Eyeliner – Soft Line vs Sharp Line

Hello beauties!! I hope you all have a great start to yet another week.

Seeing as my last product review was all about eyeliners, I thought I’d do a series of posts covering all things eyeliner! Eyeliner has been, and still is, an integral part of makeup application as it can completely transform the eyes. With so many products in the market, we can achieve so many different looks but traditionally there are 2 basic liner styles: Soft smudgy line and the classic sharp line.

Lets go through the 2 basic eyeliner styles and the products we can use to achieve these looks:

I did my eyes with a soft eyeshadow liner on the left and the classic liquid liner on the right. I put them side by side to show you the difference and the effects each style provides.  Personally, lining my top lashline with an eyeshadow has been my signature look for as long as I can remember but I still love both looks – here are my reasons why:

There are so many products and new formulas when it comes to eyeliners; however  regardless of the texture and the finish, there are 4 basic products you can use to line the eyes:

1. Eyeshadow          2. Eye Liner Pencil          3. Liquid Liner          4. Gel Liner

*** Gel liner is the only one I didn’t cover in the pictures below, as I will be doing a separate how-to tutorial, covering all things gel liner soon; so make sure to check back ;)

1. Eyeshadow Line: This is by far my favourite product to line my eyes with. And I know you would have heard, especially makeup artists advise you against using the sponge tip applicators included in eyeshadow kits but I love them! – especially the ones with pointy tip on one end and flat on the other (as pictured). Sponge tip applicators distribute the most concentrated color onto the skin, as there are no bristles like brushes to dust away the powder. I usually use the pointy end to swipe the eyeshadow all the way along my top lashline, and use the flat side to go over it again to smudge it out. You can take the eyeshadow as far up into the eyelid as your prefer; the further up you go, the softer and smokier the look becomes.

2. Eye Pencil Line: Probably the most popular and versatile product. As per the picture above, what’s great about eyeliners, (especially if you have long lasting formulas like the Urban Decay 24/7 liners I covered in my last post), is that you have the flexibility of drawing a sharp line like the liquid liner effect, or smudge it out with a pencil brush to achieve the soft smokey look.

3. Liquid Line: Liquid liners have come a long way over the past few years, especially the ones with sponge tip applicators. They’re almost like calligraphy pens, which help draw lines from the thinnest to the boldest with minimal effort. The Maybelline Master Precise liquid liner is my favourite as it has the calligraphy type sponge tip, the color is also very rich and opaque.

Although I used black in all my pictures to keep things prominent and uniform, you can use any color you prefer to take your eyeliner look from everyday subtle to editorial glam if you wish ;)

What’s your favourite eyeliner style and product?