Eyeliner Series Day 3: Liquid Liner and Cat Eyes

This is probably my favorite type of eyeliner to use, and my least favorite to apply. It’s extremely important to maintain and steady hand and, be conscious of everything you’re body is doing. You don’t know how many times I’ve been almost done applying my liquid liner just to have an unexpected sneeze jostle my hand and ruin everything. At the same time though, liquid liner is amazing when you want any sort of precision and/or dramatic flare. Because the brushes are so thin, you can go from a thin, barely noticeable line to something that draws attention like wings or a cat eye. Really, liquid liner is definitely a go to for a hot night out, along with crème liner (which will be the subject of tomorrow’s post).

Since I’ve already talked about the most important pros and cons of liquid liner in my intro, I’m going to arrange this post a little differently. Instead of prattling on for another couple of paragraphs, I’m going to post pictures of some of my favorite uses of liquid liner and then give a basic summary of how to apply it.

*I apologize for the strange formatting in the pics, I couldn't get them to upload any better*

How to apply liquid liner:

The first thing to do when applying liquid eyeliner is steady the application hand. This can be done on a table or some other surface if you’re sitting down. If you apply it standing up, like I usually do, you can steady it against whatever flat, vertical surface you’re facing (I usually use the wall or my full length mirror) or with your other hand (I find this rather difficult). At this point, there are a lot of different methods for actually putting on the liner. 

There’s the dash method where you make dashes/dots along your lid to serve as a map for your line. Then you just go back over and connect the dots in a continuous line. Pretty simple. 

OR

There’s the method I use, which is just applying the liner in 2 sections. First, I start in the middle of my eyelid and draw a relatively thin line (in the shape I want) to the outer corner of my eyelid. Then, I move to the inner corner of my eye and draw a line from there to the center of my eyelid, meeting the first line, and carry it through to the end. I like using this method because my inner corners are always a problem spot when applying eyeliner- I find that the line can easily get too thick or too thin and then it throws off the way the rest of my eye looks. When I do it this way, I can establish the curve I want and then use my inner corner liner to dictate the thickness of the rest of the liner. That way, I can control the balance in thicknesses (I’m really particular about this, if you couldn’t tell).

If you’re new to liquid liner, I’d recommend starting off with the dot-line method and, once you’re comfortable making lines with a brush, try out my method or devise your own. I know some people who apply liquid liner in one smooth line and they like the way it looks. There are a lot of ways to do it, just make sure you do something you’re comfortable with. A word of warning: thicker lines tend to look more dramatic so, if you mess up and you’re going for a more subtle look, don’t just keep painting more liner on until you get the curve you want. The most important things liquid liner teaches you are patience, balance, how to match your makeup with the event you want it for, and that,  it can be easier to start fresh rather than trying to cover up your mistakes.

Well, that's all for this post, really. Hope it taught something, or, at the very least, entertained you!

Besos,

Twisted

Questions of the day:

Do you typically find liquid liner to be worth the hassle? How do you apply your liquid liner? Do you have a favorite type of liquid liner applicator (ex: brush vs felt tip)?