Eye Makeup Obsessed

Since fall 2010 I have been obsessed with the Duchess of Cambridge (then Kate Middleton) and recently with her sister Pippa as well.

I admire Kate's classic style, her hair and her makeup. The latter two I have been trying to emulate, probably, since 2010 :) And I'm still trying!

Back in 2010 Kate's look was pretty simple to figure out. She wore that much talked-about black (what looked like) liquid eyeliner all the way around her eye.

However, since she's been married (I can't exactly pin-point when the change came about), Kate's eyemakeup look has evolved. Like any woman this is probably quite natural and iminent. New products come out and we try them, but more importantly we start to learn different techniques or try variations of our original look.

Like the picture below: the liner is not that typical thin black line we see above (like in the engagement photo above), but rather it's a thicker more smudged line - maybe pencil? - around the eye. There is also some shadow coming into play as well, as is there in the picture above.

I think that this is what happened to Kate.

Suddenly that hard line drawn all around her eye started to dissapear. It was replaced with a softer line under her eye and a bolder liner on her upper lash-line. Overall the look was less definable. Now it was a matter of... well, is she using a liquid liner still or is she using a pencil? Also, her use of eyeshadow threw another wrench into the mix, because the colours change from time to time and most recently, on her Asian Tour, some days she wore it and some days she didn't - and that also had variations itself, somedays she had it on her lid or only in her crease.

Anyways, there have been some excellent close up shots from that tour which have shed some light on how Kate might do her makeup.

All variations aside, here is what I think that I have discovered - or maybe this is an update on my constant revision on what I think that I have discovered :)

1) Kate must definitely use a pencil liner - below her eyes and on her upper lash line. However, it is hard to know if she also uses a liquid liner on her upper lash line as well - either within the rim (creating an even thicker lash line, when used in addition to lining the upper lid) or very close to the lash-line, over or under (probably under) her pencil liner.

By penciling colour in withing the rim (under the upper lash-line), you can create the look of ever thicker and more full lashes. A wonderful makeup artist shared that secret with me back in the spring (maybe everyone knows that already though, and I'm just waaay behind).

2) Kate obviously uses shadows now, on her lid and in her crease - in combination or one or the other alone. We saw the latter on this recent tour I believe.

The colours ellude me though. I myself have a MAC colour (the name escapes me at the moment) that I thought was very close to the one that she uses. However, when I actually apply it the colour is not as dark. I think that I should probably just ask a pro - but I always feel awkward referencing Kate.

Then there is the brown/taupe colour that usually is in her crease. It's obviously in the brown family. There are occassions I think where she also had that on her lid, lightly. So there was no purply/grey colour to be seen, just the brown shadow.

3) The last observation is obviously the mascara. We know she's wearing it and this is the easiest thing to emmulate. Start by evenly coating the top lashes of one eye and then move to the other - letting the first eye's coat dry a bit. Then move back to the first eye, after evenly coating the second eye, and apply more mascara. Be sure to avoid clumpy lashes. That never looks good. Then use the tip of the mascara wand to get some colour under the top lashes. This helps to create thicker looking lashes. I usually apply generous coats of mascara now, but it never looks spidery or over-done (I hope). I use Cover Girl's "Lash Blast". I love it. I have not found another mascara like it. And there is too much speculation over what Kate uses for me to even attempt to use the one she does.

Obvioulsy you would want to apply the shadow first, then the eyeliners and then the mascara.

I will be adding more pictures to this post later.