re.create: Day 3, Step 3 - Liner - Perfect gel

Day 3 of liner week begins now! Today we have the holy grail of eyeliner - gel or liquid.

Now opinions are divided as to which medium is longer lasting or allows you to achieve that sought after dark dark black colour. For me, I like both! And I will show you both options today. Gel liners tend to come in a small pot and there are decent options available from at lower and higher prices. Some of the most popular include:

• Maybelline gel eyeliner 
• MAC gel in Blacktrack
• Inglot gel eyeliner, Black
• Urban Decay eyeliner in Perversion

 I have yet to try is the Inglot one, but I've heard rave reviews of a matte black finish, see for example Jinglehart's review here. Urban Decay is newer to the market but has also received good reviews. MAC Blacktrack is not the blackest black ever, but it is very smooth and I find the texture easier to work with than the Maybelline one that I owned previously.




*Gel eyeliner tip! I heard somewhere that storing your gel eyeliner pot upside down (lid down) can minimise the air that might seep into the pot. I've no idea why this works, but at the very least it can't do any harm!*

Liquid eyeliners come in two main forms - a brush and ink style, and a pen/sharpie style. The only exception to this seems to be Kat von D's Tattoo liner which is a pen-style liner but with a brush tip - I really want to try this but can't justify an order from Sephora when I have a full pot of gel eyeliner from MAC to use up first...

Of the pen eyeliners, I have been disappointed by how long they last before they dry up, and also haven't found them to be very black at all especially after the first few uses. I've tried the L'Oreal superliner, the Bourjois angle-tipped mega liner, the MUA pen eyeliner and the Soap and Glory Supercat liner. Of these, I've found the Soap and Glory and MUA versions to be the best in terms of lasting power on the lid, not drying up, and blackness. I'll probably go back to MUA once mine runs out because of the price difference.

Of the liquid liners, I'll admit that I haven't tried that many as I usually use a pencil, pen, or gel. However, I really am a fan of the No.7 liquid liners and have them in two beautiful colours - a silver-pewter colour and navy blue. The lasting power of these on the lid is amazing! I have slightly oily lids and sometimes can suffer smudging, which is why I usually use a primer and set my liner with powder. The No.7 liners come with a nicely shaped, long brush tip, and last.all.day. If you find yourself with a Boots voucher to spend on No.7 I highly recommend these, they are great stuff.

Right, so on with the tutorial! Gel and liquid eyeliners use exactly the same technique since they both involve a brush tip (or similarly shaped foam tip on a pen eyeliner) Here is a little list of what I used today:

• Paint pot, Bare Study, MAC
• Gel eyeliner, Blacktrack, MAC
• Liquid eyeliner, silver/pewter, No.7 Boots
• Scandaleyes Flex mascara, Rimmel (with Covergirl Clump Crusher wand)

On the subject of tools you can go for the same angled brush that we've been using on previous days, or you can find special eyeliner brushes. These come in two main shapes - an oval ended brush, like the one that comes with the Maybelline gel eyeliner, and a long thin shape. Push-liner brushes are also available in a square-ended shape, but I wouldn't recommend this for a winged eyeliner look.

Now for my secret weapon for gel eyeliner.....a nail art brush! These are teeny tiny and allow me to create the thinnest line and have a lot of control over the line. As we all know, the road to eyeliner-dom isn't always smooth and so it's best to start with a thin line and build up as needed/to cover up mistakes!



As before - prime and add a base colour if desired.








Next, dip your brush into the gel pot and twizzle your brush around so that it's coated on all sides with gel. I like to put a bit more on that is necessary then put it onto the back of my hand, giving the brush a twizzle to get the excess off. I will use this excess as my source for topping up my brush rather than dipping straight into the pot everytime from now on as this helps limit the risk of getting too much on the brush and it getting everywhere!







Then as before, create your wing. Now I'm doing it without tape today, but by all means you can use this method for gel too. Other options include using a business card and the arm of a spoon, but I don't tend to favour these since I don't like to have to reach across my face to hold them in place.

Next, nestle the liner along your lashline and make small line all across it until they join up.















Starting halfway down the wing, create a triangle that joins up back to the centre of your lid, as before, adjust the angle of this line for a thicker or thinner line. Fill in the triangle.

Tightline as desired. Clean up with a cotton bud is needed. Add mascara. Voila!

In this last picture I've added a line above my gel eyeliner with a liquid liner in a pewter colour just to show you how awesome it is! Often I will use this just on its own for a slightly more subtle but unusual effect.

DB xx