How to Apply the Double Cat Eye

This summer's fashion and beauty trends are about being both girly and edgy. As a stylist, I love this juxtaposition of sweet and tough. Imagine yourself in a flirty, floral dress topped off with a leather motorcycle jacket. For your makeup, picture barely there pink cheeks, nude lips, and a soft double cat eye. Here's how you can make the double cat eye work for you.

Supplies. You will need four colors of eyeshadow: a highlight shade, a flesh tone shade, an accent color, and a dark color to serve as your eye liner. Liquid or pencil liner will look too harsh. The highlight shade is a soft shimmery, pearly color. The flesh tone should be close to your skin color, but it can be a little more pink or taupe if you desire. The accent color can be any color you like that is a little darker than the flesh tone. The liner color should be a rich, warm brown (for brown or blue eyes) or a charcoal or black (for green or hazel eyes). You will also need eye primer, an eyeshadow brush, an eyeliner brush, and black mascara.

Paint. Start by applying your eye primer. Next, apply your flesh toned shadow on the base of your lids, from the lash line up into the crease. Wipe off your brush, and then use it to apply the highlight color from the crease to your brow bone. The color should appear to fade from flesh tone to a barely-there sparkle. Put a little bit of highlighter on the inside corner of your eye to brighten the eye area. Take your accent color and make a sideways "V," starting with the point at the outside corner of the eye. Follow along the crease of your eye and your lash line a third of the way across. Blend well.

Line. Take your eyeliner brush and dip it into your eyeliner color. With a light hand, gently smudge shadow along your upper lash line. Work in tiny sections, starting with the inner corner of the eye. Add more shadow as necessary. Follow all the way along your upper lash line, and when you reach the outside corner, extend the line outwards and upwards. The color should fade away as it gets further from your eye. Now, do the same thing with your lower lash line, smudging eye color all the way across. As you extend the color on the lower lash line, make sure it runs exactly parallel to the upper line. The bottom liner should be softer and even a little bit shorter than the top. The trick is getting both eyes to match, but with practice, you'll be just fine.

Define. Complete your look with two coats of mascara for added drama and balance. You can clean up mistakes with a cotton swab dipped in eye makeup remover. You look great!

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