Excerpt
HOW TO: CAT EYES
Creating a cat eye is easier than it looks. First, rim the eyes with a standard black eyeliner. Not too heavy— just enough to provide a base. When working with the liquid eyeliner, you want to start by removing excess liquid from the wand. Here, I went with a deep black liner, but navy and green and even silver can also be fun. Play around with what works best for you or for the occasion. If you’re going to a formal event, it’s best to stick with black or navy. But if you’re going out dancing, for drinks with the girls, or to a holiday party, really, anything goes. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
To remove the excess liquid, wave the liner wand in the air (don’t roll it on a tissue—you’ll only pick up bits of fuzz). Then place the liner tip at the inner corner of your top eyelid and draw a straight line all the way across. Don’t worry if the line appears jagged—you’ll need to draw the line two or three times to create the full effect, so there’s plenty of time to even out smudges. If you need to drag the liner across in sections or dab at the lash line to fill it in, that’s fine, too.
Next, to create the cat-eye wing, simply extend the tail of the drawn-on liner past the eye, being sure to keep it on an upward angle. The further out you take the line, the more dramatic your cat eye will be. Then think about what you want to do with the rest of the eye. I like to leave the lower lashes bare or apply a single coat of mascara. On the lids, white eye shadow worked to create the retro feeling I wanted here, while serving to play up the eyes even more. But you can also use beige, silver, or other metallic, or go all the way with it and apply a black shadow to the lids. Just make sure you’re not being too dramatic for the occasion; that is, a black-on- black cat eye might not be the wisest choice for a job interview, a wedding, or, for that matter, a funeral.
Here, for the full Marilyn effect, I decided to apply a beauty mark on the model’s upper cheekbone using the same black liquid eyeliner. Just a dot of liner is enough. Then, to turn the dot into a natural-looking beauty mark, I used an eyeliner brush to apply a tan eye shadow on top of the dot. Use your finger to gently press the shadow into the dot, so that the shadow stays put and absorbs a bit into the black liner.
Keeping the lips in a natural or light coral tone works best because you don’t want anything to compete with the eyes. Then use a dusting of translucent powder all over the face to set. I think Miss Marilyn would approve, don’t you?