5 Worst Eyeliner Mistakes To Avoid

Makeup

12 Jul 2014 (Updated: 4 Mar 2023)

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Ah, eyeliner. It can take your look from Marilyn Monroe to Marilyn Manson in a matter of seconds, and can be trickier to get to grips with than one of James Franco’s weird poems. Though as long as you steer clear of these 5 Worst Eyeliner Mistakes, you should be well on your way to mastering that flawless liner look.

 1. Forget harsh black liner on the waterlines

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Lining your waterlines with black eyeliner is a great technique, provided you’ve already dusted some shadow around the rest of the eyes too. Sticking to severe-looking black liner on the waterlines alone leaves your eyes looking small and, let’s face it, a bit angry. Remember Yvonne from the series Bad Girls? Well, here’s a picture. I rest my case.

The Estee Lauder Smoky Eye pencils are an easy way to soften everything up.

2. Master the cat eye flick or move on

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It isn’t easy to achieve a gorgeous cat eye flick, but no flick is better than a dodgy one. Believe me, I’ve tried to make the best of a bodged winged liner look and it’s not a good plan. There are approximately 1 billion YouTube tutorials out there to help with the look, and brands such as Benefit have even brought out products like the They’re Real liner to help get that perfect flick. But if you’re just not getting it, don’t worry. Move on – there are plenty of other make up styles which will look equally amazing on you!

3. Not every colour suits everyone

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Brightly coloured eyeliners are great for a bit of a change, but not every shade suits every skin tone. For example, as a pale blonde anything copper/orange makes me look like I’m suffering from some kind of tropical fever, which isn’t strictly the kind of look I go for. If in doubt, start by adding little pops of colour rather than getting your Picasso on, just to figure out what really suits you.

4. Avoid the dreaded eyeliner ‘goop’

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Remember that episode of Friends where Chandler was freaked out by Rachel’s boss Joanna’s ‘mascara goop’ thing? Well, I hate to break it to you (and, of course, Chandler) but eyeliner can have much the same effect. Those little eye boogers that accumulate in the inner corners are neither comfortable nor flattering, especially when you’re having to fish them out using your compact mirror on the bus. Try to avoid lining your eyes right up to the inner corners, or keep a compact mirror handy to sort them out.

5. Don’t over-emphasise the lower eyelid

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For those who get a bit eyeliner-happy, try to avoid piling the liner on to your lower eyelids. Very few eye shapes can get away with this look without their peepers looking droopy and tired, and you’d be amazed at how a mistake like this can change the look of your whole face. By all means tickle your eyeliner along the lower lashline, but don’t fall victim to the excessive raccoon-eyes look. A little soft pencil smudged along the waterline is perfect, smudged on the cheeks? Not such a great look!

16 Comments

  • It took me a while to master the cat eye flick, but I think now I got there, I’ll never regret it! I used to get so frustrated, taking it all off and just dust some eyeshadow on instead… Makes me appreciate it even more now!

    – Elodie x

    http://www.elle-yeah.com

  • This is a great post, love it! And I finally mastered the cat eye flick with the help of Benefit They’re Real liner! So yay to Benefit for creating that!

  • I can only put eyeliner in my bottom lid. I have very pale skin with dark hair a blue eyes. Maybe it’s the shade, maybe it’s my eye shape, but whenever I put liner on the top lid, no matter how thin of the line, when I open my eyes up it just looks like my eyes are completely black like a panda. So now I just do a neutral tone from my naked 3 pallet of eye shadow on top and a thin black line on the bottom and my eyes pop!

    • My eyes are the same way and its very frustrating I know. Have you ever tried doing a tight line on your upper lid? Its very tricky to accomplish at first but after time you get used to it and it looked great for people like us who just don’t have the eye shape for top lid eyeliner.

    • Try applying on your top waterline, under your lashes on your top lid. It gives it a noticeable difference but not panda eyes! With mascara on top lashes and just a bit of eyeliner on the bottom waterline and mascara in the corner on your bottom lashes makes eyes pop!

  • But the most important tip is to do whatever the heck you want! If you want panda eyes and that makes you feel sexy pile that stuff on! As a Sephora makeup artist nothing breaks my heart more than when a fellow artist tesla that person they can’t do something. You an do whatever you want and no one can stop you. Can’t master the cat eye? Keep on goin booboo you’ll get it! Practice makes perfect and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

  • I never actually had problems doing a cat eye lol I never found what was so hard about it

  • Yea I just put it all around my eyes lol …luckily I don’t have watery eyes.

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