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My obsession with big, dramatic cat-eye makeup is so steadfast, it's almost a joke at this point. When I have an important work meeting? Cat-eye. Date night? Cat-eye. Seeing old friends? Cat-eye. What can I say? It just works. That said, I'm on a never-ending quest to find easy ways to reinvent the trend… and I just found a product that lets me do exactly that: Danessa Myricks's Twin Flames Multi-Chrome Pigments.
At first glance, these look like pretty run-of-the-mill liquid eye shadows, but you'll realize they're not the second you swatch them for the first time. As the "multi-chrome" part of their name suggests, each of these shades contains color-shifting magic — one might look gold in low light, for example, but flash bright green in the sun. When I got a package with all 15 of them in the mail, I couldn't help but slather each on my arm to watch them transform in different settings… nor could I contain the joyful, high-pitched giggle that escaped my mouth as I did.
During this little swatch party of mine, I immediately took note of the shadows' thin, flat, and firm applicators. You know what happens next: I started using them for cat-eyes exclusively. Naturally.
Danessa Myricks Twin Flames Multi-Chrome Pigments
Some of these shades (like Adore U, Obsession, and True Luv) are dark and opaque enough to wear all on their own, but the opalescent ones (like Amour, Everlasting, and Crazy 4 U) are somewhat sheer, so they need a colorful base to really pop. No matter which way I use them in a cat-eye, I can always throw the look together in a few seconds — and it'll stay there indefinitely until I take an oil cleanser to it (but I never sleep with it on because come on, y'all, it would be gross if I did).
To get this sparkly, color-shifting bright blue, I laid the shade Amour on top of a blue eye shadow stick and topped it off with a little white liquid eyeliner.
Now, take my comment about speed with a grain of salt — I've been doing some form of cat-eye makeup almost daily for like, a decade, so I've got plenty of practice and muscle memory under my metaphoric belt. But take it from someone who knows: When you're not afraid to go all out with color and cover all of the eyelid space you're working with, creating that winged shape gets a hell of a lot easier as opposed to making dainty, barely-there wings.
Here's my fool-proof process for creating looks like the ones you see above and below on my somewhat hooded eyes. With Twin Flames, I paint a thin line across my eyelid, making sure it's close to the lash line. Before the product has a chance to dry down, I look as far upward as I can until my lashes press into the skin around the crease area (like I'm intentionally trying to fuck up my makeup). Doing that leaves behind a stencil for the top part of the cat-eye, and it'll never budge because it already covers the area where transfer would normally happen.
After that, I draw a line from the outer corner of my eye outward until I'm close to the brow bone. How you draw that winged part is totally up to you; I do it a little differently every time but find it easiest to follow the angle of my lower lash line. From there, I place the applicator tip in the exact spot where that wing ends and drag my hand inward until I reach that stencil, at which point I just follow along before filling in all the empty space.
Sometimes, I layer different Twin Flames shades on top of one another to create a gradient (see the look below) or add some graphic details with a high-contrast liquid eyeliner (see the look above). But, for the most part, that's how I do all my winged eye makeup. It isn't always perfect, but it is always quick and efficient. Plus, if you get the movements down pat, you'll be able to draw the whole thing in one fluid motion and won't even really need to do the stencil bit.
To create this gradient look, I layered three Twin Flames shades — Everlasting, Obsession, and SweSweethearteheart — from lightest to darkest.
Of course, that's not the only way you can apply these high-octane colors. Take it from New York City makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes, who likes to apply liquid shadows bit by bit and blend continuously for a seamless fade. "Start at the lash line in the middle of the eye and then build up from there; Use a fluffy kind of eye shadow blending brush that allows you to blend and apply at the same time," she previously told Allure.
However you choose to apply these shadows, you're basically guaranteeing to snag some attention and praise… and after the year or so we've all had, I think many of us could use a good ego boost.
Danessa Myricks Twin Flames Multi-Chrome Pigments are $26 each and are available now on danessamyricks.com.
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