I might take issue with Angelina Jolie’s weight problem* (or lack thereof—will you LOOK at those skeletal, veiny arms?), but in the eye makeup department, she always, always nails it.
* Is she just skinny or is it something more sinister? If you read Blind Items Exposed, it’s definitely the latter…
But anyway! I’ve been trying—and failing, really—to replicate Ange’s feline, winged-out eyes for AGES now.
To the rescue: Toronto-based makeup artist David Goveia, whose concealer trick I mentioned yesterday and who is basically DA MAN when it comes to simple, subtle, easy makeup that is sort of barely detectable but instantly makes you look 1,000 times better.
While the girls were getting their hair done on Monday, I couldn’t resist asking David for help on my eye makeup fail that day.
He told me that truthfully, I didn’t do a bad job—and I’m not sure if he was just being polite, because once he whipped out his makeup brushes and got to work on my face…
…I liked what HE did a billion times better. (And also better than Angelina’s, mind you. This is more of an everyday cat eye.)
Here’s what I learned:
1. Just about everyone can pull off a bit of shadow at the outer edge of your eyelid crease.
Like this:
See how pretty that is? (But not my freckle face… my gosh. This is what happens to me in the summer, even with sunscreen.) Anyway, focus on the makeup—it’s subtle. So very subtle.
2. It’s really cool if said eyeshadow is complimentary to your eye colour.
David did purple on me, since my eyes are blue. (Purples also look amazing on green eyes.) If you have brown eyes, you can pretty much wear any shade. I think it’s pretty to have that unexpected soft wash of colour, like purple, when you close your eyes—instead of the usual grays and charcoals. Do you agree?
3. Everyone can do a bit of winged-out eyeliner, but you need to follow your natural eye shape.
Now here’s where I was messing up. I was flicking my liner up and out at the outer corners of my eyes, but it NEVER LOOKED QUITE RIGHT. Too obvious, and plus there was the problem of making sure the flicks matched on either side.
David’s advice was to simply follow my natural eye shape all the way along, which in my case, happens to mean the eyeliner goes DOWN instead of up. (Does this make any sense?) But he reassured me that it’s OKAY. After you finish following the lash line with your liner, THEN you can go back and extend it out a tiny, tiny bit. (But probably not as much as you think you need to.)
Et voilà. Wings! But wings that don’t scream out at you:
4. Balance it all out with some shadow underneath your eyes.
You might have been told not to put eyeshadow underneath your lower lashes because it “drags your eyes down.”
Hogwash, in most cases. If your eyes are normal-to-large size, a little shadow (not too much) in a soft colour just under the lower lashes just gives that finishing effect and balances out what’s happening up top. Concentrate the colour in the centre, and blend, blend, blend! It will make your eyes look HUGE.
5. And unless your eyes are smallish, line the inner lower lash line, too.
I’m of the school of thought that lining the waterline always, always makes eye makeup look better. David says you don’t really need to do it on the top, just the bottom, which is what Chase Aston was doing too in his sexy summer makeup demo I showed you.
6. Apply a touch of white shadow or liner in the inner corners.
This is every makeup artist’s go-to trick and I heart it. I always use Cargo’s EyeLighter for this.
7. Chances are, you’re probably not wearing enough mascara.
I could not BELIEVE how many strokes of mascara David applied. Clearly, I was not going far enough with my application technique. So: if you want your eyes to stand out, really work that wand, yo. (You’ll probably realize your lashes are longer and thicker-looking than you ever thought possible. No Latisse—or Lumigan—needed.)
8. It’s okay if everything starts to get smudgy after a while.
There’s a reason I posted about the best waterproof liners for lining the waterline—I have an irrational fear of eye makeup getting all smudgy. But David reassured me that it’s okay if things go a bit south. He says lining the waterline only ever lasts a few hours anyway, so just work the smudges to get a smoky, sooty effect. Okay then!
9. Keep in mind that nobody should be noticing your makeup… just how big your eyes are.
This is the reason David is just really, really good at his job. And we can learn from him. He doesn’t do elaborate, crazy, colourful shadow. The focus is on the lash line, as you can see. Just use shadow to contour—nobody should really be NOTICING your shadow.
10. You can do all of this with CoverGirl.
No joke. So we can all stop being makeup snobs now. I wore this makeup from 3pm until about 11, and it looked good ALL THAT TIME—no special tricks involved.
Here’s the end result. (Great photo of David… of me? Not so much. But you get the idea…)
So—
Are you a fan of the Angelina eyes?
Will you try any of David’s cat-eye tips or do you have this look down pat? (Bitch.)
Do you own a cat? I do. I’m a cat lady and DAMN PROUD.
