Well, I meant to post a picture from when my mom did my makeup for the Halloween party, but I left my camera at her house. It won’t really work for everyday use anyway (The house was dark, and my mom went for really dramatic.) Actually my mom tends to make it really dark all the time, while I prefer less of a madeup look.
Definitely going to try that.
Part of why I’m having such a hard time is I can’t see. Once I take off my glasses, I have to get so close the mirror the darn pencil keeps hitting the wall. So I never even had the option of doing it perpendicularly - nothing is in focus that far away.
I may just stick with only lining the bottom lid (and yeah, I’m not doing the whole thing - just to where the lashes stop in the middle).
Are all Maybelline eyeliners rather hard? I’ve got the twist-up kind, but it sure doesn’t want to actually go on my skin. Well, it will on my hand, but not my face.
I’m a dark complexioned girl so I pretty much just use black (tried brown once, just didn’t show up), but are there any other colors that are good for me to try out besides just black? Like purple maybe?
Oh oh then try this Magic Focusmirror. Ignore how terribly cheesy the web site is, these mirrors are amazing. Last year I bought like 7 to give away as gifts. I didn’t realize that most magnifying mirrors are not as magnifying as these are. Everyone I gave one too has raved.
What color are your eyes? For maximum “pop”, blue eyed people should stick to brown, green eyed people plum and those lucky brown eyes can wear just about anything, but look particularly ravishing in blue.
I second this stuff for even the most N00bish make up artist. Seriously, it’s amazing and I’ve yet to see someone screw it up. I know it’s a bit pricey, but it lasts forever, applies perfectly, and is generally amazing.
I put my Fluidline on with this, but you can find something small and angled even in a paint store- no need to buy Mac brushes (I do because I have a Pro Card, meaning I get a 40% discount-- making the price more reasonable).
Cake eyeliner still exists. I use the Laura Mercier (expensive but worth it) with a Sephora flat asymetric edged brush (will look up number when I get home).
In terms of regular pencil eyeliner, I have a MAC kohl eyeliner (in Smolder). To the OP: you’re getting the drag and tug because you’re likely using a cheaper drugstore brand. Maybelline isn’t bad (they’re my drugstore eye makeup brand of choice) but if you decide you like eyeliner looks, then it’s worth splurging for the MAC or other high end brand varieties as the lead is softer and will glide over your eyelid nicely.
I totally wear a lot of eyeliner but I’m dark complexioned and dark eyed and it doesn’t come off as crazy. Lots of eyeliner is a pretty standard look for MENA/South Asian girls anyway.
I find the only way I can wear liquid liner is to line my eyes lightly with the cake eyeliner with the brush, and then trace on top with my liquid liner. There’s no way possible to frock up the cake liner, so I get a smooth line I can just trace over. I love the way it looks.
Oh, and maybe this is just because this chemical formula works for my eyelashes-but I have splurged on Shu Uemura and Shisheido mascaras and I just found THE most amazing mascara out of desperation (I was in SF, my sister stole my shisheido on my last trip back east and I was next to the store)…Victoria’s Secret Very Sexy Mascara. This stuff is unbelieavable non-clumping goodness.
An old roommate of mine was a deep-brown sort of black, and she always used a dark blue eyeliner (MAC’s Inky) that looked amazing to me. She also used dark purple (MAC’s powerplum?) and gold that I liked. That said, she also had a fro-hawk and multiple piercings, so I’m not sure if her look will be compatible with what you’re going for. I would maybe go to Sephora or MAC store where they have lots of samples and removing products to try different colors and experiment away!
The only make up i generally wear is eyeliner. I do a simple thin line on both my upper and lower lids, and have just started to do a little flick on the outside of the eye.
I use Avon’s roll up aubergine eye liner-i prefer aubergine colours to brown or black. Its a good option if you’re not keen on black or brown.
If you can’t get hold of Avon, Maybelline sell good roll up eyeliners. Like others have said though definitely go for roll ups over sharpening pencils.
Its definitely easier to look down into a hand held mirror and rest your elbow on a table for a less wobbly line. I also slightly close my eye when I do the line on my upper lid.
Keep practising and it will be second nature before long!
I also vote for the old-fashioned cake eyeliner. It’s far easier to control.
Also, I’m a pale blonde, and even a solid brown line looks too heavy on me. With cake eyeliner, you can use the back of your hand as a palette, and mix enough water into your charged brush that the color becomes translucent. I do this, and I get a faded line that doesn’t make me look like a raccoon. Before it dries, you can further smudge this watery line with a q-tip to tone down its intensity even more.
Unrelated makeup tip: find yourself some old-fashioned cake mascara online, and use it to color your eyebrows. Get the brush slightly charged with color, and blot most of it off onto a kleenex. Then gently brush just a tad through your eyebrow hairs, and it will look completely natural, unlike eyebrown pencil. This has given my colorless blond eyebrows some actual substance and me some facial expression.
I like to use a small, stiff brush (like the one you’d use for lipstick application or eyebrow powder) and eyeshadow to line my eyes instead of eyeliner. I figure that way if I poke myself in the eye I’ll do less damage. I’m just that graceful. Plus, the slightly smudgy look is better on me than the precise look of a pencil or liquid liner and you don’t have to buy a separate item. You also know that it’ll go with your lids.
If you’re ever interested in trying that method, just dampen the brush, lightly pinch it between both fingers, draw an X in the shadow you want to use with the pinched tip (I usually use the darkest shade in a shadow trio or double), then lightly line. I generally use my finger to pull my bottom lid taut so the skin doesn’t move at all and lightly rest a fingertip on my eyelashes to hold my eye closed when doing the top.
I learned a wonderful trick in middle school when I was still using pencil eyeliner (don’t do this if this isn’t the “sharpen it like a real pencil” eyeliner-- you don’t want burned plastic!): take a lighter and heat up the colored part of the pencil for a second or two. Test it first on the inside of your wrist to make sure you won’t hurt yourself, then try lining. It softens up the wax in the pigmented part so that you don’t have as much trouble applying it.
I really like using purple shades, and I’ve got brown eyes with sometimes green, sometimes hazel undertones. Give it a try sometime; it’ll give you big puppy-like eyes with little to no effort.
Oh, as for the stiff angled brush, check out the painter’s brushes section in any arts and crafts store. Look for one that’s made of soft bristles, but is packed in a way that makes them stiffer; also, don’t get one that’s wider than the side-to-side measurement of your pinky. (If you’ve got big fingers like I do [size 9 ring finger], measure it off your pinky nail.) Loew Cornell makes really good painter’s brushes that are still cheaper than professional makeup brushes at most makeup counters and come in the same shapes.
If you’re up for it, by the way, you can always go to the makeup people at the department stores and you DO NOT HAVE TO FEEL OBLIGATED TO BUY ANYTHING. Do know what you’re getting into - Clinique for timeless everyday or job interview stuff, MAC for women of color or going out mad clubbing, etc. In my experience, those ladies really know their stuff, although their “stuff” is makeup so sometimes they like a more made-up look than you do. (The Clinique lady did talk me into buying eyeliner that I’ve never even broken the seal on, but that was my gullible fault. She did give me BOTH gift bags just to be nice, and I am absolutely in love with the lip look she gave me. Most lip things are crazy pink on me because my lips are pink-pink naturally, but I love what she did. Also, I love the blush she suggested because even I, who doesn’t like to look made up, don’t feel like I look like a clown. I also use their moisturizer religiously, although I don’t feel tied to their cleanser - Oil of Olay is fine for cleanser and a good night cream, but I like the Clinique for daily moisturizer.)
I just wanted to add here that even though MAC portrays a lot of “wild” looks, I’ve never been treated anything but very professionally and courteously by their salespeople. When I’ve said I’m only interested in a more natural and subtle look, or that I’m not interested in (other products), they’ve always respected that and stuck to showing me things that I want to see. When I wanted a makeup consultation my first time (not that many years ago), I was trying to choose between them and another department store level cosmetics line. The saleswomen at the counter for the other choice (won’t name them here since I’m pretty sure it was just those women) completely ignored me when I checked out their products, including when I would look over at them while they socialized with each other, and there were no other customers with them. The MAC area was bustling with customers, but within seconds of me browsing, I heard one of the workers apologize for everyone working with other customers, and that someone would be available soon. I’ve always seen that level of attentiveness regardless of what independent MAC store or department store counter I’ve been to. Plus, I love their AIDS fundraising.
heh, my first real experience with eyeliner was with theatrical makeup which involved tubs of black semisolid goop that you wet down with a fine paintbrush and then had at yourself in a mirror. In college.
After that, eyeliner’s been pretty easy for me to manage. I usually buy charcoal twist-up eyeliner and swipe a bit on the top eyelids, smudge, put lip balm on, and go. That’s when I’m in the mood to wear makeup, mind. Usually I just don’t.
Silver Tyger Girl, I really think that your best bet is a cake eyeliner, or just a darkish eyeshadow, applied with a stiff brush or the edge of a foam applicator. It both saves you the trouble of trying to learn to work the pencil, and gives a softer line.
But if you’re going to use a pencil, buy a quality one. That doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. I have a $3 NYC cosmetics eyeliner that I got at CVS that goes on like a dream. If your eyeliner pencil is clumping, or so hard that it’s not leaving any color as you drag it across your eyelid, don’t light it on fire, just throw it out, because it’s crap. You don’t want crap on your eyes. And don’t be pulling on your eyelids ‘to stretch them out’. That’s very delicate skin, and if I remember correctly, you’re far too young to have wrinkly eyelids. Again, if the pencil doesn’t go on smoothly, it’s crap, ditch it. Or return it. Even drugstores will mostly take cosmetics returns, as well they should, since you mostly can’t try stuff there.
Quoted from truth. I think there is this presumption that Mac is all crazy, whorish, draggy makeup that is only good for 20 something ravers, but the reality is that a good artist will listen to you and make you look fabulous, regardless of your station in life.
The only time I’ve had a poor experience at Mac was at the Pro Store in Beverly Hills, but beyond that, I’ve always been treated fabulously. Hell, half the time when I roll up to the Mac counter in our local mall, I look like death reheated (I work a lot, don’t judge me!)- but the girls and guys are always super nice. And, when I do have my makeup done up before I go, the girls and guys always are super sweet and complimentary.
All you have to say is, “I don’t normally wear a lot of makeup. But I want my eyes to look big/learn how to do a smokey eye that’s somewhat natural/ wear glitter without being all draggy/ etc.” They’ll listen.
“in my day” for those dry pencil liners that don’t go on well, we used to use a match/lighter and heat the end a bit to soften it, but we were pretty slutty nothing subtle about the resulting line
