How to achieve the PERFECT winged eyeliner look! Tutorial, review and eyeliner swatches!

Winged eyeliner: The enemy of the beauty world. 

Lets all be straight here, winged eyeliner when done right looks amazing. It adds shape, length and accentuates any eye colour. Winged liner acts as a barrier to hide false lashes, opens and brightens the eye and when done neatly makes you look effortlessly glamorous.

BUT. It's not easy! Getting that perfect sharp line, curving slightly at the outer corner, is difficult. Almost everyday someone creates a new tool or beauty fad to help with this process, but using these gadgets and tools often just ends in tears (which then result to smudged panda eyes instead!)

I feel like i have tried almost every type of liner going. They range from soft pencil khols, hard pencil khols, gels, liquids, felt tips, you name it, it probably exists!

Illustrations by Kathy Wyatt for Max Factor

Reviews and Swatches

My personal preference, to get that sharp clean wing, is to use a liquid liner. These are the least likely of the liners to smudge, and often contain the most colour pigment too. Having said that, the liquid liner is probably one of the most tricky eyeliners to use. The tips are usually so precise that it's difficult to get a straight line without any lumps and bumps along the way.

Over the past year, i have been rotating the same few eyeliners, trying to decide my favourite, but recently have discovered a gem in the beauty market!

I love the blackness and matte(ness) style of the Maybelline Master Ink Satin Liquid Liner, (£4.99) but it smudges very easily in the corners, and as it's hayfever season, this is not suitable! I will continue to wear this, but probably in winter when all the pollen subsides. The tip is quite chunky, so it's not perfect to create thin lines, but is great as an overall day to day liner.

I also love the Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Liner. (£5.29) It is fairly long lasting, and not as smudgy. Also the tip is so skinny, yet really flexible, so you can get that perfect wing without worrying the tip is going to ping back any second, and ruin what you have spent ages trying to achieve! I feel like i run out of this eyeliner very quickly. I have to scoop alot of the product onto my brush, and 2 months in, it starts running out! 

Poundland, have created a makeup range called Make Up Gallery and i had heard good things about their liner. The Pro Liquid Eyeliner (£1) is amazing. I am currently working with poundland, as a makeup ambassador however this has no influence on my decision at all. I have worn winged liner for almost 7 years straight now and i still struggle sometimes! and have honestly been unable to find a favourite until now.

It has the matte qualities of the Maybelline Liner, and the tip preciseness of the Rimmel Glam Eyes.

It lasts for around 7 hours, on unprimed eyelids, and 9-10 on primed lids. This is perfect, as you can put it on before work in the morning, and know that you will not be coming home with black rings around your eyes.

The only downside to this liner, is the bottle. I feel like i'm going to run out of this product very very quickly. However it's £1, so i could buy 5 for the price of the Rimmel one! They also sell it in bundles of 12, for £12. Which is currently temping me already!

Winged Liner Tutorial & Tips

This image has only been edited to brighten the eyeball, the makeup itself is completely untouched and real!

Step 1: Prime your eyelid. You can use whatever you prefer! I used the Maybelline Fit Me concealer all over the lid and undereye, then set it with a plain cream shadow.

Step 2: Slowly and carefully draw long lines across the eye creating a base for the liner. You do not need to do anything wing related yet! This can be thickened later and doing it in small steps like this helps, especially if you have shaky hands.

Step 3: Fill in the gaps between the lines to create a nice thin line across the eye.

Step 4: Depending on how you want the wing to be, draw a small straight line, emerging from the outer corner of your eye. I usually point my line in the direction of the top of my ear. If you have small round eyes, and want to extend them, draw this line a little longer. If you already have big eyes, you can keep the line smaller. 

Step 5: Work out how thick you want the wing to be, and draw a straight line heading back towards your eye. I personally try to keep this line as horizontal with my eye as possible, as it helps join it to the liner much more easily.

Step 6: Join your lines together slowly and carefully. If you have hooded eyes like me, try shutting your eye and lifting your eyebrows as high as possible, this flattens the skin! Also doing one swift movement from line to line instead of tiny little ones, helps it look smoother.

Step 7: Fill in any gaps!

Step 8 (optional): I like a full liner look sometimes, so i go across my waterline too. I find that using a liquid liner in a waterline is quite a tricky process. If you get it in your eye, a watery mess begins to happen! I try and keep it on my lower section of the waterline, and don't take it down any further than the bottom eyelashes.

Step 9: Add false lashes (or mascara) to complete the look!

Tips:

• If you apply foundation, primer or moisturiser before winged eyeliner, if you make any mistakes it's easier to smudge away with your finger than on dry skin.
• You can use concealer on any thin brush or cotton bud of your choice to really make that line clean and sharp
• Make sure you give your liner brush a little scrape before using it. Too much = messy disaster, Too little = bumpy uneven line
• If you want to make your eyes look extra 'cat eye' like, when drawing around the inner corner, drag both lines further than you would and join together.
• If you like experimenting with fun colours, applying a wet eyeshadow (of any colour) ontop of the black is so easy, and you don't have to bother creating the wing again!

Thankyou for reading this post! Let me know what you think of this liner in the comments below!

Chloe