Welcome to Beauty School, a series where I’ll share tips and tricks to creating some of my favorite looks. One thing I’ve always done on set is have the photographer take a photo of the model before we start hair and makeup. I like to see the model first without a stitch of makeup on, so I understand her face...

The cat eye is not the easiest beauty look to master. It’s basically a black line, thin or thick, extended to flick out or flick up. Novices often end up with a curly tail — and it’s not my favorite. For inspiration, look at famous cat eyes – see what you like. Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Amy Winehouse, and Adele have all pulled off the look super well. Here are my tips for getting the look.

Prep the eye

Keep the lid clean with a pale eye shadow or neutral face powder. If you have redness around eyes, use a concealer under the eye and set with powder.

Grab your tools

Gel liner, pencil, or a dampened brush with powder liner – what you use is up to you.

Choose your style

Dainty or strong, retro or modern. These are all good choices and can be adapted to work with your eye shape.

The Basics

Start at inner corner of eye, as close to the lash line as possible. Draw to the end of eye and extend out, then flick up a wee bit to make a strong statement. Add another layer and thicken it.

Clean up

Use a Q-tip and non-oily makeup remover to clean up and tweak your line.

The Full Look

The rest of this look is a downtown art gallery meets cool girl. I used a pinky nude eye shadow over the base shadow. It was applied on the lower lid only. Eyebrows are fluffed up and filled in to be strong, but still look natural. I used a brown shadow and hard slanted brush (you could use Glossier Boy Brow – a new favorite) and finish with black Beauty Pie Mascara. The cheeks are a matte bronzer (from Elf) applied with a fluffy brush. The lip color is a pinky-beige from Nude Stix.