Makeup Basics: How to Apply Liquid Liners Perfectly...and Cheat if You Can't!

Liquid liners are considered some of the more difficult versions to use, but what they lack in ease of use, they do make up in terms of staying power and precise application..err..that second one is for those who have mastered the art of applying them :P  A simple black liquid eyliner (Lakme Instaliner) was the first "proper makeup" I applied - it was back in college, and I learned to apply it from my friend, Shiney.  I could never ever get a thin, straight line the way she could, and I remember her telling me it just gets easier with practice.  I would just go on drawing thicker and thicker lines trying to make it look even, and I still don't get a thin precise line, but yes, it does get easier with time.  Here are a few things that have worked for me.

• The first rule of liquid liner application:  Get as close to the mirror as you can - or get one of those magnifying mirrors which make the pores in your skin look like craters on the moon :P  Okay, seriously though, because liquid liners tend to give well-defined lines, they are also a lot less forgiving than say a pencil liner, so you really need to be able to see what you are doing.
• A steady hand does help quite a bit with a precise line, so try resting your elbow on a surface while drawing the line to prevent wobbling.
• Unlike pencil liners which you can apply in little dots and connect them later, liquid eyeliners are best applied in one continuous line.  Start with a thinner line at the inner corner of the eye, making it slightly thicker as you move to the outer corner.  That's one way.  Another way is to start from the middle of the lid and finish to the outer corner, then apply the liner from the inner corner and join in the mid portion.  I prefer the first method; the second method I read in a Bobbi Brown book (Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual).
• Another tip from a makeup professional:  "For ultimate precision, place your finger on your skin just near the brow bone, and lift the eyelid upward. Then apply with the stylo held parallel to the lash line.” - Lena Koro, International Makeup Stylist, NARS.

That was the basics of how to apply a liquid eyeliner - pretty simple and easy, and like my friend told me, it does get easier with practice. If it doesn't, though, then you learn to cheat your way into a perfect line, and here's how you do that.

• When applying any liner, make sure you apply the line as close to the lashes as possible and avoid any gaps showing between the liner and lashes.  Once you have applied your thin (and am assuming wobbly, if you are still reading) line pretty much along the roots of the lashes, take a matte black powder eyeshadow on a thin, angled brush and press it on to the line.  The powder will set the liner and also even out any bits and pieces that you might have missed, and nobody would know you cheated :D
• A makeup artist's tip to cheat on liquid eyeliner application:  If you have an unsteady hand, sketch the shape you want with an eyeliner, then intensify it with the liquid liner, holding the liner on its side for more control - this one is by James Boehmer, Director of Global Artistry for NARS.

Now that you have lined and cheated your way to liquid liner fabulousness, finish off with some mascara and a softer lip color or a lipgloss for an easy, wearable makeup look!