The cat-eye look is one of the most popular beauty tricks, used to enhance the eyes and achieve a sultry, feline appearance. Depending on your personal preference, pencil, liquid and gel eyeliner can be used to achieve this flattering look.
To find out how to create the perfect cat eyes, simply follow these easy steps:
Step 1.
After you have chosen your preferred eyeliner, start by drawing a line from the centre of the eyelid to the outer corner, keeping as close to the top lash line as possible.The line can be modified to be as thick or thin as you want, according to the specific look you are trying to create. Thicker lines will create a more striking appearance, whereas subtle lines are ideal for casual daytime makeup.
While it’s important to keep your hand as steady as possible to achieve a straight line, it’s not always easy to get it right in a single stroke. Gradually building up small strokes may take longer, but can help you to create the look you want and prevent any messy mistakes from occurring.
Step 2.
Once you have the main line in place, you now need to join it up to the corner of the inner eye. This part of the line will need to be extremely fine to prevent the eyelids from appearing too heavy. Alternatively, if you don’t want the eyeliner to stretch across the entire lid, you can always start in the middle and move outwards for a subtle, understated look.
Step 3.
Now for the tricky part. To draw the flick in the corner of the eye, start where the lashes end and draw outwards in a sweeping motion. The length, angle and thickness of the wing is entirely up to you. If you want the line to be thicker, draw an additional line from the top of the flick back down to the lash line to create a triangle, which can then be filled in.
When repeating the process on the second eye, make sure that both wings are the same size and length.
Step 4.
If you’re feeling creative, spend some time playing around with different effects. If using gel or pencil eyeliner, a precision pencil brush can be used to smudge and blend the liner to create a smokey eye effect. To experiment with different styles and effects, companies such as Direct Cosmetics offer a range of makeup utensils and cosmetics ideal for the cat eye look.
For a more dramatic eye, use the same liner to draw across the bottom eye line and blend with a brush.
Step 5.
After you have achieved the desired look, you now need to think about the rest of your makeup. No cat eye is complete without a few coats of black mascara, and there are now certain types of products that are specifically designed to enhance the feline look by adding length and volume to your lashes.
Generally, black eyeliner creates a greater impact with neutral, minimal face makeup. If you want to really open up your eyes, adding golden, shimmery eye shadow to your brow bone will help to create a natural appearance. However, it is worth bearing in mind that if you are adding shadow on top of eyeliner, you may want to use a skin primer to prevent the makeup from looking ‘cakey’.
While black is the most popular colour choice, soft browns and dusty greys can add a playful twist to the cat eye.