Cosmetics / Makeup Tip: Easy on the Eyes!

I started doing theatre makeup when I was 15, have worked as both a cosmetic consultant and a makeup artist in the retail world, and was chief makeup artist with a community theatre for 10 years. It never ceases to amaze me how carelessly even supposedly well-informed and up-to-date women put on and take off their eye-makeup.

Most women I've observed try to put all their eye makeup on while looking directly at themselves in a mirror. To apply eyeliner or mascara, if you look slightly down into a mirror, you'll have an easier time applying both to your top lid. Your lashes won't be in the way of the liner, and you'll never get mascara on the skin below your brows. Conversely, if you look up into a mirror (not from so low that you have to pucker up your forehead!), it will lift your lower lashes away from your face, again making application much easier. Without exception, the only way I ever see women remove their eye makeup, whether with soap and water, facial cleansers, or eye makeup remover is by scrubbing and rubbing the eye area.

To remove eye-makeup without pulling at or stressing the delicate skin around the eyes, soak a cotton pad with your favorite remover and place your pinkie finger (left hand for left eye; right for right eye) underneath your eyelashes. You can blot or even rub; it won't do your finger any harm. Place a quilted cotton square (they "fuzz" less) under your lower lashes and run an eye-makeup remover-soaked cotton swab over the lashes. No "tearing" at the delicate eye area, and no transfer of eye-makeup (except onto your finger, in the fist instance, which is wiped or washed clean easily enough.

I've been applying and removing makeup this way for years; I came up with it in my 20s after having read dozens of times to "pat" eye cream on and never, never to rub the delicate eye area. I will say I have no visible lines around my eyes (unless I smile) and I'm over 40.