Agony Al: How do I Keep My Eye Makeup in Place?

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You asked: how do I keep my eye makeup in place?

When I asked for your beauty dilemmas this month, I was inundated with questions about making eye makeup last: everything from eye primers for hooded lids, stopping eyeliner smudging, and how to prevent leaking eyes. It feels like the perfect time to answer all of your eye makeup questions, because I’m going through a breakup with my first love, so am in a near constant state of hysteria. IT. IS. ROUGH.  I’m somebody that cries regularly anyway, but the thought of spending my life without my 6” emotional support butch has my eyes streaming more than usual. If I don’t take concrete steps to budge proof my makeup, I look like Alice Cooper five minutes after I’ve applied my mazzy. 

There’s so much shame around being emotional post breakup; we’re encouraged to win by moving on fast, sucking up our tears, and carrying on like everything is normal. I’ve been telling people that I’m doing absolutely fine post breakup with 3/4 of my eyebrows shaved off and an open wound on my undereye where I used nail scissors to gouge out my millia. I am NOT fine! Crying is healing, so why are we made to feel ashamed of doing it? It’s a huge adjustment to lose the person in your life you were closest to. I won’t stop crying, but I won’t let it ruin my beat.

Whatever reason your eyes are leaking, lemme help you keep your makeup in place. This is how I do a black winged liner, and make it last longer than any of my relationships ever have. 

The Prep

Even before I was lamenting the death of my relationship, my eyes were prone to watering. I asked my optician about it and she explained that irritated, dry eyes produce excess tears in an attempt to lubricate the area, meaning you get annoying, runny eyes. It seems counterintuitive to be spraying liquid into your eyes when you’re trying to stop liquid coming out of them, but since I started using dry eye drops, I very rarely get the dreaded leaky corners (unless I’m listening to Mitski, obv). 

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

The Primer

Despite having the driest skin on earth, for some reason my eyelids did not get the memo. You could successfully strike a match against the planes of my sandpapery face, but my eyelids? OIL SLICKS. My greasy lids are also hooded, so keeping shadow in place is a nightmare for me. 

I’ve tried all of the most popular primers: Plouise, Milani, Urban Decay and even Nars, my kit staple and oily skin clients’ favorite, but NONE of them seem to work for me.

The combination I am currently using, however, withstands even my heaviest wailing session, stops my baggy eyelid from creasing up my shadows and even seems to stop shimmer transferring from my lid to my eyebrow bone - magic!

Before I do makeup, I always soak in moisturiser, but I make sure to remove it from eyelid ~half an hour before application. 

Nakey lids. 

Then I go in with my my hidden gem, Mac’s Prep + Prime 24 Hour Eye Base. If you’re looking for a cruelty free or cheaper alternative, I’ve heard great things about Wet n Wild’s Photofocus primer. 

You need so much less than you’d think of this primer. Seriously, just enough to cover and buff into the lid. 

This primer is so blurring, on more natural days I use it alone. 

You could stop here and go straight in with shadow, but I have a lot of dark hyperpigmentation on my lids, so I want to blank them out so whatever colour I lay down is as bright as it possibly can be. I go in with an OG eye primer, Mac’s Paint Pot in Painterly. I’m super pale, so this pale pinky beige shade works for me, but there are LOADS to choose from. Again, there are cheaper options: people RAVE about ELF’s putty eyeshadow primer, you just want to use something that’s matte for an extra layer of oil defence. 

Again, a little goes a long way. When I’ve used paint pots in the past they’ve creased to shite, so there’s definitely a learning curve!

For this look, I did my base makeup before eyes. I use suuuuper hydrating undereye concealer, so I have to go heavy with my under eye powder to avoid it migrating upwards and smudging my eyeshadow or mascara. If you struggle with your bottom lash mascara smudging, don’t skip powder!

I’m using my IT Cosmetics loose powder, but whatever you have will work. 

The Application

I have a lot of faith in my current priming routine, but if you just cannot get winged liner to work for your eyes, then a good workaround is making it ~smoky~. Honestly, I just think smoky liner looks more interesting and works better for my eye shape too. 

I start by laying down a soft brown shade, winging it up and out in a position that you can see when my eye is open and closed. Laying down this light base shade means you’re never going to get too crazy with black liner and shadow, which is good because they’re a pain to remove. 

This is the placement I like to do, and it acts as a guideline for my darker colours. 

Next, I’ll go in with a black brown and fade that into my first shade. 

Putting the lighter colour down means this shadow should be really easy to blend out! Don’t worry too much about getting things perfect though, because the shadow is just a base for liquid liner. 

The Liner 

I am a water activated liner Stan, but when you want a wing that holds up against tears, watery eyes and sweat, liquid liner is best. People ALWAYS want liquid eyeliner recommendations, but I think it’s very personal and eyeliner girlies like to tussle, so I’m not going to start a fight by making bold claims about what the best liner is. 

*My* personal favourite though, is Japanese brand Heroine’s smooth liquid liner: it’s jet black, it’s waterproof and oil resistant, it has a brush tip and it’s fairly affordable. 

I draw on a wing that suits my hooded eye shape, then tap over the edges with a bit of black shadow for a grungy, smoked out look. 

I opt for a wing shaped like this, bent so that it doesn’t get cut off by my hooded lids’ excess skin, so that it looks sharp whatever position my eye is in.

To add extra drama with a dark winged liner look, I like to add black to my waterline. Until I discovered how waterproof and smudge resistant the About Face black pencil is, this often led to unintentional 2k12 Taylor Momsen eyes - a look, but not what I’m generally after. 

Lash the liner in ya waterline. It’ll look ROUGH at first, but trust the process. 

The waterline pencil after it’s been buffed out. You can set with black eyeshadow for extra security, but if you have dry eyes and your pencil is waterproof, you shouldn’t really need to! 

The Lashes

Whether you’re crying, sweating or just have uber long lashes, mascara transfer can be a menace. 

I recommend going in with a waterproof mascara to avoid this. If you find you don’t get enough volume with waterproof mascara, which is generally drier than its non waterproof sibling, you can also just coat your standard ‘scara with waterproof to seal everything in. 

If you’re not a falsies lover, this is your finished, long lasting look. 

I live for a lash, but when I’m crying my lashes LIVE to cause me problems: they peel up at the corners, the loose band irritates my eye and I’m left with even more to bawl about, because my falsies are pinging off. My best trick for extending the longevity of your false lashes, is to apply them so they’re not stuck right where your natural lashes start and are weaker and more sparse, but a little further in, just before your iris. 

Lash glues can also cause a sticky situation (these shite jokes are probably why I’ve been dumped x). For my clients with sensitive eyes, I like to use Tatti Lashes’ latex free glue, as it’s the least irritating I’ve ever used. I’m currently testing Eylure’s latex free offering, which is a lot more cheaper and accessible, and so far have had no problems with that either. 

My falsies, trimmed so that the band tapers to start gracefully at my iris, and my new fave glue. 

And you’re done! A look that says I’m glamorous, put together and absolutely not heartbroken. Feel free to tweak these tips for a more structured liner look and let me know how you get on! 

Cry It Out: 

Navigating heartbreak is a lot of putting on a brave face, but frankly sometimes I want to look in the mirror and see the glamorous, deranged, scorned woman I am currently. 

If you want to do a dramatic, tears streaming down your face look, I’ve also got you covered. Essentially, you’re going to want to do exactly what I told you not to above: mascara that isn’t waterproof, water activated liner, no powder under your eyes and Mitski on a depressing playlist on repeat. 

I asked the Dollhouse for their favourite songs for a deep, healing cry and we made this playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/776xNAoOvWvZgBhQYtPEFJ?si=c9c5f3a51489415e (feel free to add your own sad songs, it’s collaborative!)

If you want extra drama, you can fake tear tracks, either by using water activated liner or crushed up black eyeshadow and setting spray. You want to make a liquid that’s very runny, and not so black that it looks fake. 

Something like this.

Then dot it under your eyes using the end of a makeup brush; your liquid should be runny enough that it just dribbles down creating iconic faux tear tracks, but you can always encourage it down with your finger. 

I built on the previous look, so my fake tears DID NOT want to drip til I laid my liner mixture on heavily. 

This heavily. 

Add as many dribbles as you deem appropriate, concentrating on the inner corner of your eye and just under your pupil. This is where mine seem to fall from when I’m actually crying, so it looks most natural. 

You should look something like this. 

I hope you get some tips from this column, and I doubly hope that you never feel the pain of a breakup like this. Or maybe I do? Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all? Who’s to say!

Got any other beauty questions? Are you a butch lesbian that isn’t going to break my heart? Get in touch by emailing hello@polyesterzine.com with subject line AGONY AL, or DMing @lipglosslezza on Instagram 

XOXO, Agony Al (single and VERY available).