Cat-Eyes Worthy of a Star

Amy Winehouse

Winged eyeliner is a great makeup technique. In a world of shading, blending, and smudging, a little flick of liquid liner is a simple and glamorous touch.

It also looks fabulous on The Pale. As I'm not super talented at the aforementioned blending and such, The Cateye is a look I do often. So, in honor of the incomparable Miss Amy, I will show you how I do my famous liquid liner.

I typically choose a liner with a felt tip, like Hourglass Calligraphy Liner, Chantecaille 'Le Stylo', or Lancome 'Artliner'. You can also use an eyeliner brush and gel liner. I've even done this look with a very sharp kohl pencil.

I've tried a million techniques and the one I have found that works is using a Lines and Angles technique to create the framework of the Wing. Then, I just fill in my shapes. If you want a more Glam look, you should apply your eyeshadow before using your eyeliner. I've taken these pictures with a bare eye.

Draw a thin line as close to your lashes as possible. Don't worry if your line is wobbly; you will clean it up later.

Open your eye, and hold your liner against the corner of your eye at the angle at which you'd like to make your Wing. I like to use a 45 degree angle.

Draw down to and not up from the corner of your eye. Starting at the corner and working down gives you a sharper point and will help you make each Wing the same angle.

See? My lines are wobbly. I have a pretty steady hand, but I don't worry about cleanliness so much at this stage. I'm just created the framework of the Wing and will fill everything in later.

Now, draw down from the tip of the Wing to the horizontal line at your lashes. You can create a very thick Wing, like Amy's, by aiming for the middle of your eyelid. For a thinner Wing, aim for a spot close to the corner of your eyelid.

This is what I mean about Lines and Angles. I have created a scalene triangle at the corner of my eye.

Now, fill in the triangle and smooth out your wobbles.

When you do your other eye, look at where the point of your first Wing ended. Mine is close to the tip of my eyebrow, so I will draw my line down from this point on the other eye. This takes away the problem of having your Wings pointing in different directions which is, arguably, the most challenging part of a Cateye.

Play around with it. Use different products, and experiment with making your Wings longer or shorter, thicker or thinner. Add some red lipstick or sheer pink lipgloss. Your options are fairly limitless, so check out how these Ladies of Pale choose to wear their Wings:

Taylor Swift

A shimmery eyeshadow and pretty pink gloss give her Cateye a youthful edge.

Katy Perry

Heavy brows, tons of eyelashes and nude lips.

Dita von Teese

Blue-based red lipstick and 1940's waves.

Candice Swanepoel

All-American Girl with gentle waves and peaches 'n cream complexion.

Alexa Chung

A minimalist look that emphasizes her already lovely almond-shaped eyes.

For this demo I used Lancome's 'Artliner' in 'Forest'.