My journey in liquid eyeliner: 2009-2011

About two years ago, I decided that I'd start to learn how to use liquid liner properly.  It wasn't going well until I started blogging about it and other bloggers (namely Amina!) told me that it would come to me with a bit of practice. 

I look back at this photo and laugh now, wondering what I was so proud of.  The liner is about five metres away from my lash line and the flick is practically by my ear..

Then I graduated onto this.. I managed to get it near the lashline enough so that it looks decent out in public yet the winged liner was still a distant dream.  I was quite chuffed with this and I wore this look a fair few times.  I used the Collection 2000 liquid liner for this.  It applies like a dream but I wouldn't buy again as it goes off quickly.  If you can't breathe without putting your liquid liner on, then this is a good budget buy as it dries quickly and literally glides along your eyelid and doesn't get caught in your lashes.  The eyeshadow is a layered affair, taken from Bobbi Brown's Basic Eye palette..

This formed part of a post I had about taking my makeup from day to night..you can see that I've learnt how to blend two shades on my eyelid and the importance of having come colour in the lower lashline.  I find that wearing my liner like this only works well when I've got glasses on as otherwise, it drags my eye down.  This type of fluid line was a rare achievement by the way, it's seldom graced my blog since.

I did say the liner in the photo above was a rare occurence back then..and that's evidenced by this photo right here.  However, check me out managing to blend three colours on my lid when before I couldn't even manage one.  The liner is the Collection 2000 one again, notice what I mean about it going manky after a while?

Then we have the last one to feature on here.  Yes, the winged liner isn't its best but I was in a rush and compare it to photo 1.

I remember when I first started learning how to apply liquid liner properly and every was telling me how it would take time but you would get it in the end.  I always thought either you could line your eyes or you couldn't.

Then I found gel/cream liner and thought my prayers were answered.  Although that does give you more control in getting it closer to the lashline, getting decent flicks with gel is harder than with liquid as you really need to find a good brush..something which is easier said than done.  The best brush I've found for gel liner so far is Benefit's Get Bent brush.

This post clearly shows that with enough practice (I practiced very rarely) you can start to line your eyes properly and then in time, move onto a winged liner...

The Swatch Files: GOSH Extreme Art Waterproof Liner shade 01

I came across this when I was looking for the infamous Holographic polish but as this store had none, I decided to buy a liquid liner instead.  I have this "thing" where if I go out looking for something specific and don't find it, I have to buy something else.  This time it was a GOSH liquid eyeliner.  There was a time when a liquid liner would be the last thing I'd buy but as I'm improving, I'm learning to use colours other than black. 

I find it odd how 01 is not black as something in my mind assumes that black would be 01 and then the less conservative colours would be 02, 03 etc..seems like they're being revolutionaries..much like Walkers and their blue Cheese and Onion packets.

I thought this would work as a nice brown-y, copper-y colour but as the swatches show..it's a lot more purple-y which is OK with me..purple brings out brown eyes.  It's a really unique colour, a mishmash of purple and brown..and them some copper.

Longevity wise, these last an age.  They're called semi-permanent and they really are!  My eyes watered, I touched my lids and they stayed in place.  I have a sneaky feeling that Superdrug might be discontinuing these so I'm going to try and track down a black, dark green and a blue just in case!

If you like the look of these, run to Superdrug as they're all currently on half price..

EOTD: Liquid eyeliner, Family Guy, Hemingway and socks

The other night I was on Twitter lamenting about how I don't read as much as I should.

The book which inspired the lament was The Essential Hemingway, a book I had bought and left at work.

I shut the computer down at 11 with the intent to watch Family Guy and start reading some of my other books which needed a good read.

Then I decided to open my makeup drawer..just to have a look inside.

I ended up picking up my liquid liner and seeing if I could get a smooth line across the lid without using a rest for my elbow.

I was pretty shocked when I found out that I could, then I went a bit further and decided to Cleopatra my eye a bit and this is what happened:

This alone is quite a big achievement for me as I couldn't even do this WITH an elbow support back in December.

I got a bit brave and decided to see if I could link it around the bottom..

It turns out that (bar a few extra dabs) I could.

I'm quite pleased with this despite the fact that the liner on the top was a tiiiiiiiny bit patchy but I can iron that out the more I practice.  The one main thing I learnt was that you don't get a decent thick line after one go, you need to do a thin line first and then build it up.

The liner in question is a super cheap one from the local chemist, I think it cost me about £1.  It's really black, dries super fast and doesn't shift until you remove it yourself and even then it doesn't smudge, it comes off in flakes.  If anyone's interested, it's this one:

And check out these gorgeous socks I got on my lunchbreak, they were only a fiver!

I wanted to get a pair of socks that had a brown bear and a white bear (i.e. me and the Rossman) but the lady only had a display pair of those so these socks are me and the Rossman with a tan!


What eye makeup looks have you girlies been wearing lately?