Newbie: I don't get eyeliner

[hlke]

Hi everyone, I usually post in LGBT households but I've been lurking on this board for a bit.

My makeup routine is basically concealer, bb cream or foundation, blush, tinted lipgloss and mascara. I want to step it up a bit while still looking natural, but I am totally clueless.

It seems the next reasonable step would be eyeliner, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to apply it without looking like a trainwreck. I'm blonde and fair with blue eyes, and I've tried brown liners, black liners, blue liners, and bronze liners. I've watched YouTube videos and I still just don't get it. I either can't draw a straight line, the line is different widths as I move across my eye, or when I try to smudge the line it disappears or looks like a mess.

Any tips or tricks? What color liner is best for beginners? I've only tried pencils or those plastic quasi-pencils, and only drugstore brands, because I'm too bad at eyeliner to buy good eyeliner.

[electricmayhem]

I just started wearing eyeliner too, and that was because I never knew how to apply it without it making my eyes look very--heavy? I don't know if that's the right word, but here's a blog post I found that exactly explained my problem. I'm not Asian, but a brunette with brown eyes, btw.

bunbunmakeuptips.com/eye-makeup-tutorial-tightlining-for-thicker-lashes-and-bigger-eyes/

in any case, look at some tightlining videos on YouTube; I now do it daily on my upper lash line. I started with a black Rimmel liquid liner b/c that was what I had on hand. It was cheap too. Now that I have the hang of it I'm using Mac Fluidline with a brush, but I think Maybelline makes gel liners too if you don't want to spend that much. I think you can also do it with a pencil; I know Urban Decay 24/7 is popular here.

[Deleted]

I really like this eyeliner for "beginners". It glides on very easily:
www.clinique.com/product/1597/4770/Makeup/Eyeliners/Quickliner-For-Eyes/index.tmpl

I would start out with a lighter brown or grey. Practice some time when you are not rushed. I would recommend propping your elbow up on some sort of surface (like leaning into your bathroom mirror and propping your elbow on the counter). It's easier to keep your hand steady that way.

[agnes]

I have the same problem. I found that cream eyeliners and a brush work best for me. I started with this in the metallic palette:



I feel like it's fool proof. I can't use any other kind of eyeliner for some reason.

ETA: I use charcoal and navy the most. I don't know the real names. I'm blonde, blue eyed, and fair skinned.

[agnes]

Oh and before I branched out to eyeliners, I would use a skinny brush, wet my eye shadow and line with that.

[Deleted]

I agree with just lining the top.

A little gold or brown eye shadow would be a good way to branch out as well.

[agnes]

Dec 6, 2012 9:10:19 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I agree with just lining the top.

A little gold or brown eye shadow would be a good way to branch out as well.

I agree with this. My go to gold-ish eye shadow is smashbox in Riches.

[hlke]

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. I've thought about eyeshadow, but I think it looks kinda weird without liner. I practiced tightlining last night without completely disastrous results. I'll try some of the other recs, thanks!

[Noralie]

Like another poster, I started using my eyeshadow, which I still do sometimes. Once I got good at that, the urban decay 24/7 has been the best for me to work with, but I have to hold the pencil at kind of an odd angle to make it perfect.

Another thing is that when you are not used to seeing eyeliner on yourself, it looks really dark and like way too much. After awhile you get used to it and now I wear eyeliner almost every day and it looks totally hot.

[mfluder]

Dec 5, 2012 23:17:28 GMT -5 agnes said:

Oh and before I branched out to eyeliners, I would use a skinny brush, wet my eye shadow and line with that.

This was the best beginning for me (hell, I'm basically still there, I can't seem to draw straight lines!). I agree it looks weird on yourself to begin with, but a lot of that is about getting use to see yourself with it.

[Deleted]

Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner is really easy to apply. It's a stiff brush that you dip, and the consistency of the gel liner makes it easy to make a straight line.



You might also try a felt tip liquid liner, which is like drawing on your lid with a marker. I like the NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker, which you can get at Ulta. I think the gel liner is even easier to apply, though.

[Deleted]

I am an idiot at applying eyeliner, and Clinique Quickliner is the most foolproof one I've tried.

[sjh722]

Dec 9, 2012 18:55:00 GMT -5 v said:

I am an idiot at applying eyeliner, and Clinique Quickliner is the most foolproof one I've tried.

Same.

The Revlon Colorstay ones are also pretty fool-proof and cheaper than the Clinique.

[hlke]

I bet the Clinique one would be great. The one I've done best with is Define-a-Line by Maybelline, which is one of the twist up plastic pencils. I can draw a decent line, but the product itself sucks - not pigmented enough, smudgey, etc. So Clinique might be a wise upgrade.

I also grabbed the Sonia Kashuk bent eyeliner brush and am going to try with eyeshadow.

[mrst2]

I'm new to wearing liner and I had the best results with the felt tip liquid liner. I had pretty much given up getting it right until I recently got a free one with a Sephora order.

This is the one I got

www.sephora.com/skinny-liquid-eyeliner-P310736?skuId=1429752

[regina22]

The best technique I learned was to try and line as thin and close to the lash as possible. It's easy to go back and thicken, but nearly impossible to take away. The best way to draw a neat line is to actually do small dots and then go back and connect them up. You have much more control that way and it helps prevent the hand shakes from messing up your straight line (a big problem for people that aren't used to poking at their eye without flinching...lol).

Good luck!