31 Days of Liquid Eyeliner >> Results & Review!

I finished my month of liquid liner and, as promised, this is your liner round-up. (hey, hi, this was a project I was doing on Instagram. I was scared of liquid eyeliner for many years, so I taught myself how to use it by I applying it every day for a month.) This is what I learned + a sh*t ton of pics.

TECHNIQUE
For the first week, I was getting a feel for the liner pen and getting the hang of drawing on skin.

I discovered 3 things very quickly:

1) Eyelids can be ticklish.
2) Whenever I close my eyes, my eyelids twitch subtly.
3) I don't have as much control over blinking as I thought I did.



To combat twitching, I learned that I must either apply the liner with my eyes open, or apply it while holding my eyelashes down like a ham-fisted baby. I also taught myself how to strategically blink. It works if you practice I swear!

I also reinforced 4 anatomical truths:

1. My eyelids are oily, so even the best waterproof liner will rub off if worn alone.
2. The skin around my eyes is also dry, somehow. So I get flakes too!
3. My lash line is thick, and only lining along the edge of it will leave a chubby flesh line. God this all sounds awful, doesn't it.
4. My eyelid skin is thin and wrinkly. I'm terrified to know how much worse things will get as I age. Actually I already know how much worse things will get, nevermind:

Here's how I conquered my eyelid anatomy:

1. Oily eyelids? Apply an eyeshadow primer. It's absolutely necessary for even application, good color payoff, and longevity. (I used Urban Decay Primer Potion (Original) for the duration.)
2. Dry skin? It can get way worse when removing makeup everyday. To combat this, I remove eye makeup with jojoba oil first, then follow up with micellar water to clean up some of the grease. I apply eye cream every night, and sometimes before makeup application as well.
3. Thick lash line? Apply liner or black eyeshadow between your lashes. This is distinct from tight-lining — you'll just be filling in color where the hairs are growing, not necessarily lining your waterline. It doesn't have to be perfect either. I found that just quickly dabbing it in there made a big difference.
4. Thin wrinkly skin? I apply liner lightly first to get the shape I want without distortion, then pull my skin tight to fill and perfect the wing. (I was super insulted to see another blogger recommend this specifically for older folks. Some of us were born with eyelids that look like clamshells, thank you very much).

As for actual application to get a nice fat wing, I followed the most basic technique found basically everywhere on the Internet. I still made a gif for you because (I love you):

THE LOOKS
After week 2, I realized that people would bore of pictures of eyes and my dumb face. Hell, I was getting bored, so I started mixing it up with some different eye looks.

These are my top 3:



AND SOME THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT



THE TOOLS
I started out using Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner (Intense Black), switched to Kat Von D Tattoo Liner (Trooper) halfway through, and used both towards the end. Both pens were worse for the wear after the project. The KVD pen has started to bifurcate, and the Stila pen started pilling at the end (both still work just fine though):

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner (Intense Black) vs. Kat Von D Tattoo Liner (Trooper)

I have to say, despite everyone telling me Kat Von D is better, I prefer Stila. Yes, the KVD pen applies a much smoother line and is better for fine flicks, but it also goes on kind of watery so you have to layer it to get it really black. Stila's pigment is much blacker with just one layer. The actual tip of these pens is different too.

The Stila pen has a felt tip, while the KVD pen is a brush tip. The former is better for fuss-free application, while the latter is better for details. The issue with brush tips, however, is they can get gunked up. If you're applying liner over some other product like eyeshadow, it is very likely you will destroy your KVD pen before it's time. After the first few uses, I had to start wiping it off with a damp tissue mid-application to get the pigment flowing properly. I do like the idea of a brush tip though, so an actual cleanable brush with a separate liquid liner product may be in my future.

If you want to try KVD liner, I recommend doing a pre-application and post-application wipe every time you use it to mitigate gunking. Do not submerge the tip in water or clean it with makeup remover/micellar water or you will almost certainly destroy your $20 toy.

HERE ARE ALL THE DAYS

AND ALL THE LOOKS

(Starting after the glasses pics: Day 22: 20s // Day 23: 50s // Day 24: 60s // Day 25: 70s // Day 26: 80s // Day 27: 90s // Day 28: Butt Liner // Day 29: #eyeliner // Day 30: Mirror Wings // Day 31: An ode to my baby dog)

AND SOME GIFS

   

ANOTHER GIF

EVEN MORE GIFDS

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31 Days of Liquid Eyeliner >> Results & Review!