No Mascara, No Problem
In case you’ve lost track, your makeup is old—really old. Great women and Great Lash have gone hand in hand since the third millennium when Cleopatra started coating her lashes in goop. Now there’s mascara to thicken, to lengthen, to separate, and mascara routines for when you need all three. There are mascaras for just the little lashes at the bottom. High end and drugstore. Regular, waterproof, and tubing. There’s brown and black, blacker, blackest—there’s every color of the rainbow. You can prime, curl, lift. You can buy falsies, half strips or individuals, and you can even get them (semi)permanently glued on.
But what if you toss the mascara altogether? (You probably need to, it might be expired.) You’re left with your natural eye shape for one, and lashes that probably aren’t as short and wimpy as you remember. As makeup artist Taka Okada demonstrates, a mascara-less eye look can be a nice change of pace—one that looks fresh but still finished. One less step, with a surprisingly elegant result.
After prepping Cassie’s skin, Taka used two different shades of Clinique Moisturizing Chubby Stick—Heaping Hazelnut and Oversized Orange—for a clean, polished look.
Consider the way multiple Multiples—two to be precise, both from Nars—deliver a sheer, natural stain. Taka buffed Mauritanie, a rusty coral shade, into the apples of the cheeks, and Malaysia [ed note: discontinued, but Cappadoce is similar] on the high points of the face. On the lips, she used Sisley Phyto-Rouge lipstick in Beige Bali for a subtle flush of color.
A warm, soft smoke is even warmer and softer sans mascara. Taka used the warm brick shade from YSL’s Eye Couture Palette in Rosy Contouring as a wash all over the eye to the brow, and the darkest brown closest to the lash line for subtle definition.
A bold lip with no distractions feels more low-key without mascara. Taka defined the lips with a MAC lip pencil in Chestnut, a neutral brown, before using Nars Audacious lipstick in Mona.
An all-over bronzed wash makes late-winter magic. Taka swirled together the Guerlain Terracotta Sun Trio in Deep and brushed it across Cassie’s cheeks, forehead, and eyelids—everywhere the sun would naturally hit. Tightlining around the waterline gets close to the look of mascara, but brown keeps everything soft.
Taka buffed Chanel Ombre Première Longwear Powder Eyeshadow in Chocolate Brown above the lid. Then, the cooler-toned Intense Eye Pencil in Ambre is sketched along the crease to define it. It’s a take on the ‘60s eye that’s effortlessly cool. The lid itself is left bare.
Or, it isn’t! For extra glamour, Taka patted on Marc Jacobs Glitter Glam See Quins eyeshadow in Gleam Girl. Twiggy, minus the twigs.
Taka’s last look uses one—count ‘em, one—product. He buffed Giorgio Armani’s Eye and Brow Maestro in Obsidian Black lightly on the inner corners of the eye, up to the crease. It gives Cassie’s eyes unexpected intensity and depth.