All I've Learnt on Winged-Eyeliner

Winged-eyeliner is very much un-doubtfully one of my favourite eye-looks to go for when doing my full face of make-up. Whether it be a dramatic or a timeless classic wing, I feel it just amplifies any make-up look from modest to fabulous.  Having said that I think we have all had a few make-up disasters and have a daunting fear when it comes to winged liquid liner. Even 6 years of practise and I still cannot get my wings the perfect shape and thickness I want (-and end up with them twice as thick than I intended them to be). However I do wear winged-eyeliner on a regular basis and have luckily found a couple of tricks and tips that have really helped me. So I thought I would make a small tutorial on how I do my eyeliner and include all the best things I’ve learnt on perfecting (well ,nearly) winged-eyeliner.

There are lots of different types of eyeliner styles. What you choose is up to you. I will leave a link HERE on a small guide with the different styles.  I’m going to be showing you what eyeliner I usually wear which is just the classic kind-of wing, but hopefully  these tips should just be transferrable to other eyeliner styles.

The Brush.

One of the most  fundamental parts of doing winged-eyeliner all comes down to the right brush. For me, I find that a hard-pointed, felt- tip like brushes are the best for easy precision. My favourites I have used in the past are; Soap and Glory Supercat Eyeliner and Loreal Super Liner – So Couture.  I’m currently using the Loreal Super Liner, Ultra Precision in this tutorial, I do really like this one however the brush bends a little too easily which can make it a bit harder if you don’t really have a lot confidence with eyeliner.  Another one which I used for years was the collection 2000 which is a really good one for plenty of practising.

                                                                                        The Line.

So I preferably like to start with the line and this gives me a better guide to where I want my wing to go. I press the side of the eyeliner brush, flat,on to the above of my lash line. I feel like this creates a rough guideline and from this I can then fill it in and make it bolder if I feel the need. Making sure, that it starts from just after where my lashes start to the end of my eyelid. I try not to go too far towards the inner part of my eye, as I feel that this can make my eyes appear a little sunken (but that’s just my opinion). The main thing I try to bear in mind when drawing the line is to keep it as close to the lash line as possible. This also helps me to avoid drawing a thicker line and also makes the lashes look fuller. I sometimes used to find that when starting out with eyeliner, that it can be easier to apply after adding a little bit of mascara, since this takes the pressure off the line being so perfect and often seems to result it, turning out better.

The Wing

Now the wing is the part which always gets me.  I always seem to do one perfect wing and then the other is just completely the opposite in every single way. It’s very rare that I can get the right with the first time. I think that a lot of this is from rushing. So taking your time is key here.

I start off by following the end of the bottom lash line and just drawing a line up to where my crease ends. I then join the end of the line to the lash line and then fill that in, overlapping the two lines. You want to make sure that the end of the wing comes to a sharp point.I find that setting my eyeliner with matte black eye shadow really helps to set it and prolong it from drying up and rubbing off. If you struggle to get a straight line and sharp edge then I find tape at the end of your eye really helps as stencil.

If any mistakes are made keep calm and use a wet cotton bud to get rid of it and dry it before continuing. I haven’t failed to point how tricky winged eyeliner really is in this post. Nor am I saying that I am completely perfect at it. It comes with a good few practises to get it how you want it, but don’t let mistakes put you off, we’ve all been there! There are millions are youtube tutorials and blog posts on winged eyeliner that will probably explain it and show it much better than I have, but this is just  my little take on winged liquid eyeliner. So, good luck!

Whats your favourite way to do your winged eyeliner?