By stufflovely
Now, take my comment about speed with a grain of salt — I’ve been doing some form of cat-eye makeup almost daily for like, a decade, so I’ve got plenty of practice and muscle memory under my metaphoric belt. But take it from someone who knows: When you’re not afraid to go all out with color and cover all of the eyelid space you’re working with, creating that winged shape gets a hell of a lot easier as opposed to making dainty, barely-there wings.
Here’s my fool-proof process for creating looks like the ones you see above and below on my somewhat hooded eyes. With Twin Flames, I paint a thin line across my eyelid, making sure it’s close to the lash line. Before the product has a chance to dry down, I look as far upward as I can until my lashes press into the skin around the crease area (like I’m intentionally trying to fuck up my makeup). Doing that leaves behind a stencil for the top part of the cat-eye, and it’ll never budge because it already covers the area where transfer would normally happen.
After that, I draw a line from the outer corner of my eye outward until I’m close to the brow bone. How you draw that winged part is totally up to you; I do it a little differently every time but find it easiest to follow the angle of my lower lash line. From there, I place the applicator tip in the exact spot where that wing ends and drag my hand inward until I reach that stencil, at which point I just follow along before filling in all the empty space.
Sometimes, I layer different Twin Flames shades on top of one another to create a gradient (see the look below) or add some graphic details with a high-contrast liquid eyeliner (see the look above). But, for the most part, that’s how I do all my winged eye makeup. It isn’t always perfect, but it is always quick and efficient. Plus, if you get the movements down pat, you’ll be able to draw the whole thing in one fluid motion and won’t even really need to do the stencil bit.
To create this gradient look, I layered three Twin Flames shades — Everlasting, Obsession, and SweSweethearteheart — from lightest to darkest.
Of course, that’s not the only way you can apply these high-octane colors. Take it from New York City makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes, who likes to apply liquid shadows bit by bit and blend continuously for a seamless fade. “Start at the lash line in the middle of the eye and then build up from there; Use a fluffy kind of eye shadow blending brush that allows you to blend and apply at the same time,” she previously told Allure.
However you choose to apply these shadows, you’re basically guaranteeing to snag some attention and praise… and after the year or so we’ve all had, I think many of us could use a good ego boost.
Danessa Myricks Twin Flames Multi-Chrome Pigments are $26 each and are available now on danessamyricks.com.
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