It's All About Eyeliner

Pin It This week, I am going to do posts on eyelining, again.  Why? Mostly because of my little cult. As an unknown beauty blog, I was pretty sure assumed that all your beauty questions were being answered by those wonderful gurus out there.  I never expected any questions to be asked; therefore, I went on my merry way eyelining my eyes out.  However, when I found certain questions popping up in emails about eyeliners in their various forms and the many brushes, I figured I should do a post or at least a couple of them to answer many questions that need to be answered or should be answered but not asked because of embarrassment.

My first introduction to eyeliner was my mum.  As young as I was I stood on my tippy toes stretching my chin out onto her vanity table.  Every morning I would watch her apply black liquid eyeliner with such precision.  The most perfect line and a curve that made the wings of a butterfly flutter.  I don't think she took a breath during this procedure.  At least, I didn't when I watched her.  I was in total awe! 

Fast forward to high school when I was a freshman I bought my first liquid eyeliner, I tried to do what she did and I might as well have been writing Asian calligraphy on my eyes.  I could not draw a straight line even if I had a ruler; I threw away the eyeliner.  That was the moment I admitted to myself I sucked at eyelining!   Of course, back then eyeliner pretty much sucked.  Pencils were hard as a rock and had to be melted with a lighter to get them soft enough.  Yeah, use a lighter early in the morning when your brain is half asleep.  Fire!

Then came my first make up brush set.  A sophomore in high school with an allowance and I blow it on an 8 piece Jerome Alexander brush set for $25.  That really was equivalent to an arm, leg, and embryo!  In it was an eyeliner brush, that was the equivalent of finding a Willy Wonka golden ticket for me!  My life changed.  I learned to line my eyes with a brush.  Did I look good? No, I just traced my lashline like a little kid tracing the outline of picture in a coloring book.

Years passed Decades passed and now there are many eyeliner brushes.  Brushes that allow more precision in application which I find I am pretty good at (if I am allowed to pat myself on the back).  I can't live with just one eyeliner brush yet I don't have a big arsenal.  Looking through the various eyelining posts that I have done, my collection is still the same yet one or two of the brushes have changed due to what I have learned about my own needs.   I do always have the necessary collection to achieve everything from the thinnest line along the lashes to the smoky smudged line.   And, these brushes all have a talent in a certain texture: gel, powder, liquid, cake, and cream.  The brush used can matter in the result of the line.  I am not saying that these are the brushes you should use and get, but the shape and size of these are the ones I find the most helpful for applying liner on oneself.

From top to bottom:

Becca Eye Smudge #37-There is a more in depth post of it here.
The hair is sable allowing it to be used with creams as well as other formulas.

Perfect Smudge brush-Paula Dorf - More in depth look here.
Squirrel hair brushed used mostly for powders but can be used on liquids.

Brush Up Kolinsky Sable Brush-See more about it and a short blurb on eyelining with it here.
$7 and well worth it.

Cinema Secrets Filbert Kolinsky #2-See a blurb about it here.  This is my holy grail eyeliner brush.  Angels sing when I use this brush. 

Smashbox-this is a dual ended push liner brush that I got in a palette.  I could buy a full size one but this works out fine for me.

See the various sizes in the brush heads?  Each has its own unique function.  More will be covered in the upcoming posts.  Stay tuned.