Laura Mercier and Tightlining

For years eyeliners were a mystery to me, I would look in admiration at my peers who could line and flick with open mouthed admiration and despair that my inherited saggy baggy eyelids would not allow me to line my eyes.

Around 15yrs ago my sister chucked a Laura Mercier Bleu Marine Cake Eyeliner into my hands and for a while it stayed there, misunderstood really although I did have a vague recollection of something called tightlining. Thankgoodness for MUA. When I can be bothered this is how I line my eyes, flicks just get lost in the folds but this method just makes my eyes look a bit more groomed.

Once I understood what tightlining was all about I went a bit OTT and bought all of LM's cake eyeliners so along with Bleu Marine I purchased Black Ebony, and Brown Mahogany with varying success.

No prizes for guessing which one I have used the most.

Here they are swatched on my arm, Black Ebony, Brown Mahogany, Bleu Marine

One does need the correct brush to tightline.

I spent a small fortune on all of these from MAC, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, and that specialist makeup shop in Covent Garden who's name escapes me, until I twigged and bought the brush designed for the job, the Laura Mercier Flat Liner brush

It is the denseness of the hairs that enables me to pick up enough product and apply it in the right place.

So how to tightline - this is not just about the right tools, it is about the right consistency of the product, it needs to be quite glue like in order to stick to the underside of the top lashes - I don't take it onto the top waterline, it is just to thicken the underside of the top lashes. I have to say that I lick my brush, I am not advising this, it is just what I do, it gives the consistency that I want.

Here are my eyes without any adornment of any kind apart from a glasses mark and a bit of worn off Laura Mercier secret concealer around my eyes, no mascara, no curling of eyelashes and obviously no eyebrow grooming.

Brown Mahogany applied to left eye below

This is the subtlest of looks, I am not entirely convinced of the Brown Mahogany on me, I have to work quite hard to get the colour into the lashes.

Bleu Marine applied to left eye below

I use this colour the most, it is a bit of an is she isn't she sort of look (as in the old harmony hairspray adverts)

Black Ebony applied to left eye below

This has the most dramatic look for me, however none of these colours scream eyeliner but the product certainly thickens the eyelashes and for a mascara phobe like myself that is perfect.