How to Do Winged Eyeliner: A Step-by-Step Guide

A sharp wing looks hard, but it's really just three lines: a flick, a line back to the lashes, and a fill. Once you know the shape, it takes a couple of minutes. Here's how to do it with a liquid liner, plus fixes for the most common problems.

What you need

• A liquid liner with a fine brush. A thin tip (ours is 0.1 mm) makes a sharp point much easier than a thick felt tip.
• Optional: an eyeshadow primer, so the liner lasts longer.
• A cotton bud and some micellar water or makeup remover for clean-up.
• Optional: a strip of sticky tape or a business card as a guide while you learn.

How to do winged eyeliner in 5 steps

1. Prep the lid

   Start with clean, dry lids. Moisturiser and oil make liquid liner skip and smudge, so dab the lid with a tissue. A thin layer of eyeshadow primer helps the line stay put all day. Shake the liner and wipe the extra off the brush on the neck of the tube.

2. Find your angle

   Look straight into the mirror with your eyes open and relaxed. Imagine a line running from the outer corner of your lower lash line up towards the end of your eyebrow. Your wing follows that line. If you're nervous, put a strip of tape along it as a stencil.

3. Draw the flick

   Rest your elbow on a table to keep your hand steady. Starting at the outer corner of the eye, draw a short, straight line outwards along your angle. Start small: you can always make the wing longer, but not shorter.

4. Connect it back to the lashes

   From the tip of the flick, draw a line back down onto the upper lid, ending about a third of the way in from the outer corner. You now have a small triangle. Fill it in.

5. Line the rest of the lid

   Draw along the upper lash line from the inner corner to meet the triangle, in short strokes rather than one long one. Keep it thin at the inner corner and let it get a little thicker towards the wing. Let it dry for about 30 seconds before you blink hard or touch it.

Winged eyeliner for hooded eyes

If your lid folds over when your eyes are open, a classic wing can disappear into the crease or look broken. These changes help:

• Draw with your eyes open. Look straight ahead so you can see where the wing will sit when you're not looking down into the mirror.
• Try a "bat wing". Draw the flick straight out, then draw the top line of the wing over the hood, so it looks straight when your eye is open. With your eye closed it looks like a small notch. That's normal.
• Keep the inner half thin. A thick line on a hooded lid hides the lid space. Keep the thickness in the outer third.
• Point the wing up, not out. A slightly steeper angle lifts the eye and stops the wing dragging down.

How to make both wings match

• Do the flicks on both eyes first, then compare and adjust before you fill anything in.
• Start with the eye you find harder, then copy that wing on the easier side.
• Use your phone camera: photos show differences the mirror hides.
• If one wing ends up longer, extend the other one to match rather than trying to shorten it.

Fixing mistakes without starting again

• Wobbly line: dip a cotton bud in micellar water, twist it to a point, and sweep under the wing to sharpen the edge.
• Wing too thick: clean it up from underneath with a bud, or press a little concealer along the edge with a flat brush for a crisp finish.
• Gaps along the lash line: wiggle the tip into the roots of the lashes with tiny dots, then join them up.
• Smudged before it dried: let it dry fully, then fix the edge. Wiping wet liner just spreads it.

Winged liner with colour

Once you've got the shape, a coloured or duochrome liner turns a classic wing into a statement. Duochrome shows its colour shift best on a slightly bolder wing, because there's more surface to catch the light. For a stronger shift, let the first coat dry and trace over it with a second.

Not sure which colour to pick? See the best eyeliner colour for your eye colour.

Taking it off

Liquid liner is made to stay put, so don't scrub. Hold a cotton pad soaked in an oil-based or bi-phase (oil and water) remover on the closed eye for a few seconds, then wipe gently outwards.