How to Apply Pencil Eyeliner – tutorial

There may be different ways of applying the pencil eyeliner. This is just how I apply it. Hope you find this tutorial useful. πŸ™‚ It’s a long tutorial because I wanted to show you all the steps I do. Otherwise, it barely takes a minute to do each eye.

If you have oily lids like me, just dust some loose powder on your lids or prim your eyes with some foundation / base and then dust some loose powder to make your lids matte. This would prevent the liner from smudging and would make it last longer.
pencil eyeliner

I am using the faces eyeliner pencil. You may use any eyeliner . I like the pencils that could be sharpened because that way I can sharpen the tip of the pencil and create the thinnest of lines. but whatever you prefer. πŸ™‚

Faces Eye Liner

Start from the center of the lid and move your way out. Keep your pencil slanted, this will help move the liner easily on your lids. Make short strokes. You don’t have to draw the complete line in one go.

Go outwards…

Come inward. Keep the outer most corner thicker and you can retrace the liner on the outer corner to make it thick.

Now from the center extend the liner inward. You must keep in mind that as you go inward , you have to make a thinner line. So take your time. Keep your pencil pointed straight on your lid. This may help in achieving a thinner line.

eyeliner inwards

Now connect the line from the very inner corner of your eye to the center of the liner. (I should have made a little more thick line towards the center but I didn’t realize it until the very end of the tutorial. Very sorry for that. ) the line should be proportional moving form thick on the outer corner to thin on the inner corner.

inner corner

Now that you have traced the line, apply you liner in short strokes very close to your lashes. This would fix the parts where your skin would still be showingΒ  near your eyelashes.close to lashes

Now coming to the lower lash line. Place your liner on the very edge of your lower lash line. Almost where your liner of the upper lash line is ending. It’s like you have to make a “V” on the outer corner of your eye.

Move inwards in short strokes.

Go till the inner third of the eye.

Go back to the outer corner and thicken it a bit.

Now using your ring finger very very gently start smudging your lower lash line. All you have to do is move your finger left and right on your lower lash line without putting any pressure. The liner would start fading itself.

smudge lower lash line

If you are not comfortable using your finger, use a pencil brush.

It would look something like this:

Now the waterline. Take any black eye kohl. I am using MAC Feline Kohl.

Black Eye Kohl


If you have ever used surma in your life, you’d probably find this easy. I line my upper water line and lower waterline in one go.

Place the tip of your kohl flat on your eye. Don’t poke it in your eye, just place it almost on the center of your eyes. Close your eyes and move the pencil left and right.

My eyes started watering because I was holding the eye kohl too long inside my eye. I had to click so couldn’t help. Trust me, it’s very easy.

Curl lashes and apply mascara.

Now take some powder on flat brush:

powder on flat brush

and place it right on the edges of your liner. This would prevent the liner from smudging.

You can do the same thing on the upper lash line as well πŸ™‚

and you are done! πŸ™‚ You can apply a light shimmer eyeshadow or eyeliner in the inner corner of your eye but for day time I like to leave it like that.

Let me know if you have any questions. πŸ™‚

It’s not tough. If you find any problem with your liner, just take come makeup remover on a Q tip and fix it.Β  πŸ™‚

IMBB RECOMMENDS

189 thoughts on “How to Apply Pencil Eyeliner – tutorial

  1. I need this tutorial so badly rati….a very detailed one at that……..you used loose powder na….can talc be used instead…..???

    1. jomoli…… :teddy: :teddy: :teddy: :teddy: u have MUFE hd powder… u shud uje dat naaa :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin:

      1. Nahin Nahin….Noopurrrrrrrrrrrrrrri….main nahin MUFe powder uzge karungi….main toh face par hi langaungi…..MUFE only for oily phace :mirror: :mirror: :mirror:

        Oye….Noopurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrri….I have to catch up all your reviews…..iddhar power cut happening frequently………………… :waaa: :waaa: :waaa:

    1. akshatha, the contact lens safe ones would mention that those liners are contact lens wearers safe. MAC eye kohls and fluidlines are. πŸ™‚

  2. This looks wonderful :makeup: :makeup: I l also try this tip of lining upper and lower waterline in one go :methinks: :methinks:

  3. n i wore faces bdown penshil today when i went out wid pooji :pompom: :pompom: :pompom: :makeup: :makeup: :makeup: :makeup: :makeup: :makeup: :makeup: :makeup:

        1. aur mooooze bhi k “nu meiko yeh chahiye hi chahiye jaldi chlo lene ” :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin:

          1. Whenever I go on the Faces counter to ask for these pencils..they are just never available in blue or black..I dont know why πŸ˜₯ πŸ˜₯ πŸ˜₯

    1. Oh……..Rati…..pooja is like the face of Oriflame….I somehow feel like likingly calling her Pooprem. :puchhi: …errr….Pooflame…..errr…rahne do….I will call her Pooja only 😐 😐 😐 😐

    2. Mere paas bhi brown pencil he Nupur , metal brown, awesome ! :cheers: Nave blue to kabhi stock rehta hi nahi ! πŸ™

      1. i have blue, bdown, green , forest green, pudple sab :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:

        1. zoooooooooo many penzils…..Oh my God………….mere paas ek bhi pudple colour nahin…your lingo is so cute Noopurrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiii……. :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi:

          1. OMG….Noopurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrri….I died…………the pudple and the Navy Blue one…and the green one……………. :stars: :stars: :stars: :stars: :stars: :stars: :stars: :waaa: :waaa: :waaa: I want I want :waaa: :waaa:

    3. yes jomoli :victory2: :victory2: :victory2:
      so u got ur avon nail paints finally :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin:

      1. yez Noopurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrri……………all the nail paaints from new range I got….I am so happy :yahoo: :yahoo:

        1. yez Noopurrrrrrrri…like when Pooja sends me courier na…it reaches within 24 hour period….but this time, because of the telangana bandh….it got stuck for 5 days….me got worried…. 😐

          1. HMmmmmmmmmmmmph……….he has his eyes on them……when nail polishes break…they spread so much colour around na….he is watching out for these…………..ratttttttttttttttttti….get the neon paints….and gimme your mac ka blue….I so want it :woot: :woot: :woot:

          1. Sanjeevji….sahi kaha…..abhi click karne mein hi samajdhari hai………… :silly: :silly: :silly: :silly:

            1. Yeah……….I am looking at rupa’s daughter also…………….so many options I have….and if rati has twins…one boy and one girl……I will toh go and pick up the baby girl and bring her to hyd :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot:

            2. yes yes kuhu is soo adorable :teddy: :teddy: :teddy: :teddy: :teddy: :teddy:
              n i havent seen shivani;s daughters’ bday pics…let me check :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin: :toothygrin:

  4. Thankoooo Ratiii :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi:
    I always had problems in lining the upper lid..espcially when you go towards the inner corner of the eyes,but I am definitely going to try all of these tips now :makeup: :makeup: :makeup: :makeup:

    1. Yeshhh :toothygrin: :toothygrin:

      Oh by the wayy..have you ever tried white liner on the upper lashline ? :tongue:
      I have been watching sex and the city a lot these days..and I noticed in one scene Sarah Jessica Parker was wearing white liner on the upper lashline with thick mascara,I could never imagine that could even look good on some one 😐 😐 :X-P:

      1. huhhh?? white on upper lash line.. neee nee kabhi nee kiya. πŸ˜› I toh dont apply white on my waterline also, it looks very stark. I use that chromagraphic pencil . it’s a skin toned colour na so does not look harsh. πŸ˜€

  5. tapas yeah whatever works na.. I also used to start from the corners pata nahin apne aap hi I started doing from the center . πŸ˜€ Oh yeah all i click all my photos. O:) O:)

  6. Awesome tutorial Rati!!!!!! O:) :thanks: I LOVE the way you do tutorials!!! :heart: I prefer wearing pencil liner to college..and I always had problems with keeping the liner neat and in proper line!! This surely helped!! :thanks: :thumbsup:

  7. Lovely Tutorial Rati…u teach make up ideas so easily but they are so good at the end of the day πŸ™‚ ur eyes r looking lovely :heart: :heart:

  8. :thanks: :thanks: sooo much for this tutorial!!~ And I’m really happy that it is so detailed!! πŸ˜€

  9. so easy…. I cant line my eyes closely thru pencill… πŸ™ I can skin between lashline n liner :(( m not a pro wid pencil eyeliners… so avoid them..

  10. LOL I just re-read the whole thing…and woow!! I didn’t know you can apply kajal that way!! :nono: :nono:
    Also,can you suggest a good loose powder?? Preferably something affordable and easily accessible. :teeth

    1. pragya,

      I have been wearing surma since my super childhood. πŸ˜› so this came intuitively only. πŸ˜›

      bourjois, the body shop , oriflame and lakme make loose powders. πŸ™‚

      1. Oh!!~ That makes sense! πŸ˜€
        Nice.

        Okay!~ Thanks!! I’ll check ’em out the next time I go shopping! :makeup:
        Also,what do you use to prime your lids??

    1. yes….lakme rose powder does work well :yes: :yes: :yes: ….n keeps the oil away whole day…so d liner also wont smudge…but the shade are very limited…… :-/

  11. eye pencil to can also put accurately now.. but ye kajal lagana like surma is so new to me :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: .. can pencil kajals be used like this Rati?? I have 1 frm Loreal which I use on waterline.. :yes:

    1. yeah nids. something that can be used on your lower waterline can be used on upper waterline also. I find it difficult to tightline eyes so surma technique lines both my waterlines. πŸ˜€

  12. :puchhi: :jalwa: :jaiho: Superb Rati….saved this in my favorites folder………Basics are so everyday thing and one you master it…..you look cool! And loved your eyeliner!

    My bday is coming up……so excited….I am planning to buy couple of Zero Pencils from UD and one colored one…either deep plum or midnight blue,but looking at your tutorial…I am inclined to buy midnight blue.

    1. awww!! thank you so much nia. See i do wear colours.. blooss. πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€

      oh! the UD pencils are superb. I guess both plum and blue would be nice. :thumbsup:

  13. Nice tutorial!! :yes: :yes: :thanks:

    But i can never apply kohl like dat :yikes: seems so scary, how do u do dat :O :worship:

  14. yeh reshmi zulf.. y sharbatin aankhe… inhe dekh k j raha hai koi… :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love:

  15. :thanks: :thanks: :thanks: :thanks: :thanks: sooooo much for the tutorial….actually all your tutorials… I basically learnt applying makeup after reading your previous tutorials!!!! :-* :))

  16. can you pleeeezzz do a tutorial on using gel liners… I recently bought two Inglot AMC Gel liners, but when i tried using them, I ended up looking like a daayan…( :daayan: )…with the whole thing getting way too thick and smudged.. πŸ˜₯
    so, please help….and also suggest the best brush I can use for applying gel liners!!

    1. Thanks Riz for asking this
      Rati.. I tried a sample at Macy’s recently and I used SmashBox Gel liner. It was so hard for me to put a proper line.
      BTW, thanks for this turorial!! kajal on the waterline is always a problem for me and somehow I cannot put it on the upper line. I have super sensitive watery eyes which just adds more smudging to my already half done upper line. :yikes: Somehow its never complete.. I will try your tips

      1. hope it works suganya. i also find it quite difficult to put liner on upper waterline. another thing you can do is that you heavily out liner on your lower waterline and close your eye tightly. that would transfer the liner on your upper waterline as well. πŸ™‚

    1. you can go to their website and fill out a ‘need a rep’ form…they’ll contact you immediately with a rep near your place… πŸ™‚

  17. Wow, thanks for the tip rati, i apply pencil liners like this only but putting kajal like surma scares me away, whenever i try to put surma, i keep my eyes open and the result is fallout n fallout n fallout :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: and i end up looking like a chudael :ghost2: :ghost2: with black powder spread all over my cheeks

  18. Awesome tutorial Rati!! I will wear my Faces blue tomorrow now πŸ™‚ I generally never liner my lower lash line with the colored liner..will try it tomorrow!

  19. Thanks so much for the tutorial Rati :)) I had asked for this earlier. But I can never try what u did with the kohl.. I would prick my eyes and thats the last thing I would want after my lasik πŸ™‚

    1. yeah vid if you are not comfortable doing it, just avoid it. I have been wearing surma since ages now so it kinda looks normal to me. :))

  20. :waaa: ratiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii………. gel liner ka tutorial chahiye mujhe :waaa: :waaa:
    i know to apply pencil nd liquid liners in one go… but gel liner :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
    helpo ratiiiiiiidooooooooo… piilllllllleeeeeeeeeeejjjjjjjjj

  21. Wow…what a nice & detailed tute. I’ve learnt quite a few new things here, like starting at the middle of the eyelids, and also how to line both the upper & lower waterline together. I never knew how to do that, so have been avoiding it all this while. Thanks a lot, Rati.

  22. Rati doooo :jaiho: :jaiho: :jaiho: :jaiho: :jaiho: such a detailed and awesome tutorial… I wanted it so badly!!!!
    me trying jushht now πŸ˜€ :preen:

      1. naaaa- my line comes fat and then if Im not careful it lands on my upper lid… with your technique it doesnt- me tried πŸ˜‰

  23. Dear Rati,
    It was really a fantastic tutorial, which i will be trying today itself, at the end if you put full photograph of your face or atleast both the eyes it would be helpful. so that all can c the end result :toothygrin:

    Jayashree

  24. Wer u guys talking abt Ankita of corallista????

    She has kids 😯

    She luks like a college student

    N nice tut rati πŸ™‚

    Bt I have alwaz liked pencil eyeliners esp faces :). Pencil and gel Liners are so easy peasy

    Stopped liquid eyeliners completely nw

  25. hi rati,
    Nice tut, :thumbsup:

    just today mroning i used tht Avon wala Glimmersticks (emerald) and was wondering how to draw the line on upper lash line, its kinda but sticky – sticky (the retractable pencil one) so cudnot get a clean straight line in multiple strokes also …. πŸ™

    and will Blue liner suit fair/wheatish Complexion with d.brown eyes ? :struggle: :stars:

    Please help ! :waaa: :waaa: :waaa: :waaa: :waaa:

  26. :jalwa: :jalwa: :jalwa: :cute: :cute: :cute: :lashes: :jaiho: so so so pretttyyyyy rati & thanks for the nice tipssss :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: will try pakka tommrow for office :jiggy1: but problem is my eyelids r small so when i apply liner specially pencil it barely notice.. :(( can u pls give me any idea abt this

    1. deepti for people how have asian eyes or every small eye lids should just tightline their eyes. Like apply eyeliner on upper water line and apply mascara. eee.. may be send in your photee?

  27. Hi Rati, the tut was very helpful. I tried the same immediately and it came out so well. My hubby always asks me to highlight my eyes and whatever I do he says “this is not what i expected :P’ but yday he really liked the way i did it πŸ˜€ Thank you so much πŸ˜€

  28. me coming back to this tute again, lovely eyes
    :love: :love: :love: :love: :inlove: :inlove: :inlove: :inlove:
    i too wish u posted pics of both eyes/ complete face…
    im in love with the Bluuu liner, checked your link for Faces in Hyderabad, planning to buy.

    Can you plz mention the mascara ? wich one ur using here?
    have u applied Surma from the traditional kinda Surme Daani, i use that one :toothygrin:

    1. firdous i did a blush review today- mac mischevious. you may see teh full look in that photo. πŸ™‚

      yeah i used to have hyderabadi surmedaani. πŸ™‚

  29. :thanks: :thanks: Rati..i wanted this tutorial from long time….i have recently started using eye liners and was having issues while applying especially inner corners of my eyes…this has helped a lot! :thanks: once again and that blue color looks damn good on you! :waytogo:

  30. Hey Rati…
    Great Post! Very helpful…and very well explained.
    I had one question though, my liner/kajal smudges towards the outer corner of eye, after few hours. It also smudges on the lower lash but I think applying loose powder below the lash is helpful.
    Btw loved the line shade that you used :waytogo:

  31. hey rati……
    dis post was really helpful. i have never applied any eye makeup before n wanna start now! can u plz help me out! can u give me your emial i.d?

  32. plssssssssss help wenever i apply pencil liner it comes really thick and i love pencil eyeliners more than liquid ones how can i apply thin eyeliner wid pencil and one more problem i m facing is if i start frm centre my eyelashes are never smooth i jus want it thin and smooth

  33. very nicely clear and described they way to apply eye liner normally we never notice some simple steps as u told not put the eye liner in one line have short strok to cover yr eye thks for all

  34. Pingback: An Earring Affair

Leave a Reply to Bhawana Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *