Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Top Line

 
I like to line the top line of my eyes. It's one of those vintage make-up obsessions I picked up and just couldn't let go of. Whether I lined my eyes with or without flicks, lined them thick or thin, I just couldn't help but notice how much more rounded it made my eyes look, how it added  the illusion of fake lashes, how it made me feel like like a glorious porcelain doll. Because I have never been able to do the flicks neatly before now I decided to try a few different types of eyeliner and write a post about which ones provided the best results.
 
I had previously tried liquid and kohl. While kohl eye-liner is easy to apply, it can smudge easily and I wasn't sure that I wanted to have smudged wings on the side of my eyes. Liquid eyeliner (in a small bottle with a short handle brush) was very touchy. If you slid it over your eye it would "skip" like a paint-brush on canvas. You could "stamp" it,  by pressing it down on it's side, but holding it in one section for two long resulted in thicker inky blotches in some sections that all needed to be joined some how.
 
The original plan was to get these eyeliners, list them, try them out, take a picture of me wearing each one after my four hour shift (to also test lasting power). The only problem with this was that while the pictures  did look OK on the small screen of the camera, they didn't look the best on the computer screen. I seems I still haven't learned how to keep still and like a shaky old lady I moved my  hands. So what I've got for you is some mental pictures, a few salvageable real pictures, a drawing and a whole lot of eyeliner analysis.
 
THE EYELINERS:
 
^ From top to bottom:
- BYS Black Magic Eyeliner
-Some random Kohl pencil that doesn't really have a brand name. Mainly just wanted to include this one in the picture so you could see what I normally use.
- Extra Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner Pen
-Avon Colour Trend Mini Retractable Liner
 
The Gel and Liquid Eyeliners were both purchased from Fashion Addict.
 
 

^Here are some swatches of the four different eyeliners on the back of my hand.
From Top to Bottom:
-Avon eyeliner
-Kohl pencil
-Liquid eyeliner
-Gel Eyeliner (using the brush that came with it)
 
Before I started wearing these out in public I had a bit of a play around with them and looked up a few different pictures for Inspiration. There are so many different ways you can do eyeliner! There are the icons like Twiggy and Audrey, as well as the modern old-fashioned girls like Zooey Deschanel and Lana Del Rey. I also had a bit of a read around on sites like The Beauty Department.
 
KOHL:
This is what I usually use. I make a thin line close to my eyelashes that doesn't go beyond my eye. It tends to smudge easily and fades during wear. It's very easy to apply.
 
AVON:
The Avon Pencil is a bit thicker than the kohl. It's more of a dark grey than a black, but it has some cute sparkles in it. Like the kohl it does smudge easily and becomes less noticeable after long wear.
 
GEL:
The brush I got with the gel eyeliner is an angled brush with thick black bristles. I found the brush a bit difficult to use (and a bit harsh on the skin near my eyes) so I decided to use one of my retractable lip-brushes instead. I don't know if it's just me, but (maybe it's a painter's thing) I found that a brush that came to a point allowed for a more controlled line. The gel eyeliner takes a little while to dry, so I found it more sensible to do that first, the rest of my eye-makeup afterwards. It does go on quite smoothly, but it's not quite black. You have to apply quite a bit to get it to look black, and then it does dry a bit lighter. It does last a fair while though. That picture up the very top of my post is what my eye looked like after a six hour shift.
 
LIQUID:
I'm not a huge fan of the smaller liquid eyeliners and somebody recommended the pen version to me, so I thought I'd give it a go. The line is easier to control, but I still found that it skipped over skin. You have to be very patient and hold skin taught to  get a smooth line. I do like the intense black you get, but I just can't get it right. I'm even more hopeless with my other eye. I don't think I'll be wearing that one in public ever, at least I've had more practice with it.
 
^ Here is one very thickly lined example of me with the liquid eyeliner. I actually drew over the top of gel eyeliner that I had applied earlier that day. The other eye was a total mess though.
 
^ Here's another fuzzy pic of me with gel eyeliner. I tend to go more outwards with the liner than I do upwards.
 
^More Gel eyeliner, this time without flicks at the side.
 
So as you can see, I'm pretty sold on the Gel Eyeliner. I've ordered two more colours (yeah I know COLOURS) and some more lip-brushes to use with them. It's pretty easy to apply (provided you have a good brush) and it lasts a while. I really like the definite line that you get without any skipping or bleeding in the line.
 
As far as eyeliner wings/flicks go, I'm still a little inexperienced. I'm still not really sure which shapes I prefer. I don't like pencil thin lines, but I'm definitely not interested in anything too Amy Winehouse either. Teamed with Mascara and some classy neutral eyeshadow (applied like they did it in the 50s and 60s with the darker colour in the crease) you can achieve a very elegant look.
 
HOW I APPLY IT:
I'm no expert, and there are a lot of guides out there that will contradict each other. Some state that you should look down at a compact mirror, some claim that you should use tape to get  that smooth angular line...
 
^ Here is a guide that I drew.
 
1. Closing my eye and raising my eyebrow (to keep skin taut), I look into a compact mirror (you get more of a close-up view with one of those) and draw a line (or little strokes that become a line) very close to my lack line.
 
2. I thicken that line by drawing just above it. If I want to create a flick I continue with the line past my lash line. For more of a dramatic look you can end on more of an angle.
 
If creating a flick:
3. starting at the end of my lash line I draw a line upwards to the end of the flick (created in step 2) left(or right depending on which eye you are lining) of the end of the flick to avoid losing the point at the end.
 
4. I fill in any spaces I want filled in.
 
For a dramatic look you can take the 3rd line (3rd step) further underneath the lower lash line.
 
TIPS:
-Use some concealer and pressed powder underneath the "Flick" to "save" your line. I got this tip from The Beauty Department.
-Use a Make-up remover with cotton pads and q-tips, rather than Make-up remover wipes. The wipes tend to dry out as you get further on through the packet, which means you have to press harder when wiping away cosmetics. Ouch!
-Give your eyes a break from eye-makeup at least one day a week. Make that all make-up. Your skin will thank you for it.
-Save mascara until the very end,  to avoid getting powder stuck to your lashes.
-Throw out any make-up products that are getting a little old. I tend  to keep eye-liner and eye-shadow for a long time (not sure what the guide-line is for that), and try not to use any mascara that's over 1-2 years old (though I think the official guide-line for mascara is 6 months).
 
Your, Favourite Blogger,
Natalie 

1 comment:

Diana said...

Great blog, so I'm a new follower=)