Just because half of your face is covered for most of the day doesn’t mean you have to ditch your old beauty habits altogether.
You may not be able to glide on your favorite shade of lipstick or brush some flush on your cheeks for now (unless you’re just staying home and doing virtual meetings), but you can still work on that part of your face that’s showing—your eye area—underneath your protective face mask and shield.
“While I’ve had to cut down on the amount of makeup I’ve been applying on the bottom half of my face, I still find that the artist in me continues to find ways to jump out, even if it’s just through my eye makeup,” says Czari Domingo, Benefit Cosmetics’ “National Brow Artist.”
In the past six months, Domingo has experimented on many ways to still look put together, and maybe even a little extra.
“As someone with acne-prone skin, I’ve learned that less is more underneath your face mask,” she says. “The combination of sweat, humidity and friction under the mask creates an environment that bacteria thrives in.”
She uses a hydrating primer (Porefessional Hydrate Primer) and long-wearing spot concealer (Cakeless Concealer) to prime her face.
Keeping brows defined and polished is key “so as to not get lost behind our protective gear,” Domingo adds. “And without our mouths being seen, our eyebrows are what we must turn to nowadays to express our emotions.”
She goes for long-wearing formulas like brow gels, pomades and heavy-duty pencils. Her favorite tools are Precisely, My Brow Pencil “because I can create hairlike strokes with it,” and the 24-HR Brow Setter, “because this keeps my brow hairs brushed up all day, plus it’s waterproof.”
Baby brows
Gea Dey, retail manager of MAC Cosmetics at Rustan’s Shangri-La, also says groomed brows are key.
“The brow trend this season is called the ‘baby brows,’” Dey says, referring to a look favored by the likes of Hailey Bieber. Since women have had to forego their brow waxing and microblading appointments because of the pandemic, that gave birth to this new trend, which requires minimal upkeep. “It’s a thicker, slightly wilder than the usual brow look,” Dey explains. “Using the MAC Veluxe Brow Liner, brush your brows slightly upward and outward with the spoolie end of the pencil. Then shade some shadow on the skin behind your brows with the pencil, to give the illusion of a fuller brow. To build, groom and set the brows in place, apply the MAC Eye Brows Big Boost Fiber Gel for that extra volume and 24-hour waterproof wear.”
Avy Velasco, makeup artist for Anastasia Beverly Hills at Rustan’s Makati, also goes for polished and sweat-proof brows, using the Dipbrow Gel. For color, she uses a bright and shimmery eye shadow like Anastasia from the Amrezy palette, and volume for her lashes using the Lash Brag Volumizing mascara.
Angie Saul of Estée Lauder says priming the eye area is her first step. “I use Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Complex,” she says.
Saul only has three products for her look: Little Black Liner, “a two-sided eyeliner that creates perfect and defined eyes”; Little Black Primer Mascara, which she uses for both lashes and brows; and Pure Color Envy Lipstick in Rebellious, which she uses as eye shadow, blush and lipstick.
At MAC, Dey uses the MAC 239s eye shadow brush to apply the Powder Kiss Eye Shadow in What Clout! across the eyelids. She blends the edges using MAC 217s brush for a seamless look. With a Powerpoint Pencil in Engraved, apply a thin cat-eye line just above the upper lash line to define the eyes, she suggests.
“Finish off the eye look with Extended Play Perm Me Up Lash Mascara,” Dey says. “Press the brush onto the lashes close to roots and shimmy the brush through the lashes from root to tip. Repeat until desired effect is achieved.”
Glittery eye shadows
Eyeliner, whether in black or brown, is Justin Soriano of Stila at Rustan’s’ go-to. “Stila’s Stay All Day Waterproof Micro Tip Eyeliner is perfect to create even the most subtle lines. It can be the smallest winged liner, but it’s important to have the line at an angle, enough to make your eyes seem lifted,” she says.
Soriano tops the look with the Double Dip eye shadows, both matte and glittery. “Create a one-tone diffused matte eye shadow to give your eyes some depth and add some glitter to be extra,” she says. “Don’t forget that mascara also gives your eyes a good lift.”
Domingo is also all about color and shimmer to add fun to eye makeup. “Some of the things that I’ve been loving are crystals and glitters, color and graphic lines. If you have some small crystals lying around from your arts and crafts or nail art projects, try using lash glue to bedazzle your eye and brow looks. There are also so many glitter eye products in the market now that are fuss-free and user-friendly.”
Or, play around with colored eyeliners and mascaras. “Unlike eye shadows that can be tricky to blend out perfectly, colored eyeliners and mascaras are more forgiving and can be worn more subtly,” says Domingo.
“I love Benefit’s blue and purple Bad Gal Bang 24Hr Eye Pencils and Blue Mascara,” she adds. “I’ve also noticed so many new smaller local brands on Instagram create water-activated colored liners. If you’ve been hoarding loads of eye shadow palettes, I think now is the perfect time to play with those bright colors that you would normally ignore.”
