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Gator Glam: The 9 Stages Of Applying Eyeliner

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UFL chapter.

Eyeliner is my absolute favorite part of makeup. It really makes a look and can make the biggest difference in your makeup game. But eyeliner is by no means easy to apply, nor do I really think it gets easier with practice. (Let’s be real — all those YouTube beauty tutorials are lies.)

I do almost the exact same eyeliner look every time I put on makeup, but it never ends up looking the same. Prior to living with roommates, I never realized that I was not alone in my struggle with applying eyeliner. So, without further ado, here are the nine stages we all go through when applying eyeliner.

1. When you get yourself pumped.
“I can do this, I’ve done this every day for my entire teen and adult life. My hand knows the strokes by now. This will come out perfect.”

2. It starts off OK.
It’s coming along nicely and your confidence slowly starts to build. Maybe you can do this. This actually is coming out decently.

3. Eventually, something will happen.
Your hand jerked on one of those last strokes, and you have a weird hexagonal angle going on, and not in a good way. Maybe if you can fix this… If you just go ahead and rub that point off…

4. NOOO!
You’ve just smudged your eyeliner over half of your eyelid — the important half where the line slopes. You keep smudging, but it only gets worse.

5. The tears start to stream.
This is the end. You must pay tribute to the eyeliner look gone wrong in a moment of silence. It’s all over now. You just want to quit and give up and change back into your sweats and stay in for the rest of the day.

6. You’ve got this.
No. You must pull yourself together. Compose yourself! You’ve got this. Take a deep breath, and lets fix this. It will still come out all right. You can turn this around.

7. Okay, concentrate.
If you just really focus now and take it slow, you can’t possibly mess this up (at least not more than it already is).

8. You’re done.
Hmmm, wait. *Assesses the situation* This actually doesn’t look half bad.

9. The sweet feeling of success.
Feelings of joy bubble through you. This doesn’t look half bad! You actually look kind of normal! It’s a miracle! Until next time, my dear old friend.

Though applying eyeliner may be one of my biggest and most stressful struggles, I still love this stuff! It just really makes all the difference in the world, and my makeup game would not be the same without it. Curse the double-edged sword that is eyeliner.

Photo Credit: buzzfeed.com

Maxine Grossman is a second-year Public Relations major with a concentration in business at the University of Florida and is so excited for the opportunity to do what she does best for Her Campus UFL: write about fashion. When Maxine is not staring at Pinterest fashion boards or wandering around shopping, she can be caught eating sushi, devouring cups of coffee and tea, or munching on some delicious macarons. Besides writing for Her Campus UFL, Maxine is also an active member of UF’s Panhellenic life and enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, and painting.