The Makeup Box

Lazy Girl’s Guide to Easy Winged Liner (and Shadow) for Valentine’s!

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A winged eye and a demure kitten flick can give you really alluring eyes, but I got so many questions about how to do a good winged eye or flicked liner, so it I figured I’d do a more detailed tutorial on how to do it without requiring weeks of practice.

You will need:

• Black gel liner
• Flat, angled synthetic liner brush
• A sheet of paper or card (or tape)

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Winged Shadow:

Step 1: Apply your shadow to the lid but don’t wing it out yet.

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Step 2: Following the angle of the outermost part of your lower lid, hold a piece of paper (if you can’t get both eyes even, use a piece of tape on each side instead), and then use a firm shadow brush to sweep shadow from OUTSIDE inwards horizontally. The top of the wing should be flat and quite straight, like a table-top.

 The paper method is better if you’ve applied your base makeup and concealer already, as tape will remove your makeup.

When you lift the paper away, you’ll see a really sharp and defined wing. You can leave it like this if you want a very dramatic and geometrical eye, but for our Valentine’s Day Look, I’m softening it out.

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Step 3: Use a softer blending brush to smoke out the edges, including the bottom of the wing.

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Winged Liner

Step 4: Hold the paper to your eye again, lining it up with the angle of the shadow. Then use a flat angled brush to apply gel liner (you can use pencil as well, but liquid liner is a little harder to use in this way) once again from the OUTSIDE-STRAIGHT-IN to about the center of the lid.

If your liner or brush is a bit dry, the liner may “skip” over your skin, and leave you with some gaps/grooves in the liner. Just fill it in carefully by retracing the line after removing the paper.

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Step 5: Finish by extending the black liner to the inner corners of the eyes and applying mascara. It’s easier to apply a thin, precise line in the inner halves if you hold the tips of the angled brush to the base of your lashes and then just wiggle gently to “push” the liner onto your skin without lifting the brush. Then move on to the next section and repeat. Don’t drag the brush along your skin.

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For this look, I finished by adding:

• Beige Liner (Nars Larger Than Life Long-wear Eye Liner in Rue Bonaparte) along the waterline
• Pink Blush (NYX Pinky Blush) on the cheeks
• Soft Pink Matte Lips (MAC Please Me Lipstick)

Products used on the eyes in the tutorial:

• Urban Decay Deeper (15 Anniversary Palette) - use MAC Twinks or Urban Devay Twice Baked if you don’t have that
• Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Black

Rock Romance: Winged Pink-and-Black Eye

I got a request to do a sort of “rock”-inspired look that was also delicate and pretty at the same time, so I really cracked my head for awhile thinking of how I might combine the 2. As requested, I’m using pink on the lips.

Also, I was requested to do a tutorial on doing a winged eye, so I thought I’d combine these into one tutorial!

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The main products you will need:

1. A very black glossy kajal or pencil. If you’re in the EU and can get hold of Essence products, I highly recommend the “I <3 Rock” Gloss Eye pencil. It comes in only one shade that I know of - the most perfect, lustrous jet black. If you’re not able to get hold of these, look for kajals that come in lipstick-like tubes as these are also quite glossy looking.
2. A deep magenta pink shadow. I just used the 88 Matte palette that you can get from either Coastal Scents, BH Cosmetics or Sedona Lace.
3. An opal pink iridescent shadow. MAC Pink Opal pigment, or The Body Shop Eye Shimmer #04 are the 2 I know of. They are an ivory/white but go on as a soft pink shimmer.
4. Soft pink blush. I used Essence Blush Souffle in 01 Prima Ballerina. (I love this. It’s like a mousse version of MAC’s Well Dressed, at about 1/6 the price.)
5. Pale peachy-pink lipstick. If you have medium to slightly deeper skin tones, try Barry M Peachy Pink or MAC Creme Cup. If you’re very dark-skinned, try a sheerer finish or a gloss instead. You don’t want to overpower the eyes with a very loud, pale mouth. If you are pale to fair, read on for what I mixed to get the perfect petal pout!

Essence Gloss Eye Pencil for perfect glossy-black lines.

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Step 1: Run black pencil or kajal all over the lid, staying within the socket line.

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Step 2: To create a flare, use your finger to gently drag the end of the black  up and out, at the same angle as your lower lash line. 

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Step 3: Use your finger to very gently smudge the top edge of the black pencil and smoke it out gently.  To make sure you keep a perfectly angled flare at the outer end, run your finger in one stroke from inner corner, along the curve of your socket, and then at the outer corner, follow the angle of your lower lash line once again and smoke up and out.

EASY TIP: If you make a bit of a mess, run a Q-tip along the base of the wing, parallel to your lower lash line, to clean up any stray smudges.

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Wing Check: When you look straight ahead, the line will look slightly curved. When you get more well-practised, you  can probably do a shadow flare without having to use a pencil at all.

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Step 4: I picked a strong magenta pink and used a flat brush to gently pat and stroke the color from the center of the eye out along the TOPS of the black wing. 

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The color should be half on the pencil, and half on your bare skin. This gives a beautiful gradation and the illusion of a two-toned finish even though the shadow is matte!

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Step 4: Use the pale opalescent pink to stroke along the brow bone and also the inner corners of the eyes near the tear duct. This adds a peachy-pink glow. You will also then need to gently touch up your black liner at the innermost corners, over the soft pink, as the shadow will have covered up the black line.

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Step 5: How could we leave out the lashes? I used Elise (these are fantastic, but I’m afraid I got my box on clearance and it doesn’t have a name or number on it.) Just get those that are wispier or shorter at the inner half, and longer and defined at the outer half.

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Wait for the glue to get tacky (slightly translucent) and then quickly pop them on. 

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The finished eye look again for your reference! This version of the eye keeps the look very soft and less dramatic, as all the heavy color is on the upper lids.  If you want to, you can stop right here with the eye.

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Want more drama?
I took a final look and decided, nah - I need a bit more. You can do what I did and apply black kajal thickly along the lower lash line and then smudge out with your finger again to get that real rock chick black grease-paint eye.

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Now, Lips!

What better than super soft, peachy-pink puckers to keep the whole look soft? Well ladies, whip out those opaque nude “concealer-lip” lipsticks that you love to hate. 

Also whip out the pale blue-based pink that you’re not too sure how to wear.

This is the PERFECT combination for petal pink lips. (Just make sure they aren’t BOTH Snooki-pale.)

Step 6: After applying a soft pink blush to the cheeks, I applied a pale nude to the entire lip (Barry M  154 Pale Nude) and then blotted. Then I applied a baby pink (Lime Crime Great Pink Planet) to the center of the upper and lower lips.