Some days it seems like you barely have enough time in your schedule to shower before class, let alone put together the perfect look. But amazingly, Northwestern is filled with students who manage to look flawless — even with five midterms a week and a thousand extracurriculars. Each week, I’ll talk to someone on campus and get her makeup tips and tricks. This week, I talked to Communication freshman Sharon Wei about how she does her eye makeup.

Eye makeup can be a tricky task. Too little is barely noticeable, and too much looks like you’re ready for a burlesque show. However, whatever look you’re trying to achieve is up to your artistic license.

One look that seems to always pop is Wei’s “strong cat eye.” Her look is perfect for day or night. Here she gives some tips and tricks about her makeup.

“I like to focus on the eyes because I think when you talk to someone, often you look into their eyes,” Wei said. “It’s something you notice more often, and for me, I like to evoke confidence wherever I go.”

Whenever doing makeup, Wei points out that everyone’s eye shape is different. So when watching tutorials or looking for inspiration, remember that some tweaking might be needed to fit the look to your face.

Eye shadow

For Wei’s eye makeup, she starts with a cream-based shadow instead of powder. Wei finds cream eye shadow to have more color and last all day. Colors that blend well together are also a must so they look more natural.

Sharon’s Tip: “Evanston winters are really dry, and then your eyelids can get really dry. If you just use powder, it can just flake off and just not stick, so that cream helps act as an adhesive.”

After applying the base cream or primer, Wei will apply a shimmery shade in the inner corner of her eyes, a lighter brown in the middle of her lid and then a darker brown or black on the very edge or corner of her eye.

Sharon’s Tip: “I think that we don’t sleep here at NU. We don’t. So we need a little pick me up. That light eye shadow will help capture any gleam of light, and it really just opens your eyes and makes it look you got eight hours of sleep, which is never true.”

Eyeliner

Wei also uses a cream eyeliner for her eyes. The trick for getting the line smooth with just the right arch is drawing segment by segment along the lash line. Drawing out the line in one stroke makes mess-ups easier, and starting over can be that difference between catching the shuttle and walking.

Sharon’s Tip: “If you are using an eyeliner that you don’t feel is that great right now, you can run it under a lighter just very quickly, just one time through, and it will melt the wax. Just let it cool down, and it will create that smudgy black eyeliner.”

Mascara

The final step of the process is adding mascara. Wei suggests slightly shaking the mascara back and forth as you apply it to your lashes. This movement will help get some of the space between the lashes that your eyeliner might have missed.

Sharon’s Tip: “For people who have eyelashes that are shorter or eyelashes that are like mine that stick straight down, something I find really helpful is if you take your eyelash curler and just run it under your blow dryer with a little bit of heat for about like 10 seconds. Then you blow on it and make sure it’s not hot and then you curl your eyelashes. It will stay curled all day long. That way you don’t have to clamp so hard.”

Know someone with a great makeup look or have your own tips to share? Email me at [email protected].