HOW-TO: COLOURED EYELINER -

Sometimes adding a pop of colour to our makeup routine can be a little intimidating. Award winning makeup artist, Stacey Whittaker explains that it doesn’t have to be scary.

You see it on the catwalk and you’ve seen it on #BBloggers and celebrities like Rhianna and Katy Perry, but when it comes to making your eye makeup a little more colourful, it can be hard to know where to start. We’re left knowing that we just can’t get a flick that perfect, or that our smudged look would end up resembling more of a black eye than glamour We asked award winning MUA, Stacey Whittaker about her top tips for adding colour to your lids and doing it with tip-top confidence.

Let’s get down to basics. Before we try the hard stuff like cultivating our liner wings (let’s face it, it’s probably never going to happen), we need to get to grips with the simpler things like knowing what colour to put on our eyes, according to our eye colour. Stacey said that, to her, “makeup is all about experimenting and I encourage playing around with colours to find out what you like and what works for you. Blue liners do tend to make brown eyes pop due to the contrast and for blue eyes I love to use an orange liner or shadow to make the eye colour really stand out.”

Once we’ve mastered choosing the right shade for our eyes, what do we plan to do for the rest of our makeup? Stacey recommended that we stick to what we know when it comes to everything else. “This entirely depends on the individual, if you are someone who is used to wearing quite natural and neutral makeup, I would definitely recommend keeping the rest of your makeup simple to avoid overwhelming yourself. However, if you are quite experimental with your makeup already, then I love to pair a pop of bright eye makeup with a red lip or a pink gloss depending on your chosen colours. I would recommend keeping face makeup fairly neutral and opt for soft bronzers and if anything, a light peach blush. This will keep the focus on your eye makeup and make it really stand out. “

The struggle is real when it comes down to deciding between pencil liner and liquid liner. It’s essentially choosing between potentially over smudging or ruining your makeup entirely with uneven or totally disastrous wings – more than likely for us it’s the latter. Stacey explained that she prefers to use pencils and that she recommends this to her clients as well as it’s easier to do by yourself in your own home. “A soft, creamy kohl liner is much easier to work with and is more forgiving too. A liquid liner requires precision and can be frustrating if you are not an experienced makeup artist. Work with a kohl liner and use a small shadow brush to blend and buff this in instead.”

All of this can be a little scary. Have you ever tried a new makeup look that’s so far out of your comfort zone that you can barely see it? Then you look in the mirror one more time while you anticipate leaving the house and instantly run back upstairs and settle for a bare face because that’s all you’ve got time for now? Us too, don’t worry. We asked Stacey how to, well, not do that, and how to experiment with confidence. “If you are open to trying coloured makeup and mascara you are already halfway there and just have to remind yourself that it isn’t anything too serious. Makeup can be fun and when you allow yourself to step out of your comfort zone it is refreshing. Just remember that it will wash off at the end of the day and have some confidence that when you feel good, you look good too. Start small with a coloured mascara and work your way up to a coloured shadow.” She explained.

Confidence in yourself is key, but also knowing that you can just take it off later is a very good way to look at it it. We’ll be taking this advice and trialling some coloured eyeliner looks here at etc., so keep your eyes peeled for our attempts at rocking it. While you’re here, take a look at our favourite coloured eye products from Indulge Beauty below.