There's not many skills I have in life. I can't play the piano. I can't bake a cake. I can't sing like a lark. The one thing I can do though? Apply liquid eyeliner in a perfect cat eye whilst standing on a moving train. On both eyes.
It's a skill I've honed to perfection after years of not being able to get out bed in time to do my make-up before I leave the house.
So, I was more than a little sceptical at the new beauty obsession - eyeliner stencils. Could a little bit of plastic really help me apply an Adele-worthy flick even more easily?
Well. I decided to find out...
I looked to Beth Bender Beauty. These guys have got the eyeliner stencil market sewn UP right now. Sure, you have to order them from America and sure, they're a little more expensive than other options ($13.99) but according to the buzz around them, they're the big guns.
Over on YouTube, opinion is divided. Millie T is a bit 'meh' about her stencil. However she does use liquid eyeliner which you can do, although on the Beth Bender website, they say to use powder and a brush and go over the top afterwards.
Georgia Marie says 'if you're really struggling with winged liner and you haven't got hooded eyes, this could really work for you.' She, interestingly, used powder, but reckons it would work better with gel liner.
So, I decided to give it a go.
How to use an eyeliner stencil?
First things first, you are not going to look any type of attractive doing this. You have to poke your eyelashes through the hole and then smush the stencil down against your skin. I held it in place with my thumb and forefinger on either end.
The tricky part is figuring out exactly where to place it. They say 'for a classic cat eye look place stencil along lash line. For a thicker, trendy liner look place above last line. For winged liner, extend Cat Eye Stencil out & up.'
So first up, I tried out powder, and a brush. Dusting the visible eyelid through the stencil is easy enough, until you get to the winged part. Because of the natural curve of your eye hole in your skull (yeah, how's that for beauty talk?) it's tough to get the stencil to stay down flat.
I thought I'd covered it all. Turns out though, when I revealed it, that actually, I'd missed a big old gap on my eye crease. Also - the further out you hold the stencil to exaggerate the wing, the further along your lid the other end of the eyeliner starts.
So, how about with liquid eyeliner? Let's give that a go. I used blue so it showed up better.
As you can see, it looks smoother along the top lid.
So, do eyeliner stencils actually work?
So erm, the verdict. For me, this took a few attempts, a hurty eye from taking my make-up off and neither time was I as happy with the result as I would have been if I'd done the cat eye myself.
I know some people have trouble with eyeliner though so, if that's you, and perhaps your eyes aren't as sunken as mine, you might find this a whole bunch easier. I'd recommend using a liquid eyeliner with a brush applicator though (rather than a marker).
There's other options available too. Here's a few to choose from.
Where to buy eyeliner stencils in the UK?
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
Follow Jess on Twitter @Jess_Commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.