Wing that Liner out!

Ever find yourself longingly looking at other girls who have seemingly perfected the art of The Winged Liner? Or seen one (or a dozen) of the gazillion videos floating around the internet where the Makeup Artist draws and fills in a winged liner like it was NO BIG DEAL, while you sit there thinking how are you even supposed to HOLD the brush to START the liner!?

Well,I have! Just as I am sure that you have too,since you're here.

So lets have a chat about it,just you,me and our hesitation of starting new things.

FIRST AND FOREMOST

If you have yet to prefect your eye liner,why do you think that is? My take is that its only your hesitation,your fear of messing up that holds you back. The First and most Important thing I would like to share with you is "Keep Trying". If you think you dont know what kind of liner will suit your eye shape then keep trying different shapes and angles until you FIND the one that does. If you think its not sharp or precise enough,than keep practicing until it is as neat as you want it to be. Just keep trying. All it needs is practice. Practice whenever you have free time on your hand or nobody's home. That way even if you mess up there is no one there to see except you! 

A FEW POINTERS

Now that we've gotten the most important thing out of the way,lets start with a few pointers to help you start practicing.

• Determine your Eye Shape

I think the most common eye shapes for us brown girls can be divided into three types. Upturned/almond, straight and downturned/droopy.

If you cant judge which category your eyes fall under by just looking,then try this out.You need something thin and straight like a thin brush handle,a mirror and your pretty eyes.

Hold the brush horizontally agaianst your eyes,aligned with the inner and outer corners of your eye.

As you can see in the picture,if I hold the handle across my eyes,the outer corner of my eye is slightly higher then the inner corner of my eye. Which means I have slightly UPTURNED eyes.

On the other hand,if the outer corner was completely aligned with the inner corner then the eye shape would have been STRAIGHT. While if the outer corner was lower than the inner corner then the eye shape would have been DOWNTURNED. Once you have determined your eye shape,it should help you decide what kind of shape you want to try for your liner.

• Start at the beginning,Not at the End

Almost all the video tutorials on the internet would have you believe that its easier to start at the end of the liner ie. The Wing. ITS NOT. Its actually more difficult and theres more room for error that way. So start at the beginning,by lining your lid. Draw a thin line along your lash line, add the line for your wing at the end and then connect the two together. Always working in small strokes,fill and draw in the liner until it is smooth and exactly the thickness you want it to be.

• Tight line

Applying a black eye pencil under you upper lash line is called tight lining and it helps to add depth to the liner,make it more prominent and complete the whole look. Once you are done perfecting your eye liner,add mascara and tight line. For a little extra,add some highlighter to the inner corner of your eye and voila, you have a Complete look!

Advice for Beginners

Its always best to work in small strokes when applying your eye liner so that you can control the shape and thickness of your liner. And dont freak out or give up if something goes wrong! Most mistakes can be fixed with a Q-tip and some concealer.

So there you go! Start practicing now and learn to wing that liner out!

Let me know if this article helped you,or if you have any pointers/suggestions for my blog. Your feedback is important to me!