Tight-Lining

What is tight-lining? If you're imagining some new act in Cirque du Soleil you're way off. Although for some women it conjures up the same sense of anxiety as if they were about walk a tightrope themselves. Tight-lining is when you line the inner rim (also called the waterline) of your upper and/or lower lids. I'm not talking about the area right above your lashes but the narrow space between the base of your lashes and your eyeball. Wait...what? You can do that?! But why?
The answer, quite simply, is because tight-lining your eyes really does give you a much more polished look. By lining this little strip of...I don't even know what to call it...you instantly create the illusion of more voluminous lashes. You also eliminate that blank space, so to speak, between your eye makeup and your eyes. This makes your eyes pop! You can also tight-line instead of applying eyeliner because it's a quick and easy way to add definition to your eyes without fussing over getting a perfect line.

Below, I will show you how to tight-line & the difference it can make. Cue the frightening close ups of my eyeballs...

Before tight-lining...

Fill in the upper inner rim...

Then the lower inner rim...

After!

To tight-line your eyes gently push your upper lid back and carefully pull down on your lower lid then lightly run the pencil (or whatever you're using) along the waterline. You can also line just the bottom rim and then tightly squeeeeze your eyes shut so the color from the bottom rim transfers to the upper rim. You can line either the upper or both upper and lower rims with a myriad of products including eye pencils, kohls, cream and gel liners and even powders. Just check to see if the product in question is waterline safe. What's really fun is lining with colors other than black. Not only can you line with brown for a soft, natural look but you can use any color you can think of (except I'd avoid using pinks and reds unless you want to look sickly). Think outside the box! Blues, greens, and purples can be used to enhance your specific eye color or you can use white or light flesh tones to brighten and enlarge your eyes.