This post deals with the deconstruction or instruction to lining the eyes. Eyeliner to me is one of the important finishing touches to the eyes. What makes eyeliner difficult is age. As one ages, eyeliner tends to emphasize age more than a certain eye look. This is where technique becomes important.
Most of this post is a compilation of what appeared on Into the Palette. Eyeliner to me is to lift the eyes. There are ways to make the eyes droop and if that is the way you prefer your eyeliner to go then keep doing what you are doing.
Winged Eyeliner - The Geometrical Explanation
You know how winged eyeliner is done, you just follow the lashline and just flick the end up. That is fine but like I mention many times, if you aren't a spring chicken anymore, that flick at the end becomes the crow's claw!
Envision winged eyeliner like a triangle. The base of it never moves, it stays constant. However, notice how tip of the triangle moves and the angle of it widens or in geometric terms becomes obtuse. The triangle goes from a right angle to an obtuse one. This is similar to how you can place the wing of the eyeliner.
The placement of the wing can either make the eyes look rounder or elongate them. The preference is more up to you and how you want your final result to be. Look at it on the eye from 3/4th view. The base stays in the same place, the wing just moves but it stays within the soft lid area.
Take a look at the front view as a completed eyeliner.
Do you see it better?
How Eyeliner Looks on Different Eye Shapes
Mature Eyes
Asian Eyes
Open End Eyeliner
This is a method to give the illusion of circling the eye with eyeliner (Joe Blasco method.) This really opens up the eye for mature women and doesn't give emphasis to just the lash line. It sweeps the line back, lifting the eyes.
1-Here I start in the inner corner, close to the tear duct. 2-View from the front. 3, 4, & 5-I bring the line around my lash line and stop at the last lash. 6-You can see when I start the bottom line, I never connect it with the top. I start deep in the corner of the bottom lash line. 7-Finished result. I never connected the top and bottom but, it naturally looks connected anyway. 8-I decided to add a little wing, the same way as in the winged liner way. 9-Different angle of the liner. 10-I begin to smudge it to make it look smoky. 11-When all done with smudging, you can see that the top and bottom never connect. 12-From the front it looks connected but isn't. 13-You can see it is open ended.
Eyeliner, Winged Eyeliner, and Smoky Eyeliner
Eyeliner is to create a definite mark around the lashline. For some it could be soft and very natural and for others it can be outrageous and fun. Whichever you choose, the best eyeliner application is the one that will lift your eye shape no matter what age you are.
Every eyeliner application is actually a winged eyeliner application. The tail end should never follow the lash line or it will bring the eye down and droop. The best way is the following method.
1-This is the starting point of the tail. Notice it starts above the lashline. This is really the area of the bone indent. In fact, there is a gap between the lashes and winged liner which you shouldn't worry about because eyeshadow will later make that unnoticeable. 2-I close my eye halfway and pull the edge taut so I can get a cleaner line. You can see that the line just glides to the bulge of the front of the eye. 3-I usually stop in the center. 4-You can see that when I look down, the liner wings up. 5-I finish the line from the inner corner, the area that curves into the tear duct and eye. For some it folds inside. 6-I finish it up and extend the tail just a bit more (to your liking). 7-Shows the liner when I look straight ahead. 8-Shows the liner when I look down. 9-Is an extreme angle from below. The arrow shows the gap between the liner and the lashes. Usually this is filled in with false lashes and/or eyeshadow.
* Special thanks to Lola, Aldona, Kim, Lisa, Jessica, Brelki, and Susan.
