Hey Everyone!
Let’s set the scene. You’ve only just started to explore the world of makeup, you have your eye-shadows infront of you, the same primer, the same brushes and you open up youtube, click on an eye-makeup tutorial ready to take on the world. As you apply the shadows with a quick hand just like the guru in the video, you don’t know why at the end of the video when you look in the mirror, you look nothing like your “idol” on-screen.
Image Source: Google Images
I’ve been there. And it’s not to add to any racial slurs, it’s because everyone is different and every eye-shape is different. If you have smaller, beautiful asian eyes, this is the post for you. Not all eyes were created equal, mine are smaller, I don’t have a deep crease and sometimes I can wake up with one eye a little puffier than the other. I don’t have eyes like Angelinia Jolie, nor her lips, but that’s a different story.
Thus, here are my top 5 tips to getting perfect makeup for Asian or smaller eyes – without that deep-set crease and large double eye-lid. These tips are suitable for smaller creases to monolids. I’ll give you more options than just layering on those eyelashes, which I personally do not think is very flattering at all. The goal here is to enhance your eye-shapes by defining them, but still making them appear larger.
1. Use Smaller Brushes – Pencil Brushes
Don’t deny it, not all brushes were created equal either. Stop using those big fluffy brushes because they can make your makeup look ruddy and muddy. Instead, opt for more specific and smaller brushes like the pencil brush or the MAC 217 (one of my all time favourite brushes) that can add color to where you want it to go instead of making it look like you had a little too much to drink at a Panda party. Sort of. The point is, use brushes that fit your eye, there’s nothing wrong with that.
2. Keep darker colors concentrated on your lower lid
For Asian eyes, or monolids, the trick is to keep the darker colors on your lower lid – which sort of explains why liner is sometimes my second best friend. The darker colors concentrated on your lid can define and mould the shape of your eye to become rounder and thus larger. If you put a darker color in your crease with a blending brush, you will mould or contour your eye by squashing or flattening, limiting the shape of your eye and making it smaller. This is not what you want to do. Lighter colors to your browbone or matte neutral shades in your crease are the most flattering keeping in mind that your charcoals, dark browns or plum colors should be closest to your lid line. If you have a slightly puffy browbone, stop adding a white frost or lavender or light blue to it, just stop it.
3. Create an outercorner and then brush in. Don’t brush the color out because you will distort the eye shape. Contour in.
Again, with eye-shadows, or the purpose of eye-shadows is to contour or mould your eye-shape into a more desirable shape. For asian eyes, the almond shaped eye is the most flattering. To get this shape, add color to your outer corner and then add liner to elongate. Every person knows that the basics to eye-shadow is to have a darker color and a lighter color. Lighter color goes all over the lid, and the darker color goes in the outer corner. With asian eyes, yes have that base shade, and then with a darker color start at the corner (outer corner of your eye) and shade inwards, not outwards, until you have a handsome looking outer V. Remember not to go far up because you need to concentrate dark colors on the lower lid. Then, blend away. Because we want to concentrate the darker color on the lower lid again, use a small brush right after, like a pencil brush, and apply the darker shadow on your lid line smoking upwards.
4. Start from the lid and smoke upwards
This is an absolute skill to use for smaller lids. Take a pencil brush or a small shadow brush and after applying a soft more neutral shade all over the lid, take the pencil brush and with your favourite darker shade whether it be a plum, charcoal or dark brown, shade upwards starting from your lower lid and smoke upwards. This instantly defines your eyes, much like a liner but isn’t too harsh that it sets borders on your eyes.
5. Open up your eyes with eye-liner
You’re probably familiar with this already. If all else fails, eye-liner can be your new best friend at the vanity. For asian eyes, the best eye-liner for you would be liquid or gel eye-liner mostly because they are the most smudgeproof eye-liners. My lids tend to be oilier, smaller and more prone to smudging than other eyes so most liquid eye-liners stay on forever while gel-eyeliners are like training wheels for the begginners. It’s also important to get an eye-lash curler and a good mascara (I recommend the Benefit Bad Gal Lash) to help open up your eyes in addition to your favourite eye-liner.
And there we have it, my top 5 simple tips to getting eye-makeup right for pretty asian eyes.
Check out my previous eye-makeup tutorials here:
http://roseannebeauty.onsugar.com/category/tutorial
Love,
Roseanne