Eyeliner Etiquette

Did you know that eyeliner wasn’t always used for beauty? Back in the times of Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, both men and women applied eyeliner to help protect their eyes from the Sun Gods and to defend against the “evil eye”.  All this time, I thought Queen Nefertiti was way ahead of the game impressing everyone with her infamous beauty and perfect winged eyeliner.

I don’t know about you, but eyeliner intimidates me.  Have you seen that video on YouTube where a woman perfectly applies eyeliner to one eye so she moves on to her next eye but it just doesn’t match so she goes back to the perfect eye to fix it?  In the end, she just removes her liner completely because she just can’t seem to make them match just right.  That’s me! 

Whether you’re a makeup pro who has the perfect hand-eye coordination to flawlessly apply a winged liner look or just a makeup junkie like me, here are some tips that have helped me perfect my application.

• Not all eyeliners are created equal.

There’s your eye pencil (mechanical or wood), liquid, and my all-time favorite: gel eyeliner!  Each one can help you achieve a different look.  Beauty For Real’s I-LINE in Chocolate Fix and Whiskey ($14, beautyforreal.com) make for a beautiful and feminine soft daytime look.  The creamy gel formula allows you to blend harsh lines or mistakes that you’re trying to hide.  Be careful though; you only have about 15-20 seconds to blend until the product sets! 

What are the benefits of gel liner, you ask?  It’s buildable, meaning if you mess up, it’s easier to fix your mistake.  It can be used for both smoky and defined looks since you can blend it or create a sharp line.

The best part about I-LINE?  It’s waterproof!  I’m guilty of putting on a little bit of makeup before I head to South Beach or to rooftop pool parties.  With waterproof eyeliner, I know when I see any pictures that my friends take I won’t have raccoon eyes! 

• Practice!  Practice! Practice!

Learning how to apply the perfect winged liner doesn’t happen overnight.  You’ve got to practice.  Everyone has different eye shapes so how you put on your liner will be different from your best friend.  Check out this tutorial

Just before you remove your makeup at the end of the day, why not grab your liner and attempt that sharp winged look?  You’re about to take off your makeup anyway!  If it’s not what you were going for, no one will ever see it and you can try again tomorrow. Then, when it's time for a special occasion, you’ll have all the confidence you need to get the right look. 

• Don’t overline your lower lash line. 

Unless you’re going for the punk rock Avril Lavigne look.  Putting on too much liner on your lower lash line can present the look of dark circles under your eyes, which is something we all want to avoid!  If you’ve already lined your top lid, try to keep your lower lash line on the more subtle side. Try a lighter color instead and line three quarters of your lash line from the outer corner to the inner. This helps chinky almond eyes (like mine!) look a tad bit bigger.  If you decide to keep the darker eyeliner, take a soft fluffy eyeshadow brush to smoothen the defined lines to help alleviate harsh strokes. 

• Try different colors. 

It’s festival season so don’t be afraid to venture out and try a blue, purple, or even gold!  If you haven’t already tried Beauty For Real’s 24 Karat I-LINE, you’re in for a shimmery surprise! Spend the day listening to your favorite band at Coachella as your eyes sparkle in the sunlight! Who knows, maybe you’ll bump into your own Prince Charming. Move over Cinderella, no lost glass slippers needed here!

If you’re not ready to dive in head first, go for a blue or purple, like Beauty For Real's In The Navy. They are subtle colors that look great on almost all eyeshades.  If you’re not too sure, take a look at the color wheel. Locate your eye color on the wheel and whatever color you see on the opposite side of the circle will look great on your eyes. Now, it gets a little tricky, because brown, the most common eye color, doesn't actually appear on the wheel. However, most shades of brown eyes have specks of gold in them, so we can go ahead and call that yellow for our purposes. If you look opposite of yellow, you get purple. So, why does this work the way it does? Well, when colors that are complementary of each other are used together they look more intense, for example, eyeliners in the orange and yellow shades will enhance blue eyes while purple and blue liners enrich brown eyes. Give it a try!

• Eye makeup removal. 

In Miami, waterproof makeup is our best friend.  Sometimes just using a cleanser doesn’t do it for removing all our makeup.  Coconut oil is a great natural product that will help you easily remove waterproof eye makeup.  Take a dime size amount in your palm and massage softly around your eyes and your face.  When you start to see your makeup melt, take a cotton round a gently wipe off.  Coconut oil is also great for rehydrating your skin!  Kill two birds with one stone!

With all these tips I think you're ready to take the throne next to history's very own King Tut, while batting your eyes with perfect winged liner to ward off any evil spirits.