#CanCantDont – The Alexa Chung’Flick’

This week saw the launch of Alexa Chung’s debut make up collection with Eyeko, so we thought we’d pay homage to the queen of the cat eye by recreating her trademark eyeliner ‘flick’.  The ‘flick’ liner has been around for years, from Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra peepers to Amy Winehouse’s amplified liner, but Alexa has perfected the understated yet ridiculously cool ‘flick’ and made it her own.  We closed our eyes, gripped our eyeliners and just thought WWAD (What Would Alexa Do?) ….

Lizzy: I’m a big eyeliner fan, but I wanted to recreated Alexa’s version of the ‘flick’ so I decided to keep my bottom eyeline make up free. I used  Bourjois Pinceau 16hr Liquid Liner, which was really easy to control (I’ve not got the steadiest hand going!).  I find it easier to sweep the liner across the lid, draw a line from the bottom corner of the eye to create a wing and then fill in.  I love the result, it immediately opens my eyes.  I don’t think I acheived the ‘Alexa’ natural flick, but I think it works with no bottom liner as well.

Verdict: The flick gets a tick CAN!

Felicity:  I read somewhere once that eyeliner flicks should be ‘sisters but not identical twins’. That’s good because I found it very hard to get mine completely symmetrical and so the lines kept getting thicker and thicker so that I could even it out! I do now use a gel eyeliner as oppose to a traditional liquid as I do find that this alleviates the problem to some extent as it is much easier to control the line in my opinion. I used Rimmel Waterproof Gel Eyeliner for this look and, despite not getting it perfect first time, I definitely love the final look and do opt for it in my day to day makeup quite regularly.

Verdict: Can

Jo: I wear liquid eyeliner most days to conquer the usual blind baby hamster look I naturally sport thanks to having dark hair and skin yet light eyes and a very limited supply of eyelashes. I tend to slick on a quick swipe of Barry M’s liquid liner very close to the lash line, just to give my eyes a tiny outline and some actual definition for once. I know that a lot of people struggle with liquid liner – particularly with the brush type that I’m using, rather than a pen – but my top tip would be to try and kind of half close the eye you’re applying the liner to and to rest your hand on your cheekbone to steady it. For today’s challenge, I tried to go for a more sixties vibe and build the usual lash line up a few times before extending a flick out above my eye crease (crow’s feet!) and blending the two together with feathery strokes. I’d also used a black shadow (Urban Decay in Blackout) to line my bottom lashes softly and when the top liner was drawn on the contrast was a bit too obvious, so I brought the liner down to the corners of my bottom lashes too and then layered on as much mascara as I possibly could (Rimmel Scandaleyes), which had little to no effect apart from clumping. Opinion is divided on the overall look. I think its a good one for a night out, or even just for giving a bit of animation to your face when the rest of your makeup is pretty minimalist.

Verdict: CAN

Amrita: Yes! Finally a beauty trend that I can get on board with!  I knew my long time liquid eyeliner pal (Bourjois Liner Pinceau) and I would be able to breeze through this week and I wasn’t wrong.  I love cat eye flicks and I like to think I’ve mastered the winged liner look so this week’s Can-Can’t-Don’t was definitely my favourite. The easy peasy look took me 2 minutes and while my flicks might not be symmetrical, they’re close enough.

Verdict: Hell to the yes!

Amanda: This week was the cat eye look, and this is something that scared me quite a bit. I’m not a dab hand with an eyeliner and I can probably count on one hand how many times I have used an eyeliner. Anyway putting my fears to one side I took to the ‘makeup stage’. To achieve this look I used the MAC Penultimate Eyeliner, creating a sweeping motion with a wing-type shape at the corner. Unfortunately I went in full force and the cat eye shape went way to far across my eye, however I do think this look looks great on some girls but sadly not for me. On the upside the eyeliner I used was great and created a really steady line across my eye, but as I have really small eyes unfortunately this look is not for me. Shaky hands and eyeliner should never mix.