WomensStuff

Are you doing a pencil, gel, or liquid? All of them have their own challenges. Some pencils are better than others, but I also haven't used a pencil in a long time. Ones where I had to press down harder and were dry were trash to me.

I like liquid with a brush, but I had to stop because my oily lids would just... Melt it off. I could get some crisp lines with them, though.

For gel, I would use an angle brush. I would start from the center of the eye outwards, then go from the outside to the middle to even it out if that makes sense. After I did that, which I always find to be the least forgiving part, I would do the rest of the eye.

No matter what type I am applying, I would have a mirror near my face, my elbow on the table, and the brush or pencil in my hand. This way, I only have to control my hand with my wrist. I don't have to think about my shoulder.

Make sure you have some good, gentle makeup remover. Practice a LOT. I also just had to wear it for a bit just so I get used to my face looking different.

I found that using a lighter hand on the lower part of the eye, if I put any, gives me a look I prefer over lining the whole eye uniformly.

I really struggle as well. One tip I got was to lean my hand on my face. So a single contact point between your hand and face that you kinda pivot around, which helps a lot. Still hard.

Another thing you can do is go for a smoky eyes look instead. Most examples are black but you can really go for any color combo you like! Smoky eyes I think usually also involves eyeliner, but you can still play around without and get pretty eye makeup.

You want to figure out your eye shape and look for tutorials specifically made for it.

One trick is to hold a piece of paper or card from the corner of where your eye ends to end of your eyebrow and draw your eyeliner along that line.

Eyeshadow can also be used instead of liner. It’s more forgiving because of the softness.

Best thing I found was a soft pen eyeliner, because fuck pencils.

Also, always use loads. Worst case scenario is you'll look like a heroin addict, so people won't bother you. Best case scenario, you look badass.

Don't ppl go to sephora for this and have the makeup life ppl show you how you can do it?

I really like a smudgy, smoky look, so my method is applying pencil liberally and maybe not carefully, then rubbing my eyes with fingertips to smudge it, then using makeup remover to shape it up. Bonus: I don't need eyeshadow

If you're willing to share a pic of your current eyeliner attempts, I could take a look and provide some tips for improvement.

But generally, decide what you're lining - top lash line is most common; I think bottom liner might still be out of style? (I don't care, I still rock it anyway, but it's something you might want to check on.) You could also tightline, which is using eyeliner on your upper and/or lower waterline (the thin part of your eyelid between the lashes and eyeball).

Assuming you're doing top and/or bottom loner: start with a sharp eye pencil and draw the line as thin as you can to start out. This will give you a sketch to build on. Try to hug the lash line as much as possible - make sure you can't see skin between your lash line and eyeliner. Avoid lining the inner corner of your eye (it can look weird; usually I save that for a more editorial look).

Once you've done this with both eyes, compare them and make any adjustments needed until the shape and line width are the same. Then you can dull the tip of your eye pencil (try tapping it gently against your palm a couple of times) and start building the line up to your preferred width. Go slow and switch back and forth between your eyes as you go to make it as symmetric as possible.

The kind of eye pencil you use will make a huge difference. You want one that's got a nice creamy formula because those are easier to work with. I'm a fan of the Urban Decay 24/7 liners - they come in loads of colors and last a long time. Almost any color is fine to start with except Perversion - that one has a more difficult formula. If you want black, try Zero -

- or for a nice soft grey-brown shimmer, my favorite is Mushroom!

Generally when you're starting out, don't go for something more complicated like winged liner until you're confident with basic liner. And when you're ready to try wings, you can get liquid eyeliner wing stamps (search on Amazon, there are a ton), or you can try with eyeshadow and an angled brush (much more forgiving than a pen!).

Another piece of advice: YouTube has loads of makeup tutorials, so you might want to look for a basic eyeliner tutorial there.

Good luck!