Trendy Wendy Wednesday * Embracing My Bovine Ancestry

I have cow eyes. There. I've said it. They're huge. And really dark brown. And remind me of a cow. They have huge, really dark brown eyes. For years, as a younger girl and woman, I wanted any other color eyes than brown. Deep blue would have been ideal, but any other color would have worked. Oh to look like one of the Black Irish (dark hair, fair skin and blue eyes). Just like Lynda Carter (yes, I still want to be Wonder Woman when I grow up). Or Jennifer Connelly.  

At one point I was willing to embrace the Italian side of my family, but only if it came with green eyes. Like Giada De Laurentiis. Eventually, I accepted my big cow eyes (after several stints with colored contacts and much chastising from my crafter friend Jody and others). And these days I try to play them up with makeup the best I can. Brown eyes are great for the smokey eye thing (we'll have a tutorial on that coming up soon). But what about making them stand out when wearing "every day" kind of makeup? Like the kind of make up you wear to the grocery store or Bed Bath and Beyond? The smokey eye thing can take a while and I find myself a bit short on time most days.

I came across a pin on Pinterest (that holy grail of makeup tutorials) recently to help me do just that. At least, that was the promise. The suggestion was to use a highlighter stick (they suggested Cargo EyeLighter, but apparently that product has been discontinued) to brighten up certain areas of the eye to make them "pop". 

I don't have the Cargo pencil but I do have a product by Benefit Cosmetics called High Brow that was made to do the same thing. You could also use their It Stick or their Eye Bright Pencil. I'm sure there are others out there that would work fine too. 
So, let's head off and see if I was successful in following the tutorial. I started off with a  pretty neutral "day time" eye.

 

Then I added the highlighter to the inside corner of my left eye (the right side of the picture below).  I used a concealer brush to blend it in just a little - enough to keep it from looking caky. 

Next I added it under my lower lash line from about the middle of the eye to the corner. I again used my brush to smooth is out and blend it in a bit. 

Then for the last step, I took the pencil to my brow bone (the area above the crease and from the middle to the outer corner of my eye). Again, I used the brush and the pad of my ring finger too this time, to help blend.

You can see the eye on the right hand side of the picture does stand out more. It looks more "awake" which is a good thing when you have bags under your eyes like I do. And the whole thing took all of about five minutes (that was with the picture taking thing so it would take under a minute per eye under normal circumstances. Unless you're really into taking selfies. Then plan on five minutes an eye and you'll probably never get anything done in life because you're too busy snapping pictures of yourself. You know what, just put the cell phone down and go outside and take a walk or read a book or something. Sheesh.)
Would I do this every day? On the days I'm wearing make up (which is not every day) - Yes.  I do think it make me look more awake. And life like. Which is great, since I am alive. I just don't always look it. Now if I could just figure out how to work on the blue eyed thing and how to fly the invisible jet. Oh, and you're welcome.