The ‘chiselled blush’ tip Em Rata’s makeup artist wants you to know

It's the eye-elongating hack we never saw coming

Digital Beauty Editor / August 25 2020

There are a lot of elements that come into play when you’re using makeup to enhance your eye shape – you want to add liner in the inner corner to elongate the eye both ways instead of just outwards, you’ve got to wield your mascara wand very strategically to master the winged effect, and you’ve usually got to keep a damn good concealer on hand to sharpen up that shadow wing when you’re done in the blending department. Phew; complicated.

According to celeb makeup artist Hung Vanngo, however, our cheeks are almost as bigger player in the eye-elongating arena as the eyes themselves. In fact, you could be nailing your eye makeup only to (literally) drag the whole look down with a simple swipe of blush.

The funny part is, the area Vanngo warns against applying blush to is the very one we’ve always been told to play up – sorry, apples of the cheeks, apparently you're the enemy of an elongated eye...

Below, Vanngo breaks down exactly how to use blush to your eyes' advantage if it's a sultry feline vibe you're after...

How to use blush to elongate your eyes

“One thing I want [people to know is that] when [they] do a more almond-shaped cat-eye, [they should] always consider [the entire area],” he explains, tracing his finger from the eye’s inner corner down to hit the bottom of the cheek, and then diagonally up along the cheekbone toward the temple.

“If I’m doing a look that’s more soft or fresh, I do the blush across the centre, but for this look it’s all about pulling the eye [diagonally upward], and elongating it, so even when you’re applying blush, [it’s important to] always see this whole [area] as [an extension of] your eye shape," Vanngo explains.

“[Basically] when you apply blush or highlighter [in] this area, brush up instead of applying the brush right [on the apple], because it’s [actually] pulling the eye down instead of lifting it.”

The area you should avoid applying blush if you want to elongate your eye

The area you should apply blush to elongate your eye

The lowest line your eye-elongating blush should hit

Main image credit: @hungvanngo

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