Lately, I've been all about winged eyeliner hacks, courtesy of brilliant, inventive, and talented vloggers and Internet makeup artists who show off their mad skills on Instagram. Vlogger Rochelle Wick used a cotton swab as her winged eyeliner guide and it worked. It's actually the best tool for beginners attempting the cat eye flick.
From Bobby pins to curved tweezers to dental floss picks to the Vamp Stamp, there are many unexpected items that can be repurposed as guides to create that much-desired, hard-to-get, perfectly even flick at the outer corners of eyes. But a cotton swab?
I admit I would never have thought of using it as a wing guide and for these specific reasons.
To create the curved wing, you need something straight or stiff for a precision flick. One would think that the cotton head of a swab would make things a bit messy, be imprecise, and leave you with fibers and piling.
But Internet MUA Wick painted a basic cotton swab with black liquid liner and then stamped it on the skin next to her eyes where you create the wing. She then used the brush to fill in and connect the lines.
The stamp doesn't deposit a perfect, prefabricated wing. But it does provide a jumping off point. It's truly a cheap, easy, and ingenious winged eyeliner hack for novices and noobs, as Wick noted.
Often, I point out that if you choose to try winged eyeliner hacks with things like Bobby pins and tweezers, you need to be really careful, since you are using something sharp near your precious eyes.
Not to mention that a sharp object could puncture or damage that delicate skin. I always say you have to proceed with considerable caution for these hacks before enjoying the end result.
While you need to be careful with any object, even a cushioned one like a cotton swab, near your eye, this feels like the least dangerous eye liner hack I've seen.
So, yeah, if you are just getting started with winged eyeliner, the cotton swab hack is the way to go. Wick told Bustle via email that "I'm always looking for eyeliner hacks, as a lot of people struggle with it. I love coming up with makeup hacks that anyone can easily access. This is designed for beginners and it serves as a guideline only. The main purpose of the hack is to make sure that both wings are placed at an even level and angle and it forms a base which you can work with to create the desired eyeliner."
She continued, "The only thing you need to do it take some time and draw out a nice wing on the Q-tip and you can use this template every day. It saves a lot of time, effort, and product!" Watch Wick's video in full and earn your wings.
