15 Classy Eyeliner Styles

Eyes are the windows to the soul, they say. So shouldn’t these windows be a little pretty and attractive?

Eyeliners are perhaps the best kind of make-up created for the eyes. They transform the eyes and give them at entirely different look. Putting on eyeliner is, in fact, like painting. Just the right kind of strokes with your brush or pen and you get the look you want. But sometimes it’s hard to figure out which look might suit you and how to get it. So here are 10 different shapes and variations in eyeliner design to make your eyes stand out:

1. Simple/Straight

This is the most simple everyday look. All you have to do is trace your natural lash line by drawing a straight line over your natural eye line and fill in any gaps to make it look even. Once you’ve mastered this technique, you can use this as the basis for many other eyeliner designs. For this you can use a thin brush or a pen.

2.Classic Winged

After applying the Simple eyeliner design, begin to wing it out from the corner, angling is upward towards your brow, and then connect it to the line on the liner on the lash line in a smooth, even stroke.

3. Double Winged

After you’re done with the winged, draw another wing from the outer corner, preferably from the lower lash line and parallel to the original wing but with a little space in between the two. This eyeliner style is more eye-catching than the Classic Winged as it can be combined with so many colours.

4. Contrast

Contrast design is basically a play of colours. Sometimes a stark contrast can be very dramatic and arresting. For this technique use a white or cream coloured Kohl pencil and line your inner waterline (where we apply our Kajal). This will make your eyes look larger and brighter. If you’re sporting a classic winged, you can fill in the gap between the two parallel wings with the same colour.

5. Basic

For this, start applying your eyeliner from the middle on the lash line and stay as close to the line as possible. Bring the thin line down to meet the corner of your eyes.

6.Drama

This is an extremely bold look. It is merely an extension of the classic winged, but it’s more thick and more winged! This look is most suitable for big events like parties, social functions etc. for this you need a thick brush and a gel eyeliner, preferably Maybelline’s Everlasting Drama Gel Eyeliner.

7. Smooth

It’s basically a straight line, a single stroke that traces the lash line and then goes outward in a wing. For this look, a thin brush would do.

8. Bold

It is simply the drama look, just without the wings, and a little less drama! Here again, you just trace the lash line with a thick stroke that might just go right up to the crease. You can wing this one too, but just a little bit. For this look too you need a thick brush or a gel liner.

9. Fish

In this style the only dominant thing are the two faced wings. So the liner over the lash line needs to be a very thin line, or the entire thing will end up looking too loud. This has a wing going upwards (like other normal wings), and one wing going downwards from the same outer corner, making the two resemble the tail fins of a fish!

10. Feline

This is a very pretty cat-eye look. It has a wing in the outer corner curving upwards and a pointy line meeting end to end and going very slightly downwards from the inner corner of the eyes, as shown in the picture.

11. Arab

For the Arab eye look, connect the eyeliner on the inner most part of your eye so that the line on the top and bottom meet up on a very sharp angle point, pointing downwards. The classic wings and the pointed liner in the inner corner combined will give your eyes an Arabian look!

12. Artsy Swoop

This is for all those women with guts who like to experiment with their make-up and have a knack for standing out in the crowd. One of styles is where you start with the classic wing and then where the wing ends arc a line inwards to your crease. Then you can smooth out the shape a bit and create a curved shape on the inner part of the design so that it looks a bit more streamlined. This style can look pretty interesting when used with colourful eye-shadows. This was, however, just a single variation. A lot of artsy looks can be created if you have a good imagination and a hell lot of practice!

13. Sixties Flick

It is similar to the classic winged but there are a little variations. Firstly, the liner is much thicker all around and the wing at the end is not very far extended. Here, the wing is angled up, much steeper towards your brow, i.e, more upwards than outwards, and then connected in a thick line to the base, making it look pretty much like a sail boat!

14. Smudge

To create a smoky, smudgy look, use a soft Kohl pencil or a smudge pencil that doesn’t stick stubbornly to your skin. Apply in on your top and lower lid, staying close to the outer corner. It doesn’t have to be neat as it’s going to be rubbed and smudged away anayways. Then take a pointy brush or a smudge brush and start smudging the liner in soft, circular and side-to-side motions. Your lash line should be the darkest and the colour should slowly fade out from there. You can use this technique for a super quick Smokey Eye effect!

15. Tightline and Waterline

This is something you should do before applying almost all types of eye liners. For a tightline, use a Kohl pencil that stays longer and apply it on the inner part of your lid base by gently pulling your lid upwards. This will make your lashes look a lot thicker. For waterline, do the exact same thing on the lower inner lid. If you have small eyes, do not use this technique in a dark colour as this will make your eyes look even smaller.

You can use these classy styles and variations to take a break from your regular boring eyeliner routine. They might appear a little tough, but you can master them with a little practice and make your girlfriends jealous. You can easily combine these with eye shadows and get even cooler looks for parties, dates and big events.