A Beginner’s Guide to Hacking Your Eyeliner

Introduction:

Despite how effortless it appears online, applying your eyeliner can be a challenge, especially for beginners trying their hand at creating the perfect wing. There’s so much to keep in mind while trying to ace your liner such as the type of product you use, its formulation, the technique, and maintaining a steady hand. And since we’re on the subject of types of product and their formulations, you might as well check out our previous blog on the difference between liquid and pencil eyeliners to know more about which product you should use. While all of this could feel overwhelming, fret not because by the end of this blog, you’ll surely have taken away some useful tips to hack your way into a perfect eyeliner even if the typical way seems too tedious.

The Typical Way…

Let’s start with the basics before trying anything too advanced. So, how do you apply an eyeliner?

Step 1: Start by prepping your eyelids with a primer so that you’re left with a clean and smooth canvas. You could even apply some concealer to your eyelids if needed, to brighten your eyelids and really make your liner pop.

Step 2: Next, you pick your weapon, whether it is a liquid liner, a kohl, pencil eyeliner, or felt tip liner. Start by slightly drawing a smooth line across your top eyelid, making your way outward from the inner corner of your eyes.

Step 3: Mistakes are only the beginning of perfection and this step will help you turn even a mistake into a proud achievement. To clean up the edges or make your liner look even and neat, you can take some makeup remover on a Q-tip and clean up wherever needed but only after it has dried so it doesn’t get messier.

Hack your Eyeliner!

Now, on to our favorite part, here is a compilation of a few TikTok & Instagram hacks by influencers and celebrities, collected by yours truly!

Hack #1: Add a dot of your favorite kohl or pencil liner to the tip of your index finger. Place it close to the outer corner of your eye while using another finger to pull back your skin and gently drag your finger upwards for a soft wing. Fill any gaps with the pencil and draw a thin line across your eyelid, connecting your wing to your liner. Repeat this process for your next eye and clean the edges with a Q-tip.

Hack #2: Use any of your thin brush handles, business cards, the flat edge of any tube product, or scotch tape as a guide for creating a sharp wing by angling it near the outer corner of your eyes. If you do not like the stickiness of scotch tape, you can opt for PAC’s Exacto Makeup Tape which helps you hack your way to a perfectly sculpted eyeliner while preventing fallout, and the best part? It’s super easy to remove, too!

Hack #3: This hack is as simple as it gets because you need not do anything but use your felt tip liner’s triangular shape to stamp on a guide at the corner of your eyes. Just press down your felt tip liner sideways to create the perfect guide to ace your winged liner.

Hack #4: P.S. Our Victoria's Secret Model, Candice Swanepoel loves to do her eyes with this hack. Use a sharp angled eyeliner brush and swipe it on the tip of your pencil liner, picking up just enough product. Hold the pointed side of the brush towards the inner part of your face. Start from the end of your iris and slowly pull outwards and upwards. You can even create a soft-focused inner corner with this brush.

Additional Tips, cause why not?

• To make your eyes appear bigger, use a light nude or white eyeliner and draw a subtle thin line below your winged liner and a little on your waterline to make your eyeliner pop. 
• Use a black matte eyeshadow over your liner to increase the drama and longevity. 
• To ace your inner corner, pinch together the skin on the top of your nose bridge before drawing a sharp line.
• Using a felt tip liner, you can even make your lower lashes look thicker by adding dots wherever the lashes appear in clusters, and go over it with some mascara.
• For hooded eyes, tight line before creating a winged eyeliner and ensure you keep your eyes open while drawing on your liner.

Conclusion:

Now that you are aware of the different ways you can hack your liner, we can’t wait to hear about which hack worked best for you. If you think there is any hack or tip we missed that really helped you, let us know in the comments below.