My first wing was a sad, limp noodle of a stroke.
I had been tricked—tricked, I tell you!—by the Big
Eyeliner lobby into believing that drawing a cat
eye was as simple as a flick of the wrist. In my
mind, my wings were like hands on a steering
wheel—perfectly positioned at 10 and 2. In reality,
one was an hour early; the other was an hour late.
After dozens of failed attempts, I turned to
Internet hacks like Scotch tape, a bobby pin,
floss, a business card, and then various stamps
and stencils that had hit the market. Mastering
the cat eye on my tricky monolids became an
obsession. I pored over photos and videos of
people wearing the perfect wings as I attempted
to reverse-engineer a razor-sharp Adele (and
often ended up looking more like Kung Fu
Panda). All in all, I tried more than 100 gels,
pens, rollers, and other products. But finally, in
time, I got the hang of it.
Today, black winged liner is my signature
look, which mostly has pros, with a few minor
cons, namely: At what point does a signature
look turn into a rut? A former colleague and fel-
low cat-eye aficionado once lamented how she
had gone to work linerless and all day had to
field questions like “Are you feeling OK?”
I regularly change the rest of my makeup, but
my black wing has been constant. Last summer, I
tried to mix it up with different colors, and I’m so
inspired by the bold liner looks on our cover star,
Gemma Chan, and in other places in the issue.
We could all benefit from pushing past the
safe and comfortable. I’m reminded of this
every awards season as I watch a conveyor belt
of beautiful but often tame looks. Listen, I get
it. No one wants to be on a worst-dressed list.
But I’m always disappointed when armchair
critics immediately dismiss choices as too
“wild.” After all, what’s avant-garde and eccen-
tric today is often a sign of the future—and
risk-takers are just ahead of their time.
So I’m committed to stretching and experi-
menting and learning more this season.
Remember: The act of transformation is cre-
ative. Some people view makeup as a burden or
simply a necessity. Instead, you can choose to
view it as art. Just don’t be afraid to color out-
side the lines sometimes.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
a wing and
a prayer
10 ALLURE APRIL 2019
EM
ILY LIPSON
.^ PRABAL GURUNG DRESS. TARA EARRINGS. WOLF CIRCUS NECKLACE.
