Nickell- The History of the Black Eyeliner

The History of the Black Eyeliner

Why do we wear eyeliner? The reason behind people wearing eyeliner has changed tremendously over time. As early as 10,000 BC, eyeliner was first used in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia as a dark black line around the eyes. Egyptians, both males and females, wore various cosmetics not only for looks, but also to protect their skin from the desert sun (‘Eyeliner’, 2015).  After the fall of Egypt, eyeliner fell out of fashion in Europe and didn’t kick start back up until the 1920’s. Women were ready to look like their favorite Hollywood actress by using the same eyeliner fashion. The 1950’s was known for the ‘cat eye’ look, or now known as the ‘wing’. The 1970’s gave birth to new eyeliner fashion of Punk and Gothic, which relied on dramatic eye effect with eyeliner, mascara and dark eye shadows. In the 70’s the eyeliner became nearly nonexistent, but quickly made a comeback in the 80’s. The 00’s brought the soft cat eye back and is still long living to today’s make up trends (‘The history of Eyeliner’, 2012). The eyeliner fashion has made many changes over the years and continues to do so.

So the question remains, why do we wear eyeliner? Why does the fashion and trends continue to change? A long time ago it was to create people’s signature looks, but things have changed. Today many women wear eyeliner to make themselves look younger and more attractive. Some say it makes the face look more feminine or to feel more confident (Wilcox & Posted, 2012).

            People around the world do or do not wear eyeliner, and wear it in many different styles and fashions. I personally believe that we as a society mostly wear make up because the media portrays it as necessary, and the way many guys have become, makes us feel that we have to in order to feel pretty or to fit in.

            I wear eyeliner because I feel my morning routine isn’t complete until my makeup is done. I feel more confident and ready to accomplish my days’ tasks and get shit done. When I don’t do my make up or get all the way ready in the morning I feel lazy and less likely to do the things that need to be done. I have tried many different ways of applying my makeup starting with the over dramatic dark eyeliner in the 7^th grade that made me look emo because I thought it was cool. All the way to wearing little to no eyeliner my freshman year because my junior high pictures haunted me. Towards my later years of high school I wore a moderate amount of eyeliner that was noticeable, but never too stand out-ish. And now, I experiment with perfecting the famous ‘winged’ eyeliner look that I have yet to get down.

            We all have preferred ways of doing things in our life. And just life the trends change, we change and adapt along with them. I wear eyeliner to feel confident and accomplished and to feel like I fit in, but not in a bad way. Do you change the way you do your eyeliner as the new trends come along? Why do you wear eyeliner?

Works Cited

Eye liner. (2015, October 21). In Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_liner

The history of Eyeliner. (2012, July 20). Retrieved 4 November 2015, from http://iconiclook.com/beauty/the-history-of-eyeliner

Wilcox, C., & Posted. (2012, May 21). The science of makeup. Retrieved 4 November 2015, from http://scienceblogs.com/observations/2010/11/04/the-science-of-makeup/