My friends might say that I'm a winged eyeliner perfectionist, but IMHO, there's always room for improvement and learning. Even though I may have gone through the emotional stages of accomplishing on fleek cat eyes, have already discovered the one secret to perfect eyeliner, and have also experimented with multiple types of liner, never in my makeup history have I used a spoon to do winged eyeliner. Yes, I might be little late on the trend, but using a spoon for my wings? I needed to see what everyone else was saying first.
I researched to see why beauty bloggers were using spoons to put their eyeliner and found that I had been missing out on a technique that could've perhaps saved me from all the frustration I had gone through when I was learning to perfect my eyeliner.
Michelle Phan explained in her blog, "You can use a spoon for, well, just about everything when it comes to prepping your palette and applying your products!" And yes, this also included winged eyeliner. However, although beauty bloggers seemed to love the trend, some makeup artists weren't sold on it.
Celebrity makeup artist Nick Barose told Teen Vogue, "It’s like using a stencil to do your eyebrows; it's not one shape fits. That's like saying you should use a ruler to do eyeliner. Beautiful makeup, to me, is not about severely unnatural perfect lines.”
I mean, it makes sense. I really like the flexibility of doing free-hand eyeliner because it feels really creative each time. Still, I was curious about the spoon technique and had to try it out for myself to see what all the hype was about.
This is the liquid eyeliner I used:
Sephora Collection Long Lasting Eyeliner High Precision Brush, $12, Sephora
Also consider: Prestige Liquid Eyeliner, $5.95, Amazon
And here's how it all went down:
First, I Measured My Wing Lengths
In order to make sure I was applying eyeliner to the right areas, I measured my wing lengths before hand. The spoon was a little bit hard to maneuver at first, but I managed to find places to start and finish.
Next, I Used The Handle For The Bottom Wing
For the bottom part of the wing, I placed the handle alongside my lower lid to where it curves upward. I took my eyeliner and followed the handle all the way up until my wing was completed.
Then, I Used The Spoon For The Top Wing
This was more of a difficult task for me. First of all, the spoon was a little too big for my eyelid. When I tried to apply eyeliner, I sort of just had to trust the spoon instead of take control myself. I placed the spoon halfway in the middle of my lid and connected it to the end point of my bottom wing line. It was basically like a stencil and I just had to follow through with the lines.
I Filled In Accordingly
After my lines were drawn, I filled in accordingly. It's pretty simple once it's done and went really smoothly. My wings were a little thicker than I normally drew them, but it still worked nonetheless.
The Verdict
While it worked, I don't think I'd use this technique again. The spoon seems pretty unnecessary to me and it actually caused a bit of a mess. It was probably because I used liquid eyeliner, but I think even with a pencil, things could get all over the place.
I didn't really like how I had to follow the lines of the spoon as well. Instead of being able to draw the lines myself, I was basically just filling in, which might not be a bad thing for others who just want a guideline. Personally, my lines came out too thick than I normally would do them.
Don't be afraid to try the technique out, though, especially if you're a winged eyeliner newbie. It definitely works, you just need a little bit of patience! No matter how you decide to do your wings, you just have to be confident with yourself and you're good to go, spoon or no spoon!
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Images: Danelle Sandoval
