re.create: Day 2, Step 2 - Liner - Pencil thin

Welcome to Day 2 of liner week!

Yesterday I guided you through using an eyeshadow to create a soft winged eyeliner and today we are moving on to pencil.

Pencil is my method of choice for an 'everyday' eyeliner as it's quick and mistakes are more easily corrected than gel. It is however, not quite as long lasting as gel or liquid so if you have somewhere to go in the evening and want it to last all day - practice with this and hang tight for the tutorial on gel/liquid eyeliner tomorrow!

I used a black pencil today but of course you can use another colour if you have a lighter skintone/haircolour or if you want to make an impact with a brighter colour. Here is what I used:

• Paint pot in Bare Study, MAC
• L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow
• Rimmel Scandaleyes FLEX (with Covergirl Clump Crusher wand)
• Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner
• Shiseido eyelash curler
• Cotton bud/Q-tip
• Fluffy eyeshadow brush

The first thing to do is to make sure you pencil is SHARP! My sharpener is not pictured but I sharpen mine every time I use it. I think mine is a generic brand from Boots. This means that I have a nice sharp tip to be working with and also ensures hygiene of your eye products (remember to clean and dry your sharpener every now and then too!).

Next, apply a base - you can use a clear base such as an eye primer if you wish to keep your lids nude, but I topped this off with a soft sweep of a L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow.

From here, you want to use the pencil to draw a wing starting at the outer corner of your eye towards the tail end of your brow. I find that almost stamping the pencil gently along this line is more forgiving as it doesn't pull the skin out of its normal position.

This line doesn't have to be strong yet, and you can also alter the gradient of the wing line as you get to know what looks good on your eyes. I find that if I make the angle too steep I can look quite severe! So I prefer a Sophia Loren-style flatter angle.




Next, rest the edge of the pencil tip along your lashline and make very small lines across it half sweeping half stamping. This will create a very thin line once your open your eyes. The line is likely to be a bit messy at this point but once you have that base line down you can start to make longer strokes with the pencil along your lashline to smooth it out.





As yesterday, you are going to now create a small triangle between your wing and the centre of your lashline. I like to start from the end of the wing when using a pencil because I am going to use my crutch to make the end of the wing thinner in a moment anyway. Fill in the triangle.

Now you can see that the line is there, but the wing looks very messy! We're going to fix that with a cotton bud.

Using a cotton bud dipped in a tiny bit of micellar water or moisturiser, place it on the underside of your messy wing. Gently press down and drag it upwards in the direction that you want your wing to be. I find that it helps to roll the cotton bud downwards towards my eye whilst pulling it back.

Voila! A clean wing. You can see in this picture that my eyes are sensitive and the wing area can get a little red from the cotton bud. I often leave this as it soon returns to normal. However, if you want to cover this up, or if you have already applied foundation/concealer and this has removed some of it then you can use a concealer in this area. I like to use a pencil concealer if I go ahead with this step as it also helps to sharpen the line a bit more.



At this stage you can also smooth out the liner by dragging an angled brush along the pencil. The line will be semi-set at this point so it shouldn't move too much, but dragging an angled brush along the line, particularly at the inner corners can help to get rid of any remaining imperfections.

If you can see any skin between your liner and your eyelashes then you can fix this now by gently pulling your eyelid skin up and filling in the gap with the pencil. You can also tighline your eye now if you wish by drawing with the pencil onto your upper waterline.

If you have oily eyelids then I would suggest that you set the line with some translucent setting powder or even go over the top of it with an eyeshadow of the same colour to help it stick around.

There are different pencils that you can choose from. The Rimmel one that I use here is a gel-style pencil. Khol is a smokier more powdery style of pencil and also works well although I find the gel-style soft pencils last longer on my waterline.

Finish with mascara and you're done!

See you tomorrow for the next step along our liner journey...gel! I will also share with you my secret eyeliner brush that makes the job much easier!

DB xxx