Tutorial: Daily Dolly Eyes For Monolids

Here is a simple dolly eye look for monolids/Asian eyelids that's not too overbearing so that it can be worn daily. It makes the eyes look round and cute like dolls :3

If you would like to find out how I did this look, keep reading! Prodcuts I used at the end!

Step 1: Line the upper lid.

On a primed eye, outline your upper lid with gel eyeliner in a slightly rounded shape while your eyes are open, and extend the end following the curve of your eye. Avoid putting any liner near the inner corner.

Then fill it in.

Step 2: Apply lower mascara as a guideline.

Here, I applied a tiny bit of mascara to the center of the lower lashline, which we will use as a guide for the lower shadow/liner. It will also serve as the continuation of the liner we will use later, because we don't want to fully line the bottom lid!

Step 4: Apply shadow to the lower lashline.

Using an angle brush, apply a light brown eyeshadow from the edge of the eyeliner to the beginning of where we applied the mascara.

This doesn't have to be perfect, as it also serve as a guideline/we will go over it again later.

Step 4: Apply the bottom liner.

Using a tiny stiff brush and a teensy bit of gel eyeliner on the tip, go over the eyeshadow you just applied in a neat (as possible :P), thin line, extending from the beginning of the mascara to the upper liner. (Go around and not in the waterline, as this will make the eyes appear rounder.)

You want to leave a space between the liner and your waterline, but you want it to not look too unnatural, so don't make it too straight or harsh!

Step 5: Reapply eyeshadow.

Using the angle brush, apply the light brown eyeshadow to the upper lid and lower lid lightly.

Step 6: Apply mascara.

Mascara on your natural lashes adds a sweet touch, just don't put too much! Find out how I apply mascara here.

Done!

Products used:

Small angle brush

Small hard brush (came w/ gel liner)

Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Liner in Blackest Black

NYX Eyeshadow Single in ES06 Dark Brown (like light brown)

NYX 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette in Champagne and Caviar (just used for shimmery flesh tone)

Eyelash curlers (Revlon & Daiso)

Maybelline Define A Lash Mascara Lengthening in waterproof

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara in waterproof

Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer

Tutorial: Ulzzang Eye Makeup For Monolids

Pretty Korean models and/or ulzzangs already have beautiful eyes to begin with and the makeup they wear is not very obvious. In this tutorial, I will be mimicking the shape of many of their eyes, not necessarily copying their makeup. (Some ulzzangs do have heavier-looking makeup, like Ji Hee, so pretty :D) I hope you find this helpful either way c: 

Edit* Keep reading for the tutorial~

Step 1: Line your upper lid.

With the outer edges of your upper and lower lid primed, line your upper lid with gel liner while your eyes are open, and extend a wing following your natural eye shape to where your bottom lashline is lowest. Use a small stiff brush with a point preferably, which sometimes comes with the gel. Then fill it in.

Step 2: Apply mascara as a guideline.

I like to apply mascara to the center of the lower lashline (and sometimes even towards the inner corner) to serve as a guide for our bottom/shadow liner next. Don't apply all the way to the outer edge, because we're leaving that area bare.

Step 3: Apply bottom eyeshadow.

Extending from where you ended your mascara, apply a line of brown eyeshadow using a small angle brush horizontally towards the outer edge. (Fyi, his is supposed to be mostly straight, but the picture perspective makes it look angled!) Extend your eyeliner downwards to meet the shadow if necessary.

Step 5: Line the lower lashline.

First, using the same gel liner, make a short line mark in the center of your water line.

Then, continue to draw a horizontal line as neat and thin as possible starting from the mark you just made to the end of your eyeliner wing (none in the waterline except for the center!).

Step 6: Apply mascara.

Curl your lashes and apply mascara. See how I apply mascara to my stubborn lashes here. I added a bit more to the bottom lashes here.

Step 7: Add eyeshadow.

If you wish, add a bit of brown eyeshadow to just above the slanted part of the upper liner to add a bit of an illusion of depth.

Here's an angled picture to show how straight the lower liner really looks:

Step 8: Aegyo-sal.

To complete the look, you can optionally add some shimmery flesh toned eyeshadow (I find white too harsh) and a contrasting color to make the smiling/puffy eyes look, or aegyo-sal that many Korean models have.

Done!

I see ulzzangs wear circle lenses like 90% of them time, so if you have circle lenses use them, too! *I thought if I had circle lenses it would look more K-inspired so I took the liberty of trying to sloppily GIMP it on in the first pic, first time I ever altered my eye so much it's kinda freaky. I should get circle lenses irl already...

Products used:

Small angle brush

Small hard brush (came w/ gel liner)

Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Liner in Blackest Black

NYX Eyeshadow Single in ES06 Dark Brown (like light brown)

NYX 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette in Champagne and Caviar (just used for shimmery flesh tone)

Eyelash curlers (Revlon & Daiso)

Maybelline Define A Lash Mascara Lengthening in waterproof

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara in waterproof
Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer

Monolid Eye Makeup Basics & Tips

Having monolids, also called Asian eyes or eyes without a crease, can be tricky, especially because it's not that easy to follow conventional makeup tutorials! (Huhuhu but that doesn't stop me from watching Miss Phan!) But once you've mastered the basics, it's a piece of cake!

1. Pick the right products.
A primer is a must. Gel liners are good for the area that is hidden when you close your eyes - they stay on for the most part. (I've found pencil and liquid liner always smeared with all the constant contact of the lids every time you blink!)

2. Emphasize the center.

Slightly. Some monolids have a straighter shape on the upper lid due to the lack of a crease. You don't want your eyeliner to be too thick on the outer or inner corner, but going a little thicker in the center makes for rounder looking eyes. Once you're sure all your liner is visible when your eyes are open (see below), then you can adjust the shape.

Emphasize it here!

3. Using eyeliner: focus on the upper lid.
Eyeliner is key key key. One of the beautiful things about monolids is that you can change your eye shape with your handy eyeliner, without the restriction of a crease line. If you have monolids, you've probably noticed that any liner you apply to your upper lashline disappears as soon as you open your eyes. While it has no problem showing up on your lower lashline, you want to avoid putting it here too much because they make the lids look quite heavy.

Begin applying eyeliner with your eyes open. I find it easiest to make a mark in the center while you have your eyes open, and then working from there!

As you can see, there is going to be space on the hidden area of your lid that you have to fill in later, but in the meantime, just focus on making a defined visible line, following the natural curve of your eye. It's always easiest to do this whole process with your eyes open. You can later adjust the shape to your liking.

Lined upper lashline!

Then, fill in the space that isn't visible when your eyes are opened last.

4. Using eyeshadow: don't blend too much!
Eyeshadow has been a tricky thing for me when it comes to my monolids. I always strayed away from using any because I found it overwhelmed my eyes and made them look smaller instead of bigger, so I just admired all the pretty colors and palettes from afar. But that doesn't have to be the case!

Now I find eyeshadow to be very usable, helping create depth to my depthless eyes. When applying eyeshadow, instead of applying it to the "imaginary crease area" around your eyesocket and blending, just apply it directly above your eyeliner in a straight line/v-shape/other shape, without any blending (except the edges perhaps, I like to taper where it starts or ends). Or do very minimal blending, because I find that eyeshadow can outweigh the eyeliner and create the illusion of smaller eyes occurs when I overblend.

I find that a small angle brush works the best for this. This adds dimension and makes the lids look less flat.

In my experience, making nearly all eyemakeup crisp and having a defined line works the best for monolids. However, that doesn't mean that blended eyeshadow can't still work to your advantage!

I like using brown for a natural shadow (lol yes it is eyeshadow, I know) look, but try experimenting with different colors, too! Having monolids doesn't limit us to anything >:D


5. Using eyeshadow: apply it after the eyeliner.
If you do wish to use eyeshadow, try to use it after you have achieved the eyeliner you want. It's better to control the shape and form you desire this way, because eyeliner for monolids are already quite thick. You can go back over the eyeliner afterwards if it needs redefining.


6. Open your eyes with lashes!
It's typical for monolids to hide and push eyelashes down, making them very straight and invisible. But if you frame your lids with lashes, eyes can look a hundredfold more awake. Of course, you can achieve visible eyelashes with either falsies or mascara.

False eyelashes are a quick way to get full, fluttery lashes. Just glue them on and voila! Sometimes if they have a thick band, they can even open your eyes more and make a bit of a crease. But with the glue and extra weight, I find it troublesome for everyday wear, and better suited to occasional events.

Mascara is also a hard thing to get to work (is there any makeup for monolids that doesn't require extra thought?), but luckily, it is possible! I wrote a post previously about mascara for monolids that explains how I do it. Again, remember not to go bottom heavy!

With mascara!

7. Don't go overboard with eyebrows!

Especially with monolids, having eyebrows too extremely thick/dark can easily overwhelm your eyes. Otherwise, go crazy with however you want to shape your brows - thick, skinny, thin, arched, straight, etc.! Whatever compliments your eyes best!

~~

That's all I have to share for now! I wish I had known these things when I was beginning to wear makeup. Poor 15-year-old me, confused and sad makeup wouldn't work right. It would have definitely saved me from looking back at pictures of myself in makeup where it didn't suit my eyes at all... Oh well, live and learn!

I really hope that this has been of help to somebody! And I'll be sure to try to write more tips and tutorials based around monolids.

From picture 1 to picture 2 - now you know the secrets! : D

<3 San

Mascara For Monolids

Having monolids, I have given up hope on having visible lashes time after time. My lashes are quite straight and any curl I try has always just been pushed down by my lids. Heavy false lashes seemed to be the only thing that could make me look like I had any lashes at all.

But!!! After much trial and error and research, I've now been able to hold a curl in my stubborn lashes! Someone on Soompi had an explanation of this kind of technique, and these are the products and variations I use to make it work for me! Take that lashes!

You'll need:

- full eyelash curler

- partial eyelash curler

- dry formula mascara

- volumizing mascara

It's double the products I thought I would originally need, but it gets the job done!
Important: Make sure the mascaras you use are waterproof and not too wet, this will all help keep your curl.


Step 1: Curl lashes with a full eyelash curler.

For this step, I think any normal eyelash curler you have would work. Personally, I've used a Lacross one and the Revlon Extra Curl Lash Curler (the red and black one). Important: always when curling (with either full or partial curlers), squeeze the eyelash curler multiple times in succession!!! No need to do the squeeze and hold for a while method with this technique. If your lashes are anything as stubborn as mine, they probably won't look all too impressive at this stage still.




Step 2: Curl lashes with a partial eyelash curler.

The full eyelash curler never does the whole trick for me. I need to really curl each section with one of these babies to get an actual curl! I got mine from Daiso. It's a bit more like bending the lashes to an upright position where they are actually visible. I curl from the outside corner of the lash, going inwards. Now once your lashes are nice and curled in the position you want them to stay...

They might look something like this at this point!

Step 3: Apply a dry mascara.
Use whatever mascara you have that you feel has the driest formula that helps hold a curl (make sure it hasn't been past 6 months when you first used it of course!). I use the Maybelline Define A Lash Lengthening mascara in the waterproof version. Coat your lashes a couple times. You want your lashes to still be relatively dry. Important: Do not put too much! Otherwise, your lashes would just get heavy and fall.




Step 4: Curl lashes with a full eyelash curler, again.
Curl your lashes with the dry mascara with your full eyelash curler. Your eyelash curlers will get mascara residue on them, so using this method you'll need to clean them regularly (hand soap and warm water works great).

Step 5: Apply a volumizing mascara.
My favorite to use is the Maybelline Falsies in the waterproof version. Coat your lashes, but again, don't ever clump it on.








And viola! Your lashes should have a curl that generally stays in place, just stay away from humidity and crying as that tends to undo all of your hardwork, haha. If you want you can once again curl with the full curler and add one more light coat of the second mascara, just to make sure.

Ta-dah! Curled lashes at last!

Did this work for you? Do you have other ways to keep a curl in place? Let me know!

San

P.S. I just got back from walking in the snow to and from a friend's house and my lashes are still visible! Hope y'all stay warm if it's cold where you live and happy holidays!