The Lower Lash Equation: How I Learned to Love the Doe-Eyed Look

From Dries Van Noten to Chloé, the fall 2015 shows saw a fleet of models with waist-grazing hair and gently flared pants coming down the runway, their new silhouettes ushering in a seventies redux. But if designers were inspired by the sparkling, floral-printed sartorial persuasions of Cher, Marisa Berenson, and Diana Ross, this beauty editor was more fixated on the eye makeup of that decade’s icons.

For all of their individuality, the tie that binds those disco-bohemian bombshells seems to be an affinity for a full, lush bottom lash. And the more I considered its eye-opening effects, the more I realized a wiggle of mascara below the iris was just the accent for an end-of-summer tan and a rumpled cascade of long waves. Bringing the look into the present moment seemed to rely on leaving the false lashes and extensions of the past behind. So instead, I reached for my mascara, first attempting an inky embellishment of those tiny, centimeter-long hairs. One coat and I instantly looked younger, more wide-eyed—but almost just as quickly found myself with a wet smear on the skin beneath my lash lines. There had to be an easier way. For this I called makeup artist Jeanine Lobell, who wears mascara on her lower lashes every day—and regularly paints it onto clients like Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett for major events.

“It makes your eyes look bigger,” she confirms, before admitting that a few studied tricks will save you time, frustration, and double your impact. For a wide-eyed effect that never errs on droopy, Lobell taps a mascara wand onto a small fan brush, which she uses to swipe product in controlled amounts onto her lower lashes. Though she acknowledges that thinner wands are adept at applying with ease, a fan brush will allow you to “really thicken the root [and get] thinner toward the tip,” which mimics a more natural effect. After an initial, full-lash coating to deepen the shade of your own lashes, Lobell recommends going back for a second layer on only the center hairs. “This gives you a nice V that just looks better. You can adjust the shape of your eyes [with mascara].”

When it comes to choosing the best formula, a waterproof, volumizing mascara your safest and most alluring route. “I like something that’s going to beef up my lashes,” says Lobell, who goes for the very darkest shade possible. “[Unless] you’re extremely pale and have almost white lashes, you can achieve more with black—it just looks sexier.” And with that, I’ve revised my technique, which now involves combing on obsidian mascara with a fat mascara wand for fluffy upper lashes, and wiping the excess onto a diminutive makeup brush to create a more delicate yet substantial set of lower lashes. It’s modern glamour, in the blink of an eye.

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