The “Streisand Eye” Makeup Tutorial
Barbra Streisand is legendary for her signature eye makeup look–the dramatic cat eye. It’s so iconic that some makeup artists even call it “The Streisand eye.” Barbra nailed this razor sharp look before she was famous and continued to do her own makeup through her career, which is very rare. “I’ve done it from the beginning,” she said, adding that on the set of “Funny Girl,” they tried to get someone else to do it for her. “I said-let’s do two tests. You make me up for one, and I’ll make myself up for one.”
Though eyeliner is now embedded into our daily lives, until 1920’s women had never even heard of it. Eyeliner’s popularity didn’t really skyrocket until the year 1922, when archeologists discovered King Tut’s tomb in Egypt. This event introduced the Western world to Egyptian eyeliner styles, which quickly caught on in the United States.
With women leaving the Victorian era behind wearing eyeliner became more popular. The cat eye look became popular post war, in the 1950’s but the 60’s amplified the drama of the look. The most popular style was winged liner paired with false lashes. Streisand, Twiggy and Brigitte Bardot are a few of the actresses who were famous for wearing this style in the 60’s. The cat-eye makeup of the time gave women a doe-eyed look, with the focus resting directly on the eyes and brows.
To achieve the legendary “Streisand Eye” use the tutorial below.
1: Use a pointy eye shadow brush & apply dark brown powder shadow from your lash line to your brow bone, then work the brush back and forth in the crease of your lid to build intensity. Drag the shadow out past the outer corner of your eye in a straight line to create a point that ends where the tail of your brow ends.
2: Sweep a soft line of the brown shadow under your bottom lashes and extend it past the outer corner of your eye so it meets the point and creates a triangular shape. Use a point tip sponge to clean up the edges of the shadow all around so it’s defined, not smoky.
3: Using a felt tipped liquid eyeliner, Draw a thick stripe along your top lash line as close to the lashes as possible. Extend the liner out slightly past the outer corner of your eye, keeping the line straight. Fill in where needed. To clean up messy lines use a bit of makeup remover on a q-tip or concealer on a small makeup brush.
4. Attach a strip of false lashes to your top lash line. Put the glue on your lashes and wait a couple of minutes for it to get tacky for a quick stick. Give the glue at least 5 minutes to dry, then use a lash curler or blow dryer on low to get them into the right shape.
6: Add some mascara to blend for this dramatic look I recommend two coats.
