Professional Eyeliner Tips

Checking for Mistakes

After using powder eyeshadow as eyeliner, check for drippies under the eye and on the cheek.

Drippies are those little powder flakes that fly off the brush and land on the cheek.

Knocking off the excess from the brush every time helps prevent drippies, but there will always be flakes that end up where they don't belong.

Eyeliner Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not use greasy or slick pencils to line the lower lashes; they smear and smudge.

2. Do not use brightly colored pencils or eyeshadows to line the eye; they are distracting and automatically look like too much makeup. All you'll see is the color and not your eye.

3. Do not extend the eyeliner beyond the corner of the eye (no wings).

4. Do not make the eyeliner the most obvious part of the eye-makeup design.

5. Do not line the inside rim of the lids, between the lash and the eye itself; it is messy and can be unhealthy for the cornea.

6. If you do use pencil to line the eye, apply a small amount of eyeshadow over your pencil eyeliner to help set it and keep it from smearing.

7. Do not apply thick eyeliner to small or close-set eyes.

8. Do not use eyeshadow as eyeliner unless you use the proper brush (one with a small, precise, fine-tipped point).

9. Do not line the eye with a circle of dark or bright color. Both are too obvious and create an eyeglass-style circle around the eye.

10. Do not overblend, spilling your eyeliner onto the skin under the lower lashes; that makes dark circles look worse.