winged victory of... the eyelid

If only I could get my eyeliner to function! 
 I have yet to master the special skill.  
Maybe by the time I am 30, 
I will have learned how to wield that tricky little pencil?
That, and learn how to tease a proper bump into the back of my head.

Ah, the woes of being fashionable...

 

I love, love, love the look of winged-out, catlike, Angelina-esque black eyeliner, but it's such an advanced makeup technique--get it even slightly wrong, and your eyes can look lopsided, or worse, just plain stupid.

I thought Friday was the perfect time to share a few tricks for creating nonstupid winged liner--you could test drive them this weekend and report back! If you want, send photos to glamourbeauty16@gmail, and I'll post them here.

Tip 1: Use a light eye pencil to create a sketch of how your "wings" will look. This way, you can easily make corrections by erasing with a Q-Tip. The line should start as thin as possible and grow fatter and fatter toward the outer corner of your eye (you'll trace over it with liquid liner later, and many liquid liners are shaped like calligraphy pens, which'll help you nail the perfect thickness). How far your wings go is up to you (it depends on your eye shape, face shape, personality), but keep in mind that a few centimeters go a long way, and less is usually more.

Tip 2: Step away from the mirror for a couple minutes, then come back. You should be able to tell right away if your eyeliner looks symmetrical on both sides. If it doesn't, erase and adjust. If you really have trouble getting the angles of your wings to match up, trace a business card--that's a trick Gwen Stefani's makeup artist, Kathy Jeung, told me once, and somehow it really does help!

Tip 3: Trace over the pencil with liquid liner, resting your elbow on a table to help keep your hand steady.

Top photo via {cup of jo}

Bottom photo: iStock

by Petra Guglielmetti

via {glamour}