Eye makeup is a very powerful tool, with the ability to either enhance or impair the appearance of our features depending on just how each liner, shadow or mascara wand is wielded.
And while everyone is of course chasing their own individual goals in the beauty game, the desire to elongate and brighten the eyes is generally a pretty universal one.
Our ability to achieve aforementioned aim, however, all dries down to technique; and nobody nails it quite like Hung Vanngo, the makeup artist extraordinaire behind some of Gisele Bündchen, Selena Gomez and Penélope Cruz’s most stunning eye looks.
Luckily for us, he recently spilled his secrets, and it turns out all you’ll need is two products and a clever colour placement trick…
The look: soft, smoky and free of harsh lines
Vanngo is a firm believer that eyeliner doesn’t have to be dramatic or OTT to enhance the eye; in fact, he regularly favours a more subtle finish, especially when it comes to elongating and brightening the eye.
“[I like to use] the Kajal pencil from Shiseido and trace along the upper lash line, not really to line the eye but [just] to create [natural-looking] depth around the lash line. I also use the same pencil [on] the upper waterline. [Then], I use a blending brush and just blend everything out,” he shares of the first step of his go-to soft liner look.
Shiseido Kajal InkArtist in Tea House, $36.95 at cosmeticsnow.com.au
The trick: elongate the inner corners
But while most people tend to focus their eye-elongating attention on the outer corner, Vanngo says the inner one is just as important. “I use the same liner going really into the corner of the eye, as I want to elongate the eye the other way as well – not just [from] the outside, but also [from] the inner corner.”
And while he’s all for softening the colour to avoid closing the eye off, he’s still not a fan of the ‘eye-opening inner corner highlight trick’ many swear by. “After [applying] you can use a blending brush and blend [the inner corner] out; usually people like to put a little highlight in the corner of the eye, [but] I don’t myself,” he explains. “I put a little bit on the crease but I love how the corner of the eye looks the way it is [now that we’ve] elongated the eye, so that’s why I don’t want to put the highlighter there.”
Rae Morris Jishaku Brush 9 Detail Point Shader, $68.76 at beautylish.com
