I remember the first time I ever attempted a cat-eye was in seventh grade, for a middle school dance. By the fifth try, I was frustrated, but not discouraged. I ended up going out that night rocking two drastically different wings on each eye, paired, of course, with a super sparkly Bonne Bell lip gloss. Years later, I still struggle to create the perfect wing, and when I do, I feel like I can conquer the world. Lately, I’ve been finding myself branching out from the standard cat-eye and finding different ways to wear liquid liner on a daily basis. Below are some of the looks I’ve been experimenting with lately.
I started with my usual base—concealer, foundation, powder, highlight, and contour. For the eyes, I applied a matte cream to the lids and browbone, a subtle sweep of brown in the crease, and tinted mascara in my brows. Then it was time for the fun part—the eyeliner.
For the first look, all I did was create a standard wing with my Wet n’ Wild H2O Proof liquid eyeliner (which I will be using for all of the following looks) and followed up by creating tiny black dots running beneath my lower lashline and the wing. This is probably the easiest look of the bunch, and it can be made even easier if you choose to only add dots underneath the wing, instead of along the entire lower lashline. I kept the lips neutral with MAC Lipstick in Faux, a light pinky-brown shade.
For the second look, which was a little trickier than the first, I tried to create blank space in my eyeliner. I created a thick wing, but stopped about halfway in on my lid, and squared the line off. I then did the same on on the inner corners and inner half of my lid, which left me with a sort of triangle shape in the middle of the liner.
To make this look easier, I would recommend finding a small triangular sticker (like the kind found in a nail art kit), placing that where you want the blank space in the eyeliner to be, and using that as a guide to keep the lines even and sharp. I finished this look with a swipe of MAC Lipstick in Ruby Woo.
The last look is the most unexpected, but my personal favorite. For this, I started yet again with a classic black wing, but this time, I outlined that wing with an electric yellow liner. The yellow I used was the NYX Vivid Brights liner in Vivid Halo. The NYX Vivid Brights Liner comes in nine different rainbow hues, and has a super thin, easy-to-control tip. I found I had to layer the yellow twice in order to achieve the vibrancy I was looking for, but once I did, it was just the hit of color I was looking for. I went just as bold on the lips with Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lip Color in Faint For Fuchsia.
Would you ever rock graphic liner? What’s your typical liner look? Let us know in the comments below!
by Ariel Wodarcyk, photos by Christian Dolan