Could a credit card help your cat eye flick?

We discussed the cat flick eyeliner look last week and there was a pretty unanimous vote of approval for the classic look, popularised by Audrey Hepburn, which never seems to go out of style. It can be a difficult look to get just right, however. I often find that I'll manage it beautifully on one side and then can't get the other side to match up, which is very frustrating.

And then I was reminded of a tip I've read a few times, but never tried - to use the side of a credit card or business card to help you to draw a straight flick evenly on either side. It sounds a bit silly, but I thought "What the hell, it's all in the name of research" and ventured forth into the bathroom, Shiseido liquid liner in one hand and (not quite a credit card) a small card advertising Shiseido lipsticks (which I'd been using as a bookmark) in the other.

I started by lining my eye, which I can always manage well as I just use the base of the lashes as a guideline. I took the line out to the edge of my eye and then picked up the card and held it up to my face at the edge of my eye, angled upwards towards the end of my eyebrow.

My first attempt was a bit messy and I soon realised I had positioned the card too far down towards the outer corner of my eye - my eyes are quite rounded and it looks better if I start the flick just where the lashline starts to curve downwards, rather than at the very edge. So on my next attempt (luckily I'd decided to try this on an evening when I wasn't actually going anywhere) I started the line a little further in and used the angled card as a guideline to confidently wing the liner up towards the end of my eyebrow. And... it looked good! I was able to repeat the process on my other eye to produce a matching flick without any hassle too.

The good thing about this trick is that you really only need to use the card a few times until you get the hang of where to place the flick and then you'll be able to wing your liner out yourself without using a guide. I didn't draw the line right against the side of the card, but just used the placement as a visual aid to draw the line parallel to it. And it certainly helped me to feel more confident about taking the flick up further than I usually do.

Use this method with your preferred type of liner - I can see it working with liquid liner, gel liner, pencil or shadow applied with a narrow brush. And now that I know the secret to the perfect flick, the cat eye look had really better stay in style for ever.