My under-eye circles are the bane of my existence. When I shared this hard-hitting story on xoJane, the comments were pretty enlightening. From iron deficiencies to the benefits of thick-rimmed glasses to embracing my shadows à la the ever-beautiful Charlotte Gainsbourg, it was all circle talk, all the time.
Most intriguing, was this shared image:
In Korea, the term is called Aegyo Sal (loosely translated as "beautiful/cute/winsome skin") and you can even get surgery to achieve the look. Unfortunately, these aren't my personal zombie-hey-you-look-tired-are-you-okay brand of dark under-eye circles. Instead, these bags are fat pouches that apparently make one look more wide-eyed, youthful and innocent.
I wasn't totally convinced, but anything in the name of beauty, right? While I don't have access to the stickers, or the makeup kits especially made for faking it, I thought I could improvise.
All you essentially need is a matte eyeshadow a couple of shades darker than your skin, and a highlighter (a light shimmery shadow or light-coloured shimmery eyeliner will do).
First, I evened out my skin using Dr. Jart+ Premium BB Cream. What's an Asian-inspired beauty tutorial without BB cream? It has great coverage and SPF 40, though it is slightly more pink than my skin tone. I used a small amount of concealer around my eyes to cover under-eye darkness. I used less than I normally do, because I figured the lower part of the dark circle would help create a more natural looking shadow when drawing in the "bag."
I started by using a round brush to apply Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Disobey (a matte bronze) half a centimetre below my lower lashes. Coincidentally, I could have used Urban Decay's Buck. (Broken record alert, but it's probably my favourite eyeshadow of all time--it's a matte, beige brown.) You want to blend so they aren't any harsh lines. You can use Q-tip to do this if you don't have a brush.
Full disclosure: It kind of felt ridiculous drawing a dark circle on top of the dark circles that I have been trying to cover since forever, but if this is what makes some K-pop singers super cute, who I am to judge?
Next I used a champagne eyeliner with a bit of shimmer right below my lash line. Using a Q-tip, I then applied Lush Feeling Younger Skin Tint over the eyeliner. This is done to make the "bag" stand out.
I found that the bag still looked a bit flat, so I took a light brown eyeliner and carefully traced over where I applied the bronzer. Then, I blended lightly with a brush.
I kept the rest of the eye fairly basic. A sweep of liquid eyeliner and a small flick. Since this look attempts to highlight the shape of the eye, I think anything more would be a bit much.
I finished it off with a couple of coats of mascara.
For my cheeks, I went for a subtle rosy glow with Cargo Cheek Activator in Rose Flush, a soft natural pink.
Youth is what we're after here, so I lined and filed my lips with Clinique's Baby Buff, a soft-pinky nude, and applied lip balm over the top.
I also included some swatches of the products I used, since it seemed like a top request in the survey post!
The finished look:
I photoshopped the Aegyo Sal out in the first picture, so you can see the difference. Is it good? Bad? Undecided?
Notice how I didn't pose while making a peace sign because I'm trying not to be stereotypical? JK. I obviously did.
To be honest, I don't think it's as strange as I initially thought it might be. Dare I say it's kind of even cute. I mean, I definitely felt 25% more K-pop, maybe even a bit J-Pop. I think a more wearable version would be skipping the shadow and only applying the highlight.
What do you think? Would you try faking Aegyo Sal?