Korean drama, My Love from the Star, has taken the world by storm, and it’s not just the story that has captured the hearts of its audience. Jun Ji Hyun’s makeup, in particular, was a huge attraction to beauty junkies, who tried to hunt down the lip gloss that painted her rosy, luscious lips.
Related: How to get adorable Korean “aegyosal” with makeup
But it really doesn’t matter if you’ve bought the right shade of lip colour. You can still ooze the innocence and youthfulness of your favourite Korean idols, by focusing on these three areas:
Signature 1: Thick, Straight and Natural-looking Brows
Yes, it may sound fierce and perhaps very 1980s, but trust us, it’s actually very wearable. Just take a look at Girls’ Generation’s leader, Taeyeon.
Step 1. Trim away the stray hairs at the bottom of the brows with a tweezer and snip off the arch above the brows using a small shaver. Be careful not to over-trim as you’d want your brows to look as naturally as possible.
Step 2. Use a liquid eyebrow pencil to fill in sparse areas within the brows using light strokes. Go easy on the “heads” of the brows as you don’t want them to appear looking too harsh. Extend the ends slightly with a subtle “tail”. Try K-Palette’s Real Lasting Eyebrow, which gives a natural shade and long-lasting colour.
Step 3. To darken brows, use eyebrow powder rather than pencil for a softer look. Pick up the powder using a brush to shade and darken brows. Try Red Earth’s Absolute Brows Brow Perfecting Kit or The Body Shop’s Brow & Liner Kit are both good products to work with.
Step 4. Finish off with a natural shade of eyebrow mascara to make brows appear looking fuller. Choose a colour that matches your hair colour. Try Benefit’s Gimme Brow.
Signature 2: Puppy-Dog Eyes
This method of drawing eyeliner gives you pleading, puppies’ eyes that are sure to melt hearts. Look to 4Minute’s Hyuna for a clue.
Step 1. Start by drawing the line from the inner corners of your upper eyelids. Use brown for a softer look, but if you prefer a bolder look, try black. We love The Face Shop’s Make Me Star Gel Liner and Tony Moly’s Gel Liner.
When you reach the outer corners, instead of drawing the “tail” up like you would for cats-eye effect, draw the “tail” down and make sure the line is not too thick. To avoid looking like you have droopy eyes, make sure the gradient is subtle.
Step 2. You can, in fact, stop at step 1 for lining, but if you prefer a more elaborate look, draw slightly on the lower lash line starting from the outer corners, and connect with the top line to form a mini triangle. The trick is to ensure the lined parts look natural.
Step 3. No eyes are complete without a coat or two of mascara, so go on with that and flutter those beautiful eyes of yours.
Signature 3: Gradient or “Bitten” Lips
Our personal favourite: perfect pout a la Yoon Eun Hye.
Step 1. Condition your lips with a lipbalm so that they won’t appear flaky when you apply lipstick or lip tint.
Step 2. Dab some foundation or concealer on your lips to create the contrast between the lips and the lip colour that you are going to apply.
Step 3. Dab on your favourite shade of lipstick or lip tint on the inner parts of both your upper and lower lips, so that they appear “bitten”. You should be able to see a contrast of colours between the lipstick/lip tint and your lips.
Step 4: Blend the lipstick or lip tint lightly onto your lips using your finger or brush so that the colours fade into a gradient with no harsh lines. If you like glossy lips, you can apply a clear layer of gloss.