When you get paid to test beauty products for a living, what do you actually pay to use? ELLE's Beauty Director Katy Young comes clean.
Most beauty trends come and go as regularly as the number 94 bus. Take skin finish, for example: it can jump from glossy to matte and back again in just one season, while eyebrows are known for their perennial shape-shifting.
Then there's eyeliner, the steadfast exception to the rule. An inky lashline looked just as up to date on the AW19 Louis Vuitton and Erdem runways as it did on Sophia Loren doing the passeggiata in the 1950s.
In fact, as I write this, the two wings sitting pretty across my lids feel as timely today as they did when I first etched them above my lashes with a Rimmel London eyeliner at age 14. And though this morning’s application came with a lot less wobble and a lot more knowledge, it has remained my unequivocal make-up go-to.
The beauty of liquid eyeliner is its multifaceted appearance. Plus, if like me, you’re not one for following the beauty crowd, you’ll also enjoy eyeliner’s lenient style guide. I might wear a ticked thorn in navy or green just peeping out above the outer lashes for my various weekend plans, or a sexy 1950s flowing line in jet black for date night. A straight bar across the lids is my nine-to-five office standard, to open up my eyes and add definition and, for an evening out with friends, I stick to my thick flick starting just above my pupils finishing off at a 45-degree angle by my outer lashes, which I love in brown.
But where there is liquid liner there is fear: fear of failure mostly, but also fear of what shape to even go for. The gently evolving story of liquid eyeliner can make things confusing; would Loren’s signature feline flick elongate your eyes best, or do Amy Winehouse’s thick marker pen stripes work better for that doe-eyed effect? And how the hell do you remove it all without a case of conjunctivitis if you do make mistakes? (A cotton bud dipped in a bi-phase make-up remover works best.)
As a beginner, follow my basic rule of three to make it easy on yourself...
How To Apply Liquid Eyeliner
1. Steer clear of brush and inkwell formulas
Instead go for sturdy felt-tip pens with good pigment pay-off so that you don’t have to drag skin or repeat application.
2.Start on the outer edge
Paint a short quick flick from the corner of your eye upwards to mimic the angle of your lashes, which should already be wearing mascara (do if after and you enter a world of smudging pain). Leave it at that, which I personally love, to lift the eye. Or work backwards along the lash line in mini strokes towards the inner corner to fully line it.
3. Always look down on liner
Put a hand mirror on a table - rather than a mirror on a wall - and stare over it to get a good angle, using your spare hand to slightly stretch skin, looking downwards allows you to follow your lashline without having to close your eyes.
And, 28 years of liner later, I can vouch for the fact that if you start to get your eye in now, you’ve got yourself a beauty look for life.
Katy's Edit: Liquid Eyeliners
Pat McGrath Perma Precision Liquid Eyeliner - £26
One for the well-seasoned, this flexible felt tip is smudge-proof, even if you sleep in it (not that I'd ever condone doing that).
Lancôme Hyponose Artliner - £23.50
The soft foam tip is a good choice for nervous hands. Dab along the lash line, and move on without spending too much time fretting.
Benefit Roller Liner Liquid Eyeliner - £18.50
Fatter than most, this felt tip makes lining easy, and is particularly good for the 1950s effect. The brown version is also seriously flattering.
Guerlain Eyeliner - £26.50
The liquid I graduated to, and have stuck to ever since. The tip is a tiny paintbrush, to give the finest of feline flicks.
Rimmel Glam'Eyes Professional Liquid Eyeliner - £5.99
Three decades later this has even better pigmentation, while the chunky applicator gives good control for drawing wings.
