A Pro MUA Tells Us How To Get Fall’s ‘Doll Lashes’ Makeup Trend In 4 Steps For A Youthful Glow: ‘Doe-Eyed Look’
August 21, 2024 by Marissa Matozzo
This year, the beauty world has been captivated by the allure of long, voluminous lashes, a trend that shows no signs of waning as we transition into the fall season. Pat McGrath, renowned celebrity makeup artist, helped make doll-like lashes trend during Maison Margiela Couture’s Fall/Winter 2024 fashion week preview, aptly named “The Valley of the Dolls.” This look, seen above on Selena Gomez, emphasizes lush, elongated lashes that create a wide-eyed, youthful effect, reminiscent of vintage dolls.
As The Everygirl reports, to achieve this captivating appearance (often sported by Selena Gomez), makeup enthusiasts layer lengthening and volumizing mascaras, use lash primers for added fullness, and often enhance the drama with false lashes or extensions. Complementing these striking lashes, they typically apply soft, neutral eyeshadows and highlight the brow bone and inner eye corners for an illuminating effect. For those looking to elevate the look further, overlined lips and a dewy, peachy blush are popular additions.
We consulted celebrity makeup artists to delve deeper into the “doll lashes” phenomenon and explore its synergy with other trending styles on TikTok, such as the Douyin makeup look and the doe-eyed aesthetic. Read on for suggestions and insight from Kerrin Jackson, celebrity, film and television makeup artist and creator of The Makeup Refinery blog, Margina Dennis, celebrity makeup artist, Mandie Brice, pro MUA and beauty expert and Vivi Mintara, pro MUA and CEO of Eye Makeup Lab.
The trendy “Douyin makeup look” is a “soft, feminine look that emphasizes the eyes, and has a flush-faced, doll-like finish,” Jackson says, regarding the Chinese trend. “For beginners, I would say, with the ample video tutorials out there to follow along to, it’s easy to get started if you’re looking to try this makeup look on yourself,” Jackson shares. Before getting into it, she recommends always practicing good skin prep and eye prep, and adding a primer to your face before any other makeup products.
If you frequently scroll through BeautyTok, you might have come across the Douyin makeup trend, which Allure defines to be an “umbrella term for a broad makeup style, defined by soft and ethereal looks that give a doll-like appearance.”
This trend often features rosy blush, voluminous lashes and diffused lipstick, all tools that professional makeup artists say can take years off your look. The name Douyin was taken from the former social media app of the same name that ByteDance created in 2016, and is exclusive to China.
To achieve truly doll-like lashes, it’s crucial to enhance your eyes with more than just mascara or false lashes. According to Jackson, this involves incorporating eyeliner, blush, eyeshadow, and other makeup elements. As for your eye makeup, she suggests opting for a “doe-eyed look with your eyeliner.”
“Think elongating your eyes, and soft, wispy lines,” she says. A “felt-tip eye-liner will make it easier to create a soft, fine eyeline” that you can “easily accentuate or add softness to” with an eyeshadow powder after you’ve applied it,” she shares. If you don’t want to use false lashes, Mintara recommends “using waterproof mascara and heating your eyelash curlers before using them.”
This, she says, will “hold them in place for much longer, and it will reduce the risk of transference from your lashes to your skin.” She recommends also “waiting for the eyelashes to cool a bit before applying the mascara, or you will heat up the product and cause it to have a runnier consistency.”
Jackson stresses that if you apply your products strategically, “you can definitely achieve a lift” to your face. “For example, the elongated eye shape, if you bring the eyeliner up at the outer edges, you’ll get an instant lift to your eyes. It’s all about the angles,” she shares.
2. Add A Soft Eyeshadow ColorThe sequence in which you apply your makeup is entirely your choice, but Jackson and Mintara emphasize that the most crucial steps for achieving doll-like lashes are the eyeliner and mascara techniques. They also note that eyeshadow, blush, foundation, and other products can complement each other to enhance the appearance of larger eyes. With this in mind, Jackson offers some advice on incorporating eyeshadow into your doll lashes or Douyin-inspired aesthetic.
“You can also use some soft eyeshadow tones to add a little extra color to your eyes as well,” she notes. “There is an understated femininity and prettiness about this look that is highly appealing,” she adds. She recommends opting for simple, minimalistic satin-finish shadows.
To get this “look on point, you should try to achieve” a flush of “pronounced color across your cheeks and nose tip,” Jackson adds. “I suggest using a cream blush to achieve this look with ease,” she notes. Dennis agrees, and says to “apply blush on the cheekbone to give the illusion of lifting the face, blending up and back towards the ears.”
Dennis also suggests choosing “colors that invoke a youthfulness,” like “rose, cool peach, coral, terracotta and soft reds.” Brice also points out that you can find the best blush colors for your skin tone and undertone with a clever hack. “I think the best choice is sticking with your undertone,” she explained. If you’re a “warm,” she says to choose a warm-toned lip color. If you’re “cool” or “neutral,” her advice is to pick one of those respectively.
“You can find your undertone easily by looking at the veins on the inside of your forearm,” she noted. If they are blueish, Brice notes that you have a cooler undertone, and if they are greenish, you can go for a warmer color. Additionally, another thing to keep in mind, Brice said, is that “if silver jewelry looks better on you, you’re more suited to cooler tones, but if gold is better, you have a warm undertone.”
There’s also the possibility that you’re neutral, which is if gold and silver are equally flattering. “Sometimes, lip colors will have a “W,” “C,” or “N” in their color name, but usually not,” she pointed out, and “identifying undertones is something that gets better with practice.”
4. Have A Simple, Light And Minimal Base With FoundationTo fully embrace the Douyin makeup trend and accentuate your “doll lashes,” Jackson suggests pairing your towering lashes with extended eyeliner and generous rosy blush. Equally important is achieving a smooth, flawless base and maintaining a minimalistic approach to your foundation.
Jackson concludes that the “soft feminine shades of the Douyin look” and “doll lashes look” make them fun makeup to “not only wear, but to apply as well.”
The Douyin makeup is very “youthful, and doll-like, and anytime a makeup look gives the result of youthfulness it is bound to get attention,” she shares.