The world of makeup is a gorgeous place, full of so many different colors, techniques, and styles. To the inexperienced beauty guru, it may seem overwhelming at first. But one of the most beautiful things about the world of makeup, is that there are no limits, and no “rules” you need to adhere to in order to look your best!
Eyeliner for example, is one of the hardest makeup products to master, but fashion magazines and beauty trends make it seem like you shouldn’t dare leave the house without a graphic liner on.
If eyeliner is intimidating to you, or if you’ve never been able to get the hang of it, don’t you dare think your makeup looks are obsolete!
So, can you rock eyeshadow without eyeliner? Yes! Eyeliner is optional in every makeup look, and it doesn’t restrict the amount of looks you can create. While graphic liner is a huge trend, editorial looks featuring only eyeshadow are on the up and up!
In this article, we’ll share some of our favorite ways to rock eyeshadow without liner. And we promise- they’re just as stunning as any eyeliner look, but way easier to accomplish!
What Makes Going Liner Free So Special?
Eyeliner, while beautiful, will end up becoming the focus of any makeup look that features it. That means that even if you’re going for a soft look, your makeup will have an air of edginess to it.
Donning a look that’s strictly shadow will give your makeup a youthful, fresh look- but that doesn’t mean it’ll be any less bold.
How To Fake Liner
If you’re craving the edge that eyeliner gives, but don’t know how to work it, there’s an easy solution!
Grab a small angled brush, and dip it into your favorite pigmented shadow. A deep brown or black is popular amongst the beauty community, and will make your lashes look thicker too. Once you’ve packed the color on your brush, gently dab it as close to the upper lashline as you can. You can choose to add a wing with this technique if you’re feeling up to it!
This look is a lot more subtle than an inky black eyeliner, but will give your eye look some sharpness. Our favorite part of this technique is that it’s a lot more forgiving than using an actual liner.
We hate when you mess up your eyeliner and end up needing to take off all of your eye makeup to fix it. Luckily, with this method, almost all mistakes can be blended away.
Go Bold With A Monochromatic Eyeshadow
If you’ve never thought about how dynamic a single color can look on your lids, then you need to read our other article, One Color Eyeshadow Look, because now is the perfect time to test it out yourself!
Since eyeliner can distract people from all the love you put into your shadow work, going liner-less can put all the attention on your lids.
You can whip out your most colorful eyeshadow palette for this look. We recommend one that has a gradient of each base color (baby blue to dark blue, sage green to forest green, etc). That way, you only need to follow one technique to have flawless eyeshadow each time:
1. Pack the lightest color onto your lid.
- You can use a flat shadow brush for this step, but since you’re not doing anything too intricate, you can even pack the color on with a (clean!) finger. Get the color nice and saturated before moving on to the next step.
2. Buff the medium shade onto the outer half of your eye.
- Add some dimension to your eye during this step. We recommend using a fluffy brush, and with a delicate hand, sweeping the color gently on the outer half your lid, and out and up towards your brow bone. This should look soft, so make sure you buff away any harsh lines.
3. Blend the darkest shade onto the outer third.
- Using a brush with denser bristles, like a pencil brush, emphasize the outer corner of your eye with the darkest color. This will give your look some smokiness, so it’s up to you how intense you want your look to be.
This method of application can even work on non-monochromatic makeup looks – just adjust the shadows as necessary. With more neutral colors, this can end up being the perfect shadow look for everyday wear. We love this approach because it’s easy, but the results make it look like you spent some serious time on your makeup.
Gloss Isn’t Just For Your Lips!
Glossy lids add an editorial air to a simple shadow look. Something about them just screams high-end, expensive, and put together. We’ll be the first to admit that they may not be for everyone, but we definitely encourage giving them a try- they might just be your new favorite look!
The best part about this style is that it’s inherently liner-less. Adding liner to a glossy lid would more than likely end in a smeared mess, so you can relax at the fact that this look was made popular without the help of eyeliner in the first place.
While glossy lids seem easy enough to achieve, there are some things to keep in mind to make sure your makeup doesn’t smudge away throughout the day. Ahead, learn all about the best ways to achieve a glossy eye look, and how to ensure it lasts.
1. Prep your eyes.
- Use an eyeshadow primer to guarantee your makeup stays on all day. Something crease-less is ideal. Pat this onto your entire lid, and work it up towards your brow as well as added insurance. This look has a tendency to slip throughout the day, so you want to try and keep it from budging too easily.
2. Put on a neutral base.
- To emphasize your showcase color, buff a nude eyeshadow onto your eye. If you’re going for something neon or technicolor, we recommended using a high-quality white eyeshadow to saturate your lid instead. This will make any color on top of it extra bright.
3. Choose a single showcase color.
- There’s no need to worry about fancy eyeshadow application with this look. Since the gloss can keep your shadows from staying in place, you only need to work one color onto your lid. Instead of a powder shadow, we suggest going for a cream formula.
- Cream shadows are less likely to crease underneath the weight of the gloss. For this technique, we like the look of baby pinks, lavenders, and sky blues.
4. Apply your eye gloss.
- And we do mean eye gloss! You can try swiping a clear lip gloss over your lids, but you’ll find that they’re a touch too sticky, and will end up transferring all over your face. Eye glosses are lighter and made with the delicateness of your eyelids in mind.
- You can pat this on with a finger, but using a clean, flat eyeshadow brush works well too! Dab the gloss on gently. Do not swipe, or you may mess up the shadow underneath. Be careful of applying the gloss to close to your lash line- you don’t want this product messing up your mascara (or your vision) while you wear it.
Finish off with your favorite waterproof mascara, and voila! An eye look any runway star would approve of.
Perfect The No-Makeup Makeup Look
Some of us are blessed with thick lashes, pigmented lips, and full brows by nature. But we’ll tell you one thing none of us have, and that’s naturally lined eyes. That means that your go-to natural makeup look doesn’t need the sharpness that eyeliner gives.
Here are some tips to master the “Fresh and Clean” makeup look:
- Mascara is your friend. Without eyeliner, your eyes need another way to be the focus of your face. Use a waterproof formula to keep your lashes curled all day, and master the technique of mascara application to ensure each lash gets some love. If you have lighter skin and lighter eyelashes, you may want to use a brown mascara for a more natural look.
- You can never go wrong with a bold brow. Follow along with one of our favorite eyebrow application techniques, for a full brow with no hassle:
- Coat each hair with a tinted brow gel. Apply generously, combing forwards, backwards, up and down. You want each brow hair to be evenly tinted.
- With a light hand, fill in any sparse areas with your favorite brow pencil. You don’t want to blend any harsh lines, so be extra gentle.
- With a small angled brush and an eyeshadow that matches the shade of your pencil, draw on a couple of hair like strokes. Focus this mainly on the tail end of your brow for some added definition.
- Don’t be stingy with the glow! Adding a cream-based highlighter on the high points of your face will elevate your look to heavenly levels. We suggest placing some on the inner corner of your eyes, for a bright, angel-like look.
- Conceal, conceal, conceal. One of the stars of the no-makeup, makeup look is a healthy looking base. Make sure you use a buildable concealer to cover up any dark circles, discoloration, or acne. Opt for a hydrating formula that melts into the skin, rather than sitting on top of your face.
It’s that easy. A clean, fresh, liner free makeup look that is perfect for a beginning makeup artist. It’s so easy to achieve, in fact, that once you have it down, you can get it done in less than 10 minutes!
Are There Any Makeup Looks That Need Eyeliner?
Absolutely not! In the makeup world, you don’t need to do anything to make a look better. You should never feel restricted or boxed in when it comes to making yourself look beautiful. The only thing you need to remember when it comes to cosmetics is that if you feel beautiful, then you are beautiful.
Up Next: Can You Wear Eyeshadow Without Foundation?
