of myself gives me a great opportunity to examine different looks. So set aside some “you” time, experiment with different lining colors and techniques, all while having a photo shoot simultaneously.

To achieve the oh-so-desirable smudged out and/or smoky eye look, the smudge/blending brush is key. These can be purchased at Sephora or MAC and most cosmetic counters. I’ve included a link to a smudge/blending brush below by Bare Escentuals.

Blending Brush

Once you have lined your eyes, simply take the brush and gently rub it over the liner. You will see that doing this will soften the harsh line, and sort of “smudges out” the liner, but overall it will increase the impact. Continue to smudge until the liner suits your desired look. Lastly, if you wanna kick the smudging up a notch to achieve a smoky eye (who doesn’t love a great smoky eye?!), simply dip your smudge brush into a potted powder eyeshadow, that corresponds with the color of your liner and use the smudging technique described above. Including the shadow will significantly enhance the drama of your look.

And it’s totally just that easy.