Video: How to Make Small Eyes Appear Bigger

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About the Expert

Spencer Barnes

Spencer Barnes is a celebrity makeup artist.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Spencer Barnes, professional makeup artist. Today, I'm going to show you how to make small eyes bigger. One of the easiest ways to focus on making your eyes look bigger is changing the shape or accentuating the shape. Using eyeliner and a lash curler, you can really not only open your eyes and extend the lashes outward and upward which helps pop the eye and make it look bigger, but also with liner, you can extend the eye out. You can bring a little more attention and create a little more drama at the eye area which can also help make the eye like bigger and more open. So today I'm going to use the Maybelline Master Drama liner in Midnight Master. So I'm going to start by using the eyeliner on Allie's eyes to first shape the eye and extend it out a little bit and then we're going to smudge it to help give a softer but a little more depth at the lash line, and then we're going to curl her lashes and give her a more open eye effect. Here we go. Start with gentle sweeping motions close to the lash line, moving outward and extending slightly upward once you get to the outer corner of the eye. Make sure you get the liner right into the lash line so that there's no space between the lashes and the skin above it. This will ensure that the lashes look thicker and more dense rather than just a heavy line above the lash line. Now, I'm going to use a small smudger brush to soften and blend the liner so that it's not a hard line. As you blend the eye liner outward and soften it, it helps diffuse this line so that instead of this hard line, you have a more soft line, but it still gives this haze above the lid that helps the lashes look fuller and thicker. It's a more natural effect and it's subtle and it's not so severe as a heavy liner would be. And the reason this helps the eye look more open is if we leave a hard harsh line, it's going to look more severe and more obvious. But if we soften it and blend it, especially on the upper part of this line, instead we have more of a haze above the lash line that makes the lashes look fuller, more dense, creating a more open eyed effect. In a minute here, I'll have Allie open and you can see the difference between the two eyes. Okay, let's take a look. You'll notice, I'm using a small smudger brush. This is a little tool that will help me soften and blend the liner. After I've applied it, I'm going to come in, as you see, I've already started smoking it a little bit upward and this is going to take a hard line and make it softer, diffused, which looks more natural in like a lash line and that'll help ensure that your actual lashes look thicker and more open-eyed. Also, extending it slightly outward and upward on the end will help open the eye and create some more drama with this open-eyed effect. See how that's already started to open her eye up? I've done this side but not this side and you can see how already, Allie's eyes are more open and look bigger. Now I'm going to use a lash curler to help further open her eye, I'm just going to have her look slightly downward, and make sure you get all your lashes in the curler, and then gently clamp, and give the eye a nice open-eyed effect. This is such an easy way to quickly open the eye and create the illusion that the lashes are longer and more open. Next, I'm going to use some mascara to further define her lashes, making sure that they're separated, full, and open outward, like that. I'll have you look down more, and I'll gently work the mascara from the root of the lashes, and wiggle gently so that the lashes are smooth and separated, focusing on extending the outward corner of the eyes beyond the edge of the eye and upward. Here we are with Allie's completed look, and a few tips to remember for this look is to use a liner, extend it outward, smudge it softly so that you have greater depth at the lash line, it looks more natural, and curl your lashes and apply a coat of mascara so that you have beautiful, open soft eyes. And there you have it, that's how to make small eyes appear bigger. I'm Spencer Barnes and thank you for watching.