All you need is eyeliner and loads of creativity to take part in this new Instagram beauty trend
The subtle cat-eye will always be a classic makeup style, but a new trend is pushing eyeliner boundaries beyond the simple “swish and flick.” Beauty gurus on Instagram have been sharing photos of “graphic eyeliner” designs, where they’ve not only traced their upper and lower lash-lines, but their crease as well. Some stick to black liner for stark drama, while others play with color, using purple, red, even orange liquid eyeliners.
If these glam-eyes seem familiar, it might be because you’ve seen them on movie stars and models in the ‘60s. Elizabeth Taylor loved a graphic eye (and I’m pretty sure it loved her back), sometimes using green and blue shadows on her lid, brightened by a bold black outline. Some of the most iconic photos of Twiggy show her working plain graphic eyeliner with little to no shadow — it’s a simple way to achieve that adorable “doe-eyed” look.
Shadow or no shadow, glitter or no glitter, colorful or not, these creations are gorgeous. Here are a few examples of how Instagrammers are personalizing the style:
With Sparkles
Pheonix Colors
Purple Ombré
The style even looks great minimalized, like this.
If you’re interested in trying the graphic eyeliner look for yourself, check out this easy-to-follow tutorial from YouTuber Lauren Curtis (she’s Australian, she beautiful, she’s brilliant). She breaks down how to extend the cat-eye lines into the crease and all the way past the eye’s inner corners. As a bonus, she also shows how to smoke out some of the lines, which is pretty helpful if you are bad at liquid eyeliner (I am regularly mistaken for a racoon when I use liquid eyeliner, so I feel your pain). Once you have her method down pat, you can start customizing the look — maybe go for something understated, like fuchsia glitter.
