When it comes to make-up, it’s safe to say that we all have our go-to products that suit our look; and we very rarely try anything new. This becomes more and more apparent when you become a mum – when those precious five minutes to fix your face before heading out the door with the kids, leave little time for experimenting with new make-up and styles.
If, like me, you are someone who likes things easy peasy, and prefer make-up that needs little or no re-application throughout the day, then a good eyeliner is the way forward. In my teens, I was never without it, and, now that I am that little bit older – and need a healthy dose of some magic to make my tired eyes look more awake – I am back to wearing eyeliner…..And I love it.
The difference this time is that I use a liquid eyeliner with a brush to achieve the perfect line. My favourite eyeliner brushes are Chantecaille’s Eyeliner Brush and Charlotte Tilbury’s Eyeliner Brush. It is the preciseness that you can get with a brush that makes the eyeliner so easy to apply and leaves a cleaner, sharper looking line. My go-to liquid eyeliners are Illamasqua’s Precision Gel Liner, MAC’s Liquid Eyeliner and Lancome’s Artliner liquid Eyeliner. If, like me, you find that you make mistakes and make one line thicker, thinner, longer or shorter – have no fear – just make sure you have a cotton wool bud to hand to erase any mistakes!
Here are my tops tips on how apply liquid eyeliner with a brush:
1. Before you start to draw line tilt your head slightly back, as this helps to lift upper lid, giving you room to work. Or, you can lift brow at the arch with your finger.
2. Draw the line as close to hairline of the eyelashes as you can. My top tip is to first start the line in the middle of the eyelid, and work tour way towards outer edge of the eye. Then, apply the liner from the inner corner of eye, and connect the line to the centre of eyelid. This foolproof method is great if you’re not confident at drawing a complete straight line. I also like to thicken the line gradually from the inner to outer eyelashes. This technique creates an illusion of much bigger eyes.
3. Draw a line that is as thin as possible to begin with. To make the line ticker add more pressure to the brush and to make the line thinner, add more pressure.
4. Adding wings can intensify your look for the evening. If you want to create a more dramatic or winged look, then just follow the curve of your outer lash line upwards form the outer corner of your eyelid. Then, fill in the flick as needed for an enhanced line.
5. If your line is not straight or patchy, then take a cotton wool bud, dip it in Vaseline wiping (or lick it which is my preferred choice), then, run the bud along the outer edge of the line, correcting as you go.
And, hey presto my mission is complete: a look that works both day and night! Once you get the hang of it, it is easy to achieve, and a good eyeliner manages to hide those sleepless nights – making me look bright eyed and bushy tailed…Even if I feel like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards!
My favourite products to achieve that bright eyed and bushy tailed look are here:
This little brush from
Chantecaille is ideal to define those lines and offers control when applying eyeliner.
Charlotte Tilbury has it covered with her tapered tip Liner Brush; perfect for defining the lash line.
