Is there any makeup look more universally coveted (and universally failed) than the glamorous cat-eye? When I see a woman with a perfectly sculpted flipped liner end, I feel simultaneously awed, jealous, congratulatory, humbled, and pretty much every other feeling imaginable. After ordering to-go lattes several days in a row at a small, conveniently-located Italian restaurant, I couldn’t help myself. “Your makeup is beautiful. I just can’t do it and I’ve given up ages ago. Is it hard to do?” The barista smiled (that polite bitch had perfectly dewy skin and an infuriatingly radiant smile) and said, “It’s really easy for me now. I’ve been doing it pretty much every day since I was 14.”
That’s rough to hear, I know. Who has the patience to practice for a decade before they feel comfortable sauntering out of the house in that stark black liner?
Inspired, I purchased an inexpensive black felt tip marker-style liner at my local drugstore (Almay’s Liquid Eyeliner Pen, $6.99 at Amazon) so that I could practice. I started with Jane Marie’s how-to video over at The Hairpin for a simple technique. It’s not a good strategy if you want to do it often–the tape kind of pulls off your eye shadow and it made my eyes tear up–but it’s a good tactic to try a handful of times so that you can get the hang of how the cat-eye is supposed to look on your face. After I pulled the tape off (ouch!), I went over the powdered line carefully with my felt tip pen. Perfect!
But a hell of a lot of painful work.
I ended up using the marker to free-hand a cat-eye almost every day for a few weeks. (Alas, one major perk of unemployment is that I could totally screw it up and just shrug it off until the next day without everyone thinking that I’m a half-blind cat lady.) This particular marker is not one I’d rave about, but it’s serviceable enough for a learning hand. Who wants to spend $30 on a product they don’t even know how to use anyway?
By some stroke of luck (OK perhaps a $10/month fee), I received my May Birchbox only a month or two after my cat-eye experimentation started and in that box was the Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner ($22 at Amazon). Glitter??, I thought, gross. I am decidedly not a glitter sort of gal.
Except I was totally wrong. I tried it in the spirit of hell I have it so I might as well throw some of this mess on my face and gasped. It’s gorgeous. The color I received is called Flash and it’s a pretty bronze-olive color that perfectly suits my hazel eyes and the glitter isn’t the big, chunky glitter–instead, the glitter is fine and synchronized in color so that it’s a step above a shimmer. It creates something close to a halo effect, making your eyes look glossy and lively (not in a OMG I’m so high kind of way, but in a I’m feelin’ kind of saucy and flirty kind of way). I think the key is getting the right shade for your eye color. Flash is great for my hazel eyes while Rock Candy and Sequins would be great for both blue and brown eyes. The bolder colors are for you bolder gals.
The fine-tipped brush is great too–it’s mostly stiff but it has a little bit of movement.
Should I tell you the best part? The best part is that the color builds. The first coat goes on light, the second coat is a perfect daytime look, and a third makes the whole look bolder. This building color gives you the opportunity to even out any discrepancies in thickness or liner length between the eyes.
Oh wait, I lied. The best part is that it dries quickly and is waterproof! I mean it! It’s actually really truly waterproof! And it comes off easy with my favorite oil-based makeup remover.
Your Slores on Beauty say: Waterproof? Klutz-proof? Buildable? Easy-peasy? Fuck yeah! I am giving this liquid eyeliner five Sophia Lorens out of five.
If you have any ideas for future posts or questions you’d love for us to address, email me at [email protected] or Dancing Queen at [email protected].
[Photo Sources: Bardot, Karina, eyeliner palette, Loren]
