You’ve spent a solid 15 minutes perfecting your eyeliner, and then the unthinkable happens—you blink. Or worse, you leave the house thinking your long-wear liner is happily in place, only to find out from a friend that your liner is smudged all in your crease.
As if getting your eyeliner straight wasn’t hard enough, keeping it on can be even harder, which is why we’ve rounded up some key tips on how you can avoid getting it in your crease.
1. Prep Your Eyelid With Primer
A big reason why your eyeliner smudges—even when wearing waterproof eyeliner—is from the oils on your eyelid. Some people have more oily eyelids than others, but everyone does produce oil on their lids. Sadly, waterproof makeup is only really sweat and tear proof—not oil proof—which is why your liner can look like a slip and slide. To prevent this, prime your eyelide. We recommend using Urban Decay’s Eye Shadow Primer Potion.
(via Urban Decay)
2. Apply Setting Powder Over Liner and Lid
To further lock your liner in place and prevent transferring, apply a translucent setting powder (we like Ilia Soft Focus Finishing Powder) with a fluffy eyeshadow brush over gently over your liner and eyelid to lock everything in place.
(via Ilia)
3. Always Use Waterproof Eyeliner
This is a given, but if transferring and creasing is a major issue for you, definitely invest in a great waterproof eyeliner. We like Diorshow Waterproof Pro Liner.
(via Sephora)
4. Tight Line Your Upper Eye
The shape of your eyes plays a key role in smudging, so if you continue to have problems with getting it on your upper lid or crease, try making your liner thinner. This is called “tight lining” and can still give you the eye-enhancing effect of liner without it being super thick.
5. Switch to a Powder
Powder tends to stay in place longer, so a good solution to pesky transferring is to do your liner with wet eyeshadow. This creates that super sharp look but with powder instead of a liquid.
Looking for the perfect eyeliner? HERE are the pros and cons of four different types.