Asian Makeup

Makeup techniques for Asian women are fundamentally different from the traditional makeup eye shading, lining, and color application tips that other girls should follow.

For instance, many Asian women lack the second eyelid fold that creates a clear line between the eyelid and the area under the eyebrow. Some Asian women may have smaller eyes and less space in general to apply eye makeup to, and their makeup goals in general may be much different from a non-Asian’s.

So without further ado, here are some Asian eye makeup techniques aimed specifically at fair-skinned women from China, Japan, and Korea.

Apply Monochromatic Eye Shadow Schemes

Because most Asian women have relatively smaller eyelids, applying different eye makeup colors in varying hues and intensities just looks really overwhelming and juvenile on Asian women.

Instead, pick a color family, and purchase a good single hue eye shadow compact, with at least three different shades of light and dark colors.

And instead of trying to apply the lightest color on the brow bone, as many makeup guides will say, dab the lightest color onto the inside corners of each eye, the medium shade in the middle of your lid, and the darkest subtly shaded on the outer corners of your eyes. For each color, you should brush on eyeshadow all the way from your upper lash line to under your eyebrows.

Shape, Tweeze, and Fill in Your Eyebrows

The shape of your eyebrows has a dramatic impact on how your eyes look to others – they’re a frame that can either enhance or detract from your eyes, depending on how well you maintain them.

Unfortunately for current beauty ideals, many Asian women have eyebrows that are relatively thick but sparse, when the “perfect” eyebrow is full but shaped.

But don’t worry! Asian women can still cultivate beautiful eyebrows; it will just take a little more work.

First, you need to tweeze or wax out the sparse eyebrow hairs and leave your eyebrows somewhere between a quarter and an eight of an inch thick, depending on what looks best to you.

Then, you need to create a bit of an arch on the underside of your eyebrows to “open up” your eye area a little more and bring the focus to your eyes. Most Asian women’s eyebrows are pretty straight, so a little bit of intentional arch will have a big impact. Only pluck a few hairs at a time, then step back and observe the effects. Your natural arch should be somewhere around a third of the way into the width of your eyebrows, but it can vary a little between different people.

Finally, fill in sparseness with soft strokes of a medium to hard small eye shadow brush to best mimic the appearance of eyebrow hairs. I’ve found that using an eye pencil, even if the color is right, creates strokes that are simultaneously too dense and too wide, creating a harsh look. Usually, you want to hide the fact that you’re filling in your eyebrows, so you want the effects to be as natural as possible.

The Eyelash Curler is Your Friend

Of course, most women know all about the magic of mascara, but a vital Asian makeup technique is to use a heated eyelash curler to visually expand the eyes even more. Most Asian women have eyelashes that are like their hair – beautiful and smooth, but stick straight. For eyelashes, this is a difficulty that is best fought with several run-throughs with an eyelash curler.

I usually spend about 15 seconds blowing a hair dryer (on the “hot” setting, obviously) directly onto the curler, then immediately clamping it against one eye. Repeat once or twice on each eye. The effects are spectacular.

Most Asian makeup tips are about opening up the eye visually – from using subtle monochromatic shading on the eye lid to thinning the eyebrows to curling your lashes upward. For most women, I would tell them that if they only had time to use one item of makeup in the morning, I’d brush on mascara. But for Asian women, the eyelash curler will make the single biggest difference in beautifying your appearance.