From The Straits Times    |

Here’s the deal. Our cumulative sleep debt for an average week amounts to something approaching a small nation’s GDP. Caffeine, our one great jittery joy in life …

Which is why this little liner trick you’re about to be privy to is particularly near and dear to our exhausted heart. When it comes to concealing circles and fending off fatigue – drumroll, please – white eyeliner is seriously the best thing since sliced bread. And hey, we know how much us working women love eyeliner, right?

Why white? Well, most of us with a glancing knowledge of makeup will know that white liner on your waterline, which is the pinkish rim around your eyes, will give the illusion of bigger peepers. Sidenote: Selecting a liner with good glide is absolutely essential for waterlining – you don’t want painful tugging around the delicate orbital region.  

Quick note about colour selection: Translating this somewhat “editorial” look to everyday life means toning down the blinding white shade, the starkness of which can ironically draw attention to the redness of the whites of your eyes. Instead, a subtly shimmery off-white hue works better – FYI, our fab frolleague Dione is rocking Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil in Yeyo.

Illustration: Sharmaine Khor

In any case, once you’ve got your white liner on hand, simply start from the inner corners and deftly trace around the contours of your lower waterline. Blink rapidly to transfer some of the white pigment to your upper waterline for a diffused, more natural appearance. So easy!

Finish with one or two coats of mascara on the bottom lashes to allude to the overblown falsies of the 1960s, but don’t go overboard with the wand – you want the white to do all the talking.

Here’s a final tip: White liner is great as a priming and tint-altering base for eyeshadow. Like an artist at work, experiment with various intensities of shadow and liner, one on top of the other, and blend well for a bespoke shade you can call your own.

Want to give white liner a test-drive in anticipation of upcoming nine-to-nine office all-nighters? Click “play” on our video above – the first in what we hope will be a long-standing series of beauty shortcuts – and transform yourself into a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed belle.

And the best part? All told, faking eight hours of sleep should take you no more than one minute, tops. Timers, at the ready? Let’s go!

Want more? Get more bang for your beauty buck with these top tips to enhancing the efficacy of your lunchtime appointment with a facialist, and purge your pores by mixing your very own DIY rinse-off face mask – using a most unexpected ingredient indeed. Get your daily dose of beauty at www.herworldplus.com/beauty.

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