When it comes to what you should have in your kit, this look doesn’t require much. For the eyes, you need a good, long-lasting black eyeliner pencil (we like R.E.M. Beauty’s smudge-resistant Gel Pencil Eyeliner in Bardot for this) and a good liquid or gel eyeliner (Stila’s classic Smudge Pot, a longtime editor favorite, was used for the dramatic lids at PatBo). A multiuse black pigment, like MAC Paintstick in Black Black or Byredo’s Colour Stick in Destroyer, is also a good investment if you’re into this aesthetic. “I love Byredo’s Colour Stick because it’s a super-universal product that you can use on your eyes, your lips, or your brows—anywhere you want,” says Taivas.
Feathery fake lashes
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Getty Images
False lashes made their triumphant return on the fall 2024 runways. They looked lush and feathery at Alice and Olivia and LaQuan Smith, clumpy and cloggy at Marc Jacobs, and painstakingly placed on the bottom lash lines at House of Aama and Giorgio Armani. “I personally started wearing false lashes again,” says Flowers, who relied on Huda Beauty lash strips for LaQuan Smith’s “office siren” makeup.
“I’m obsessed with lashes to the point where I can’t buy anymore right now. I probably own 400 pairs,” Flowers adds. Her favorites include the Dream Lashes from Katiely Beauty, which she uses on singer Coco Jones, and says have the perfect amount of fluffiness. She also likes the Rokael Beauty lashes in Moon Gleam, Luna, and Full Moon.
Of course, false lashes are notoriously finicky even for seasoned makeup wearers. It takes a ton of practice, admits Flowers, who, after years of applying them on models and on herself has a few helpful pointers: First, use a liquid eyeliner to draw a thin black line close to the lashes. “This hides the lash band,” she says. Second, make sure to wait 30 seconds to a minute to let your lash glue dry down before applying the strip. (Remember, you want it to be tacky, not goopy.) Lastly, she says to tilt the lash upwards as you place it down, ensuring the band lands directly onto your lash line. “You will probably have to move it until you get it into the right position, so do this before you press it onto the lashes,” she explains. “If it’s coming up at the sides, just take a Q-tip with some lash glue on it, let it dry, and place it in that area before sticking it down again.”
Angelic eyes
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Getty Images
We love the drama of a full-on metallic eye, but we’re also not opposed to doing less. Much less. On the fall runways, multiple makeup artists played with delicate flashes of silver, gold, and bronze on the lids that looked effortless and ethereal. “It brings light to the face just as a pair of dainty sparkly earrings would,” says Soleimani. At Ulla Johnson, she mixed Sisley’s Les Phyto-Ombres shadow with a professional mixing media and painted short brushstrokes at the outer corner of the eye. “It’s taking metallics back and bringing it to a place where it just glistens. It’s a little bit of something you see when you blink,” she explains.