Black makeup with graphic eyeliner lines is back in trend

by

The New York Times

The look caused sensations at the Paris haute couture shows, when Julia Fox entered the Schiaparelli fashion show with an electronic cigarette in her hands, a leather dress, carrying a bag with a golden lock, and wearing black makeup that covered her entire eyelids.

And there was the same makeup once again, at the Chanel show, whose makeup artists painted smudged black circles around the eyes of some models, a look apparently inspired by the avant-garde art of the 1920s.

And again, again and again, on TikTok, where in recent months many Gen Z people have been experimenting with thick-lined black makeup, apparently inspired by Tumblr images from the mid-2000s.

In the new season of the series “Euphoria”, also, the makeup left aside the shine and went to the dark, with a lot of black eyeliner. Just look at Maddy’s reverse cat eyes, or the dark eyeliner Jules uses in the corners of her eyes.

Dark eye makeup is back. And with exaggeration, kind of gothic and very strong. It’s the kind of makeup that generates conversation, creates fans online, gets people to recreate looks, and provokes some intense reactions, as happened with Fox’s look.

“When I got backstage at the Schiaparelli show, I was about to start on a model’s makeup when Pat McGrath told me to pack my things and run to Fox’s dressing room,” said Daniel Kolaric, the makeup artist responsible for Fox’s look.

As he packed his things, he and McGrath, one of the masters of British makeup, discussed her vision for bold, beautiful, graphic eye makeup design. She had already seen Fox’s dress, and designed several looks, including one that involved graphic lines, a deconstructed look, and the bold and graphic makeup that Fox ended up choosing.

While rumors circulated that Kanye West directed the makeup session, Kolaric was directly inspired by McGrath and her archives.

“If you look at Pat’s file, you’ll see several variations of the idea in photo shoots and shows she’s done,” he said, mentioning the graphic eye makeup McGrath designed for the Comme des Garçons show in the fall of 1997 and the eyes deconstructed blacks she designed for John Galliano’s collection for Dior in the fall of 1999, when the designer paid homage to “The Matrix.” Kolaric said that “Pat also designed wonderful graphic black eyes for Yohji Yamamoto in the 2000s”.

Part of the appeal of this form of makeup is the mood it creates, the editorial tone it sets. “I love the fact that it’s not designed to stand out or be pretty like most makeup we see in mainstream media,” said Aoife Cullen, a makeup artist who often tries out bold eye makeup on TikTok, and who recreated the look. Fox look.

“It’s refreshing to see a woman in the media challenging the norms and standards of beauty that she has to live up to,” Cullen said. For others, the appeal of the look is its inherent boldness. “It looks very sexy, edgy, risky,” said Mia Anjelica, who also recreated the look on social media.

“I love the sense of power you get from just looking at Julia. Yes, the makeup is bold, black, it takes up most of the lid, but the dark of the eyes makes you want to look at them. Which to me is power. By the end of my makeup session, I felt dominant, hot, and even a little superhero.”

The secret of the look is all in the application. Kolaric emphasized that it’s important to start with concealer around the eye and on the eyelid, and then draw the desired graphic shape around the eye with a pencil such as the Pat McGrath Labs Perma Precision Liquid Eyeliner he used.

“Backstage, we always start the look with the eyeliner pencil,” he said. “What’s great about starting out this way is that you can draw the basic line and correct it before filling in. It helps create a seamless, seamless graphic eye.”

Then, use a flat brush to apply black shadow inside the graphic shape you drew, and extend it out towards the brow bone. Use a detailing brush to define the lower lash line with the same black eyeshadow. Finally, accentuate the edges of the black graphic shape with the darkest eyeliner you have, and coat your lashes with mascara.

If you want a softer version or aren’t ready for the extreme look, Sabrina Rinaldi, makeup artist at Byredo, suggests a toned down version of black eyeliner, or choosing brown over black, which creates a softer, more wearable look. “You can create a more understated version of the look by lining the eyes with eyeliner,” said Rinaldi.

Another way to achieve the effect of a dark, well-defined eye is to use an eyeshadow stick or a larger eyeliner as a solo product, which is what Cullen did. “I used Byredo’s Kali Kali Kajal eyeliner, which is a thick stick eyeliner,” she said. “It’s one of my favorite products for creating those dramatic, dense looks that I love so much.”

“I started out by outlining the shape of the look and then I filled it in with the pencil,” she said of her recreation of Fox’s makeup on TikTok. “Then I manipulated the outline with a cotton swab to create a shape more like the original.”

Because black makeup can smudge, Cullen suggests applying two or three coats of translucent powder over it. “The key is to not be afraid and go for it,” she said. “It’s okay to make mistakes, because it reinforces the look, in my opinion, and it’s the best way to learn, grow and more comfortably face looks that don’t seek beauty.”

To create a well-defined look, you can use concealer at the end to better define your lines. Apply with a flat brush, over the black lines, and blend. That is, apply the eyeliner with confidence, and embrace the black.

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