Eyeliner

It's a beautiful thing. History shows that Cleopatra (and women and men presumably before her) worn eyeliner smudged on their lids. And as we know, when worn, it makes the roots of our eyelashes look thick - added with good black mascara (yes, black and only black - but that's for another time) out eyelashes themselves look thicker and longer. Which we, as a society, have long since decided, thicker eyelashes make you pretty. Or at least gives you that certain "je nes sa qua". Why? I don't know, I wasn't there for that meeting (though I would have enjoyed an invite), trite but true, it just is what it is.

Back to the topic at hand: eyeliner, and how, my friends, to apply it.

I rarely wear black. Though I have dark hair, dark eyes, and dark lashes, black eyeliner just seems so severe. So, I wear dark brown, dark green, or even dark plum (when feeling festive). If I had blue, like all the other women in my family, I'd probably rock navy. Obviously, there is a theme. Dark, saturated colors - that's aren't intense. Subtle. Black, for me is only worn on nights our when I need to look, let's be frank, a little trashy (you know those nights).

When applying, there are a few schools of thought on how to get the perfect line. Some pull their eyelid down or to the side, some make a big, fat line, while others make tiny little strokes to create a perfectly imperfect line.

To get the most out of your wear, I use the less is more approach during the day, using a mix of stabilizing my eyelid (but not pulling in any direction) and getting the pencil as close to the lash as possible. I make a line, and fill in any lower parts I missed, but keeping it thin. At night, that's a different story. I gladly wear a little extra. But my rule, I NEVER put eyeliner on the bottom. It's never thin enough, and no one's natural eye looks like that. And what's more, the liner will eventually smudge and you'll look like a crazy raccoon hooker.

Raccoon hookers are not attractive.

But I hope you knew that. Yes, I understand the lovely Middleton sisters line their bottom lashes, but let's be honest, their make up looks a little heavy. And the key to good makeup is subtlety and enhancing you natural beauty and good features.