5 Eye Makeup Tricks Every Asian Girl Should Know
By Faith Xue
If you’ve ever tried to follow an eye makeup tutorial only to get to the part where it says “Blend into your crease” and stared at your crease-less eye in the mirror confusedly, we feel you. When it comes to applying makeup for Asian eyes, all traditional makeup rules fly out the window—and with it, our interest in attempting anything beyond a simple swipe of black liner (if that). But before you throw down your eye shadow palettes at the injustice of it all, know this—there is a way.
We asked celebrity makeup artist, Kira Nasrat (she works with everyone from Jamie Chung to Freida Pinto, and is currently Violet Grey’s VIP makeup artist), to school those of us who only ever have to deal with creases in our clothes on proper eye makeup technique. In fact, she proceeded to give us a smoldering, perfectly-blended smoky eye as she shared her tips, so we can soundly attest to her expertise.
Keep scrolling for her game-changing tricks!
Photo: Imaxtree
Trick #1: Think Ombré
Think about everything you’ve ever been taught about how to execute a perfect smoky eye. Got it? Now forget all of it—now. “Smoky eyes for Asian eyes are less about adding dimension to the outer crease (since there is none), and more about creating an even, ombré effect from your lash line towards your brow,” Nasrat says.
She lines her monolidded clients’ eyes with black gel liner, then take a flat, tapered eyeshadow brush and applies a dark brown matte shadow in a curved shape right above the lid. Then, she takes a lighter brown matte shadow and applies it right above the darker shade. Finally, she blends everything out for a soft, smoky effect using MAC’s Blending Brush ($24). The same technique goes for using colored eyeshadows—Nasrat will take a navy blue or light purple and fill up the whole lid halfway, then just blend upwards. “You want to frame your eyes—you don’t want them to look worlds apart,” Nasrat says. “Don’t be afraid of going inwards with the darker shadows. Not only are you going to achieve a more dramatic eye, but it will look so much smokier. If you’re going to go for it, go big or go home!”
Related: How to Do All of Your Makeup Using Only Eye Shadow
Trick #2: Open Your Eyes
Ready for a bombshell? Nasrat says that girls with monolids should actually keep their eyes open when applying their eye makeup. “You want to keep your eyes open and tilt your head back a bit when you’re applying eyeliner, shadow, and lashes,” she says. “Especially with a smoky eye, it’ll make it so much easier to see where you should apply the shadows—if you close your eyes, you won’t be able to tell how far up to go.”
Related: Eye Makeup Trick for Small Eyes That Makes a BIG Difference
Trick #3: Don’t Wing, Blend
For a softer, less severe smoky effect, Nasrat suggests skipping the wing when you’re applying eyeliner, and creating one instead by blending the ends upwards. “I use Bobbi Brown’s Cream/Smudge Ultra Fine Eye Liner Brush ($45),” she says. “It makes it so easy—use one end to apply your gel or cream liner, then use the other to smoke it out and blend out the ends into a wing shape.”
Trick #4: Skip the Strip Lashes
On nights you want to give your lashes a boost, skip the strip falsies and opt for individuals instead. “When you do a whole strip [on a monolid eye], it can look massive and unnatural,” Nasrat says. “I always place the individual lashes starting the center first, using that as my home base of sorts, then go outwards from there.” Her formula for the a lush, fluttery fringe? Curl your lashes, apply a waterproof mascara or any formula that will really lock in the curl (she swears by one from Serge Lutens), tilt your head back, and apply your lashes. “Make sure to tilt your head back down before you apply another cluster so you can adjust as needed,” she says.
Trick #5: Use the Right Brushes
“I think the biggest misconception people have is that eye makeup brushes are one size fits all,” Nasrat says. “You have to use a brush that’s designed for you. Someone with deep-set eyes and big lids wouldn’t use a smaller shadow brush—it would take forever!” With that in mind, she recommends three must-have brushes for Asian eyes: a dual-ended eyeliner brush and smudger like the Bobbi Brown one mentioned earlier, a smaller flat eyeshadow brush with a tapered end (she swears by Utowa’s Hood Eyeshadow Brush 13 ($42)), and a soft, fluffy blending brush, like MAC’s version.
Related: The Only Makeup Brushes You Really Need
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