How-To: Winged Eyeliner

Love the look of winged eyeliner but haven’t quite mastered it? I’ll show you two really easy tricks to help you get the hang of creating this look: the tissue method and the tape method. What?? I know it sounds weird, but using either a piece of tape or a tissue helped me master the winged eyeliner effect.

Here are the steps:

1. Before getting to the tape/tissue part, apply your eyeliner in small short strokes, making sure to thicken the line as you approach the outer corner of your eye. Trying to drag one line across your eyelid often results in unevenness and less product in some areas.

2. Stop when you get to the outer corner of your eye. Your first goal should be to apply the eyeliner as if you weren’t going to wing it out.

3. Once you’re happy with the line you’ve created, choose either the tape or tissue. If you go with the tape, I recommend placing it on the back of your hand and peeling it off first. Do this several times so that it’s not so sticky when you place it near your eye. If you have really sensitive skin or have some kind of reaction from sticking the tape on your hand, please don’t use this method! If you choose the tissue, fold it in half.
 

4. Align the tape or tissue with the bottom rim of your eye (you should try to match the angle), like so: 

5. If you’re using a tissue, you’ll either have to hold it in place while you finish your eyeliner or tape it down. Even if you tape it down, you’ll need to apply light pressure near your eye to make sure the tissue doesn’t come up while you are applying your eyeliner.
 

6. In small short strokes, draw a line from the outer corner of your eye along the tape or tissue. The length is up to you; it all depends on how dramatic you want to make the look.
 

7. Once you have drawn that line, start at the very end of the line and slowly draw back toward the center of your eye in order to connect the wing and the rest of your eyeliner. Fill in any gaps.

You're done!

A few tips:

I think that this look works best with either liquid or gel eyeliner. These types of eyeliners are a bit difficult to wipe away once they dry, so one idea is to lightly trace out the shape of your eyeliner with the same color eye pencil or eyeshadow before putting on the liquid or gel liner.

Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get it perfect right away. Keep a cotton bud soaked in eye makeup remover handy to clean up any mistakes.

Have you tried this method? Do you use guides to apply any of your makeup?