Classic Valentine’s Look (with Easy Cat-eye!)

For me, Valentine’s Day means a few key things: an excess of pink and heart-shaped things, excellent candy selection (I’ll take 10 Reese’s hearts, thanks), and seasonally appropriate makeup looks! I love to go crazy with pink eyeshadows and eyeliners, but today I wanted to focus on a *classique* look with a retro twist: bold lip, clean eye, glowy complexion. This look is great for someone who doesn’t wear a lot of makeup but wants a little something special for a Valentine’s or Galentine’s date—and I’m going to show you how to do the easiest cat-eye liner ever! I started out with my current favorite foundation, Ere Perez Oat Milk Foundation (I’m wearing the Honey shade here). Before I switched to clean cosmetics, NARS Sheer Glow was my holy grail foundation—this one is such a good swap, I can hardly believe it! I love that the Ere Perez is a little more buildable, which is a great thing if you’re on a budget because you can use the same foundation for lighter and fuller coverage days.

I always use a Beauty Blender to apply my foundation and concealer, and there are definitely a few tricks to using one. First, make sure your blender has been prepped by running it under water until it’s doubled in size, then squeeze out all the water you can! A damp blender will “bounce” your foundation seamlessly across your skin. One that’s too dry will absorb all your product and leave harsh lines, and one that’s too wet will dilute your foundation. Second, always clean your blender after use—all you need is some gentle soap.

I’m using W3LL People Bio Correct concealer here to brighten my under eye area and prime my eyelids (prepping for shadow later). My biggest tip for under eye concealer is to blend out and down into the upper cheekbone area using the smaller end of your blender for a seamless, airbrushed look—you don’t need a lot of product!

Since the focuses of this look are lashes, eyeliner, and lips, I went easy on the eyeshadow and swept some HAN Golden Glow eyeshadow onto my lower lids and blended it up really softly past my crease.

The moment you’ve been waiting for, my FOOLPROOF cat-eye liquid liner application (here’s the liquid liner I use and love). Here are the steps, with the photos above as a little visual guide:

1. Make a small dot where you want your cat eye to end on the sides of your eyes—this will help your wings to be an even length and the same angle.
2. Draw a fine line down to connect the little dot you made with your lash line.
3. Starting a little ways down on the line you just drew (leave some of the line exposed so your wing has a sharp point), draw a line diagonally across toward the inner corner of your eye.
4. Shape up your cat eye by smoothing any hard angles where your line connects.

Tips: Steady your arm on a stable surface, and taper your liner so that it’s thickest toward the wing side and thinner toward your inner corner. This will give you a really clean look and will help that cat-eye shape emerge even more.

Next, I applied some bronzer (using my favorite HAN bronzer in Malibu that is very budget-friendly) to my cheekbones, forehead, either side of the bridge of my nose, and my lower jawline. Bronzer is definitely not just for the summer; it’s a great way to add some dimension to your face and gives a healthy glow! I’m a big fan of using it all year round.

For the red lips, I first primed them using BITE Beauty’s Line and Define Primer—it’s so easy to use and always helps pigmented glosses and lipsticks alike stay put. Using a red lip gloss, I drew an X on my cupid’s bow to start to make sure the application was even.

My faaavorite part of the look—LASHES! If you’re wondering how to put on lashes, I made a video tutorial for IGTV that you can see here. It’s very step-by-step and I give you all my best tips for a beautiful, long-lasting lash application. I used Koko Lashes’ Queen B style for this look.

After lashes, I added some Pink House Glow Stick in Champagne to my upper cheekbones, bridge of my nose, temples and cupid’s bow, and some of my favorite blush from HAN.The finished look is rosy and fresh and isn’t too much for a day at work, yet it’s perfect for a night on the town—you can wear it anywhere! If you’re trying a new makeup skill for something really special or an important event, I always recommend practicing once or twice to build some confidence, see if you need to make any adjustments, and so you know how much time it will take to execute. 🙂

Let me know in the comments if there are any makeup skills or looks you want to learn! xo, Keely