Lessons in Life and Eyeliner with the Little One: Part 2 of 2

I do enjoy my eyeliner. Before my daughter A was born, sketching lines on my eyelids was pure pleasure. I'd do fancy cat-eyes with colored liquid eyeliners, and sometimes I'd even paint fake lashes with a tiny brush. I always put my eyeliner through a lot as an active person. Now, as mom to a sprightly almost two-year-old, my eye make-up confronts a shopping list of new elements. Before child (B.C.), I had the luxury of time where I could reapply entire looks at will. If my capricious child throws bubble solution at me, splatters cranberry juice, or reaches for my face with cream-sauce hands, and my make-up is,`redesigned,' I'm lucky if I have a few minutes to dab off what I can. So my eyeliner needs to be able to defy the mighty messes that come with the Little One.

Applying eyeliner, particularly when using the liquid genre, involves a bit of attention, which adds precious time to your beauty regime. Most days I skip it, saving it for the days I really want to pump up my eyes or have those extra five minutes. But the easiest and quickest method of lining your eyes is to simply line the upper half of eyelid along the lash-line, from the middle of the eye to slightly past the outer corners.

For symmetry and even lines,  you can take a q-tip, a sponge wedge or your finger, and gently clean the tops and edges of the line while you're drawing and after. When correcting liquid eyeliner, you may need to moisten your tool with cleanser or moisturizer to help the removal process. With eyeliner you shouldn't see a clear start and end point. The lines shouldn't look like road/traffic lines but like the tips of blades of grass, so blend, blend, blend, as needed. And a thinner line will help you achieve smoother results.

As a busy mama, waterproof liquid eyeliner is probably your longest lasting option, because once it sets, it really can withstand some tough business. If you're not comfortable with liquid liner, I would recommend you stick with a smudge-proof and/or waterproof eye pencil. Liquid liner takes practice and there are ways to do it stress-free, but if the clock's ticking and liquid liner isn't second nature to you, save it for another day.

Everlasting Eyeliner 1-2-3:

In my quest to find an eyeliner that could withstand my daily life and adventures with a 21-month-old, I put various products, and samples that had been sent to me to the test. For a week, I put on a different eyeliners on in the morning. I took the eye make-up off at the end of my on average 16- to 17-hour days so that I could fully assess the longevity of the eyeliner. Here are my two winners, which I suggest you try in black. Black eyeliner is a classic, like the little black dress. You just can't go wrong with it, and it matches everything.

1) This cost-effective eyeliner, Rimmel London Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer ($5) did a surprisingly good job on my eyelids. There was some minor movement of the line, but I had no major smudging. I have small, oily lids, in which make-up tends to move around easily and readily. So the fact that this eye pencil (liquid liner is usually my best option), did so well on me for a big part of the day makes it a great drugstore find in my book. Gently dusting some translucent loose powder on top of your eyelids after your eye make-up is in place will boost staying power.

2) The tokidoki Perfetto Eyeliner ($16), changed my mind about pen-tip (rather than brush-tip) liquid eyeliners, which I had previously felt weren't ever pigmented enough. I had also avoided them because most times they're only smudge-proof and tend to run. However, this one is waterproof and has richly colored ink, which is how it survived a 16-hour day with me -- with the line staying intact.

3) If you want to go for the liquid eyeliner, here's a trick: use the method I mentioned earlier of only lining half your upper eyelid along the lash line. And instead of trying to draw the line in one stroke, starting from the middle of your eye and going out towards your temples, try jotting tiny dashes with the liner first. You can then go back and fill in the line afterward. Remember to let your liquid eyeliner set for at least 10 seconds. A good "set" will ensure a long-lasting line.


-N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.