The holidays are here, and I’m going to a cocktail party. I would loooove to try a makeup look that’s a little different…for me. As I’ve said before, I am smitten with the cat eye look. It looks great on 20-somethings. There must be a way to do to it that looks great on the moms of 20-somethings. I think the key is using a little restraint, so I don’t end up with eyes that look like Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra (not that I wouldn’t love to look like Liz Taylor, lol!).
First, apply primer to the eye area…all the way up to the brow if you intend to apply shadow on the brow bone. Next, choose a neutral matte eye shadow or a neutral with a little shimmer for high impact.
To do the cat eye, you can use liquid, gel, powder or pencil…in black, of course. Liquid is the most precise, but it dries quickly, and unless you really know what you’re doing, it may be difficult to use. Gel is a little more forgiving but still requires some practice. Powder with a slightly wet angled brush creates your own “liquid” liner while giving quite a bit of control, and it’s my liner of choice. If you’re new to this look, go with a soft pencil to start. Keep the Q-tips handy to fix mistakes.
You can use a grey or light brown pencil to make a tiny dot at the point where you want the wing to end so the wings will be balanced. You’re aiming for the wings to be at a 45 degree angle.
Starting with your non-dominant eye (meaning the one that’s always harder to apply your eyeliner to), gently pull your skin just beyond the eyelid toward your temple to make it easier to draw the line. Take your eyeliner and start at the inner corner of the eye with a very narrow line close to the lashes, getting just a tiny bit wider as you go along till you reach the center of your eye. At this point, draw a thicker line along the lash line and out to the dot that you made indicating where the wing should end.
Along the bottom lashline, create as subtle or dramatic a line as you like that meets up with the wing. Here’s a quick drawing (that looks kinda like a Bette Boop eye, yikes!) till I get a good photo to replace it.
Some makeup artists suggest putting your elbow on the counter while you draw to keep your hand steady, but my mirror is too high up for that. I’m just gonna “wing” it!
Finish with plenty of black mascara, and continue the uplifted look by applying more mascara to lengthen the outer lashes near the wing. Et voilà!
Fun!
Thanks, Allison, I’ll try it. But with crepey skin setting in, I’m not sure I can get liner out in the right direction! – Angie, http://www.yourtrueselfblog.com
Angie, that is one of my very early blogposts, and I’m rather embarrassed by it, lol! Because I have creepy downturned eyes, I only take an eyeliner pencil and draw a little wing up from the outer corner of the lower lash. It’s easier to do! Also, I bought a wing stamp, and I need to review it soon. Sadly, it doesn’t completely solve the problem of doing a wing on mature eyes, so that pencil wing from the lower lash line is a better option. 🙂