From The Straits Times    |

Could Paris Fashion Week’s frolicking fish be next year’s Kenzo Eye? Creative directors and partners in crime Humberto Leon and Carol Lim gazed starboard for Spring’s prints, reeling in leaping fish and splashing out on crested waves for a collection that posessed a distinctly political slant – the oceanic theme was apparently a call to action against the exploitation of marine resources.

Indeed, the show’s palette progression from buoyant blues to the finale’s roiling reds was a none-too-subtle reminder of the bloody business of overfishing…but if the apparel’s activism was a tad heavy-handed, the makeup was light, sunny and suffused with a surfer girl’s sense of ease.

Maquillage master Aaron de Mey and his glam squad painted a stark, almost correction fluid white just above the upper lash line, stopping short of the crease. The rest of the face was left as is, with just a pat of undereye concealer and a slick of illuminating highlighter on the highest point of the cheek and browbones giving the girls’ faces some dimension. 

Otherwise, there was nary a hint of colour or extraneous embellishment – not even mascara. The overall effect was fresh, sexily undone and in keeping with the save-our-Earth theme of the show: it was as if the girls were National Geographic divers or Golden State lifeguards.

Here are tips on how to recreate Kenzo’s effortless California Girl eye, as well as other white eyeliner dos and don’ts:

1. Start with a wash of matte taupe shadow across your entire socket. Next, use a good, creamy pencil to draw a thick line, starting from the base of your upper lashline and going midway up your crease. Let the line taper off at the outer edge of your eyelashes. The “blinking” effect of the pop of white as you open and close your eyes is very fetching! 

2. Use an angled sponge to lightly smudge the triangular corners next to your tear ducts – the white eyeliner will do double duty as an inner eye highlighter. Because this look is about clean, almost architectural lines, leave the rest of the line sharply defined.

3. A note about colour selection: Translating this “editorial” look to everyday life means toning down the blinding white shade, the pureness of which can ironically draw attention to the redness of the whites of your eyes. Instead, an off-white, eggshell-to-butterscotch hue works better.

4. White eyeliner is inextricably tied with Jean Shrimpton and the other cool chicks of the Mod era, so we thought it’ll be fun to update the look for our decade. Follow the steps above, but instead of a subtle taper, flick the line up and out to create a dramatic, right-angled wing. (Position a business card at the desired angle at the outer corner as a guide if you need help in steadying your stroke.)

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

5. 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 eyes. As if you were inserting contact lens, use your ring finger to apply the gentlest of pressure to your lower lids. This will cause your lower waterline to protrude ever so slightly for easier application.

Selecting a liner with good glide is absolutely essential for waterlining – you don’t want painful tugging along this delicate area of your eye. Starting from the inner corner and using a decisive hand, deftly trace around the contours of your lower waterline, then blink rapidly to transfer some of the white pigment to your upper waterline. This will create a diffused, more natural appearance.

6. If this story convinced you to grab a basket’s worth of white liner off the beauty aisle only for you to discover that, ugh, you do not fancy the look, we’re sorry.

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!

For more information on Kenzo, visit www.kenzo.com. You can follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+

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