I, A Person Horrible At Eyeliner, Tried Pinterest Eyeliner Tips

    Liquid liner will be my undoing.

    Leonora Epstein
    by Leonora Epstein

    BuzzFeed Staff

    The perfect winged, liquid-lined eye is a beautiful thing. It's also not the world's easiest makeup move.

    wifflegif.com

    But when done well, oh how beautiful it is!

    Like many women, I feel I lack the skills to really execute an amazing lined eye. I can do it, but, it's not like I've ever felt that my result is anything near what you see on Pinterest or in beauty magazines.

    So I decided to select a handful of eyeliner tips popular on Pinterest and see how useful they'd be to someone with a shaky hand and subpar eyeliner confidence.

    pinterest.com

    The tutorial:

    Elizabeth Griffin / cosmopolitan.com

    What you do: Don't worry about creating a perfect line, just overcompensate by drawing a thicker/rough line, then clean it up with petroleum jelly and a Q-Tip.

    Here are my results:

    Elizabeth Griffin / cosmopolitan.com
    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    Overall thoughts on the messy technique:

    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    Horrible! Petroleum jelly DID NOT remove my liner. It hardly budged. Perhaps makeup remover or coconut oil would have worked better but either way, you'd end up wiping up any foundation/concealer you may have used as a base.

    Score: I gave the messy tutorial 0 out of 5 eyeliners.

    The tutorial:

    makeuptrends.maybelline.com

    What you do: Create dots along your lash line and connect them.

    Here are my results:

    makeuptrends.maybelline.com
    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    Overall thoughts on the dot technique:

    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    This is a good idea in principle for someone who wants a clear guideline to follow. The issue is that you need to know WHERE to put the dots. The angle of the the wing is pretty important as is the shape (straighter vs. more curved). I found that it wasn't so easy to cover up the dots (and I didn't want a huge stripe on my lid). But I also thought maybe the liner I used (NARS eyeliner stylo) wasn't the best for the job.

    Score: I gave the dot tutorial 2 out of 5 eyeliners.

    The tutorial:

    Michelle Phan / youtube.com

    What you do: Angle a business card at the outer corner of your eye and pencil over it to create a straight wing.

    Here are my results:

    Michelle Phan / youtube.com
    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    Overall thoughts on the business card trick:

    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    It's really hard to get a business card to stay flush with your skin — you can end up making a line below if there's any space between your skin and the card. Also, if you want to go back over your first mark, it's pretty tough to line the card back up perfectly.

    Score: I gave the business card trick 2 out of 5 eyeliners.

    The tutorial:

    Kathleen Kamphausen / elle.com

    What you do: Stick a strip of angled Scotch tape at the corners of your eyes and draw over it to use as a guide.

    Here are my results:

    Kathleen Kamphausen / elle.com
    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    Overall thoughts on the tape trick:

    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    This worked better than the business card trick for me as it freed up both hands (with the card trick, you need to constantly hold it to your face). But, as usual, I really struggled getting the angles on each eye to match.

    Score: I gave the tape trick 3 out of 5 eyeliners.

    The tutorial:

    avintageaffairgal.blogspot.com

    What you do: Create a triangle that you end up filling in.

    Here are my results:

    avintageaffairgal.blogspot.com
    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    Overall thoughts on the winged tutorial:

    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    With some more practice, I feel like this might actually be a method I regularly employ when I'm lining my lids for an evening look. The great thing about this tutorial is that you can start with a smaller triangle (if you're like me, then you're scared to start out too big) and add a bit more to the top slope.

    Score: I gave the winged tutorial 4 out of 5 eyeliners.

    The tutorial:

    imgur.com

    What you do: Angle your liner (felt-tip) at the corner of your eye. Firmly place it down, then push it in towards your lid.

    Here are my results:

    imgur.com
    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    Overall thoughts on the push method:

    Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

    I found the right eye more difficult to maneuver than the left eye, but I think with a bit of practice, this method might actually be the easiest. It sort of takes the mathematics out of drawing a freehand curve, and, with a felt-tip, you're using the edge of your pen as a line.

    Score: I gave the push method 4 out of 5 eyeliners.

    The hacks I'd use again: The tape trick, the draw-in-triangle/winged tutorial, and the push method.