Athena

Inspiration

Athena was the female goddess of war. She was the goddess of strategy, of wisdom in battle, and advisor to Zeus. Legend has it that she was literally born of his thoughts. One day, Zeus was overcome with a horrible, head-splitting migrane. He told Ares, the male god of war, to take and axe and split his head. Ares did so, and because Zeus was immortal, he did not die. From the fissure in his head sprang Athena, fully adult and dressed in battle gear. Athena was the goddess of wise council, and it was her job to advise Zeus, but she was also a master strategist, able to find a solution and a way around any opposing army's defenses.

When I think of Athena, I think of war, the ferocity, the power. I wish the first thing that came to mind was her intelligence, but it's hard to base a makeup look on that. Instead, I created a warrior's makeup. The tradition of battle paint is an old one, and the original purpose of it was to intimidate the enemy. I used that idea and I wanted to create a strategically terrifying, imposing, black eye. I wanted to create an image that was both frightening and beautiful, and one of the first things that came to mind was one of the eyeliner looks that Michelle Phan created in one of her videos (the very last one!). I also thought that since my eyes are this weird shade of hazel, maybe the black look would make them a bit more green (let me know). I also have about a million different false eyelashes that I never get to use, but I finally did! (I asked my sister if I could wear these to her wedding, and she said absolutely not, they were too scary. So, of course, my first thought was that these would be perfect for this look. Random side note: I didn't notice that they had little sparkles on the underside until today). Basically, I wanted to embody power and ferocity.

Tools & Techniques

The best tools for the job, I decided, were (from left to right) Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion, Sephora black eyeliner, and NARS Semi Matte Lipstick in Scarlett Empress. In the Michelle Phan video, she uses a gel eyeliner to outline the shape of the wings on her eyes, but personally, I think that using a pencil is much easier and therefore preferable. I used my Sephora eyeliner to create the shape I wanted to fill in, and I used the Urban Decay liquid eyeliner to fill it in with a glossy black. The reasons I chose to use liquid eyeliner were as follows: it is the only black I have that I felt would have been opaque enough to cover my whole lid, it goes on easily and smoothly, with more staying power than black eyeshadow, and it had no sparkles in it (like my Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil in Barracuda, which I thought would be easy to use, but wouldn't give the right effect, being more glittery than glossy). However, the use of liquid liner was better in theory than in practice. This particular type of liner was a bit too sticky to cover my whole eye, and every time I opened my eyes, it stuck together and creased a little bit. It also got in my eyes a lot, which burns. I don't recommend it. The lipstick choice, though a bit dark to go with my dark eye, was the right color simply because it was almost matte, almost opaque, and went well with the whole feeling of "overdone-ness" (in real life, pick a strong eye OR a strong lip, never both, unless you are a drag queen). 

In order to create this look, first outline the shape you want with the black eyeliner pencil. It doesn't have to be a perfect line, because you're going to fill it in with the liquid liner. Liquid liner is a little tricky, because if you tilt the brush at the wrong angle you can end up with black marks outside the line. But, all you have to do is be careful, the worst that can happen is you take it off and start again. Once all the eyeliner-ing is finished, you're ready to put on your scary fake eyelashes. One of the best inventions (literally, I cannot put on eyelashes without it) is a sort of eyelash holder. It's wide, big enough to secure the spine of your lashes easily, so you can apply glue without getting it everywhere, and then apply your eyelashes without poking yourself in the eye. It's glorious. After that, just wait for them to dry a little, apply your lipstick, and you're done. 

Outcome

The idea is still "carefully calculated intimidation" but on second thought, it looks a little bit like the makeup in Black Swan.

Eye closeups are my favorite. I think that this actually does make my eyes look more green. Also, the lower lash line, while being perfect for this out-there makeup look, should never be used in real life. It was actually painful to make the line so thick. I felt like a scary goth kid.

  (The eyeliner got creased here, but oh well...)

Awkward lip shot! I love the color.

Instant Athena, Warrior Goddess. Let me know if I've done her proud.