A Guide To: Eyeliner

Hi Guys,

Eyeliner seems to be that beauty mystery, that seems to be nice to us some days and others not so much. Eyeliner struggles are real and they're a huge pain! So after eye shadow I thought the best instalment to follow would be on eye liners! If you want to have a look you can see all the other posts, from brows to primers, here.

There is what seems to be an almost never ending list of different products to try and the newest ones always seem to be the best. But really eyeliner is a very personal thing, everyones going to find something that works better for them. Hopefully this might introduce you to or explain the best ones for certain methods.

Gel Liner is my personal favourite, especially the Illamasqua Gel Liner. It's such a versatile product to have, from being used for flicks to buffing it out as a base for your smoky eye. Plus the Illamasqua one is actually the blackest one you can buy and is safe to use on the waterline. Gel liner on a whole though is slightly tricky to get to grips with at first, but I prefer to use it on a fine tipped brush to a slanted eyeliner brush, but whichever is the most comfortable for you. Unlike some other liners, you also have a bit of play time with a gel, but once its set it won't budge. 

The newest version of Gel liner available is in the form of a pen, made famous by the Benefit They're Real Liner, however I love the Maybelline Gel Pen. These work by housing the gel liner inside a wind up pen, to give you a precise amount to work with each time. Also due to the flexibility of the tip of the pen, you can really get into the lash line. These are a great way to try gel liner if you're looking for something a little easier and steadier to use. 

A more unknown style of liner is Liner Cake, which is basically just like an eyeshadow, that you can mix with a little bit of water or sealing gel, to create a liquid liner that you can use on any brush you prefer. Ben Nye Eyeliner Cake is a personal favourite of mine, due to the pigmentation of the liner once its been mixed. Cake Liners if mixed with water, do set quite quickly as the water evaporates, leaving you with the pigment from the liner. You can also just use a eye shadow of your choice to also do this, however the main difference is that Liner Cake is designed to be mixed with gel or water. As sometimes mixing an eyeshadow can create an annoying film over the product. This method also cant be used on the waterline.

Liquid Liner in a felt tip form is an extremely popular method, due to it being that little bit less messy than your typical liquid liner. They're also compact and great to travel with. The Eyeko Skinny Liquid Liner, is a classic felt tip liner. The felt tip is great to get a neat line as close to the lashes as possible and depending on the angle that you hold it at the thicker the liner. You cant use this on the waterline as this will sting a lot! Trust me I once foolishly tried it, big mistake! On the plus side they're the best for getting those precise points to your eye makeup look.

I love the idea behind this style of liner, its almost like a safe fork for your eyes, (which in hindsight doesn't sound very appealing...). The 3 Dot Liners that hit the market a few years ago now are perfect to add subtle definition to the lash line and are fantastic to add volume in such a natural way. The  Clarins 3 Dot Liner is the original of its kind and works wonders to the lash line. The applicator has three separate spaced tips, which are perfect to dot a long the lash line, as close to the lashes as possible. If you leave it as dots like that, it will give the illusion of fuller lashes. But at the same time you can also use the pen to dot out your liner and join it up, still with the same pen.

Pencil Liner and Kohl is a classic, its a fantastic one to use on the waterline as its quick and easy. But make sure you pick one that is safe for the waterline, as with all eyeliners that you can use for that. Pencil is also a very quick way to line your upper lashes and to run underneath the eye and smoke out a little bit. However unlike using a liner with a brush, you are unlikely to get a very precise line, it will often be quite thick too unless its sharpened really well. A popular pencil is the MAC Kohl Pencil range, Kohl is a fantastic one to use due to its creaminess and it doesn't tend to drag. Plus they are often really dark, hence the name.

Finally the trusty classic liquid liner, this is actually probably one of the hardest methods to apply. it does take a lot of practice as it is really quite runny. You have to make sure you don't have too much on the brush and always just build it up, its so much easier to add to your eye liner than take away. The Collection Liquid Liner is a great one to try, its budget friendly and has a great finely tipped applicator wand. Just like its compact felt tip sister, its another great one to get precise lines and varying lines. 

(Swatches: Left to Right - Maybelline, Ben Nye, Illamasqua, Eyeko, Clarins, Collection, MAC.)

If only eyeliner was a walk in the park, but there's an option out there for everyone, its just a lot of practice and trial and error! Let me know too what you'd like to see as the next instalment too!

Eloise x