If Euphoria has taught us anything (you know, aside from the importance of steady friend groups and the perils of drug use), it’s that unconventional eye makeup application is a must in 2022. And as much as we love the show’s lead makeup artist Donni Davy’s use of vivid eyeshadows and artfully placed gems, today we’re here to hone in on floating eyeliner.
Also known as double-winged eyeliner, floating eyeliner uses negative space to exaggerate the overall eye makeup look. Since it’s still a relatively bold makeup look, we figured it’d be helpful to show you all the ways it can be worn. Whether you’re hoping for a grown-up black liner look or craving a colorful masterpiece on your lids, ahead, you’ll find 16 floating eyeliner ideas, along with products to bring them to life.
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Gemstone Floating Eyeliner
Davy will be the first to show you that you can create floating eyeliner with more than just eyeliner. Here, she used tiny gemstones in place of eyeliner along the top arc of the floating design. The result? A glamorously exaggerated wing that we can’t take our eyes off of. These rhinestone stickers offer enough color options to be a creative artist.
Another way to wear floating eyeliner is to create floating space between two wings, as opposed to between one angled line that extends toward your crease. Here, Davy mastered the look with an extra-long, particularly horizontal (as opposed to flicked upward) wing on Alexa Demie (AKA Maddy). This is another example where having micellar water on hand to easily touch up the edges will be incredibly handy.
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Thin Black Floating Eyeliner
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If your goal is to create a floating eyeliner look that won’t soon be forgotten, this triple-winged look is sure to make a statement. To recreate it, apply your new single wing like usual, then lightly line just below your lower lash line and extend it out horizontally beneath the original wing. Then, at your crease, trace another line, again focusing on horizontal angles and space between it and the original wing. One note: If you have hooded eyes, this look will likely get lost in the folds of your lid and may not be the best option.
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Pastel Purple Accents
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This floating eyeliner look is a bit more lived-in, as it employs the color along the outer corners of the upper lash lines, and then again blended into the entire span of each crease. While earthy in appeal, this particular look is meant to be a bit menacing, as it was created for Melissa Barrera’s Scream premiere appearance.
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A Wicked Work of Art
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To create the ultimate festival-ready floating eyeliner masterpiece, take a page out of celebrity makeup artist Jo Baker’s book. To recreate this look she did for Grace Gaustad, choose five neon eyeliners (or use a damp brush dipped in your favorite neon eyeshadow palette, we love Violet Voss’s Tie Dye For Eyeshadow Palette, $36) and apply each color in short segments. Then, using a densely bristled brush, lightly diffuse them to create an ever-so-slightly blurred appearance to mimic the look of a neon sign.
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Minimalist Floating Eyeliner
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If you like the idea of a minimalist floating eyeliner look, stick to your tried-and-true black wing tip and pair it with high-contrast lines above the crease and along the inner corner of the lower lash line, as celebrity makeup artist Rebekah Aladdin did on Justine Skye here.
22 Effortlessly Cool Ways to Wear Eyeliner
