Turning weaknesses into strengths

If it's one valuable thing I have learnt so far on this course, it is that practise is everything. As an artist I think it is not only important to practise what we are good at but to also push out of our comfort zones and practise our weaknesses until they become our strengths. As part of our homework, Branka asked us to think about what we find difficult and to practise that particular skill.

For me personally, the thing I struggle with the most is eyeliner. I find it quite difficult to achieve quickly and definitely want to quicken my pace when applying it as well as angling the line right and achieving a flattering line.

Attempt 1

 

Attempt 2

 

Attempt 3

To create the eyeliner, I used both an artists brush and a small angled brush with a water based liner. Personally, I really do not enjoy using MAC blacktrack for eyeliner. I find the product very drying and I don't like the consistency of the product. I find a product with a thinner consistency like the cake liner I used for this look, works much better as it glides on the skin.

Attempt one:

Attempt one was quite successful in that the line on the lid is actually rather straight and even. I used a thin artists paint brush to achieve this and I think it worked well. I do think that I could have gotten it closer to the lash line however as there is a really small gap between the lash line and the liner. The main problem with this attempt is with the angle in which I took the liner on the outside edge of the eye. Rather than wing it upwards, I have curved the liner around the natural eye shape which is not very flattering in the slightest. Seeing as I was not happy with this attempt completely, I decided to try it again.

Attempt two:

For this attempt, I created a much thicker liner which was completely intentional. Learning from the last application, I made sure that the angle in which the liner was placed on the outside corner of the eye was much higher than the previous attempt. I'm really pleased with this attempt and think that the liner is completely even and steady on the top lid. I do think that I got carried away with the bottom lid and it is slightly too thick and needs to be angled more into the top flick. Overall, I am pleased with the progress that I am making.

Attempt three:

I decided that the thick eyeliner just didn't suit my model at all and so I created another thinner liner using the angle brush. I angled this flick outwards, with a slight lift but didn't take it too high. Raising the lid really helped me to get close to the lash line and I was happy with the finished outcome.

I was really pleased that I was able to practise applying the liner and although my technique is not  flawless yet, I know that with practise it is going to strengthen until it is perfected and easy to achieve. I really want to push my eyeliner technique so that I am able to create more high trend, creative eyeliners so it is definitely something that I am going to keep practising.