The Starting Off Project: Eyeliner

Eyeliner was one of the very first make up products I wore religiously...even without wearing any other make up (oh dear)! There are a number of different types of eyeliner and ways of wearing it; let's begin.

Pencil Eyeliner: You can put this under your eye, or on your eyelid. I tend to only use this when I have a smokey look on my eyes, but everyone has different preferences. The great thing about pencil eyeliners is that you can smudge them with your fingers to soften the look. You can get different types including Kohl pencils or eye crayons. Kohl eyeliners have quite a high oil content and are made of a very soft powder, so they are much smoother and easier to smudge, where as crayons are much more waxy, so they don't glide on as easily, but at least they don't run.

I like the Technakohls from Mac, which are mechanical eye pencils and are more on the waxy side, but they are easy enough to smudge if you want to.

Liquid Eyeliner: Is an opaque liquid, which creates very sharp, precise lines. For this reason it is usually only worn on the top of the lid, often to create a winged look. Here is a really great article about how to do winged eyeliner.

Gel Eyeliner: This is usually worn like liquid eyeliner, but the formula is much thicker, therefore giving a deeper colour. This is generally used with a small brush. I use either the MAC 209 or the ELF Angled Eyeliner brush depending on what look I'm going for. In terms of products, I really like the MAC Fluidlines, but I have tried the Maybelline Gel Eyeliner, which is OK. It is much less soft than the MAC, so you won't get as much product on the brush, so achieving a deep, black line is much more difficult.