It's been a big week for Ariana Grande. She dropped her highly-anticipated album titled Sweetener on Friday, and a few days later she made her red carpet debut with fiancé Pete Davidson. She gave a show-stopping performance at the same event, the MTV VMAs, where she was nominated for five awards and won one.
But with all the big changes that are happening right now, Ariana has resisted the temptation to overhaul her aesthetic. Amongst all the changes, Ariana has made sure that her look stays constant. And we all know what that means: a high pony, a slick of highlighter on the cheekbones and a striking, winged cat-eye.
Ariana has worn her bold eyeliner look since forever, and we finally know how it's done. Ariana's makeup artist Ashley K Holm has revealed the exact technique to achieve Ariana's perfect cat-eye, so get your pens at the ready ladies.
"Eyeliner and eyes in general are a main focus for our looks," Ashley says of working with Ariana. The makeup artist's other clientele includes Kim and Khloé Kardashian.
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Her trick to get the right angle for the eyeliner flick is simple: "make sure the wing is angled upward towards the tail end of your eyebrows to lift the eyes up," she says.
As to how she gets such a clean, straight line? It's thanks to a special eyeliner that has a "pizza-cutter" type of applicator. Ashley said she's "constantly switching up the brands and products" in her kit, but right now loves one from Nudestix called the Rock N' Roller Eyeliner Ink.
It looks like this:
And you can see the "pizza-cutter" in action here with their bronze liner:
Oddly satisfying to watch, right?
It appears to make it easy to apply super-straight, even lines of colour for a precise cat-eye wing, à la Ariana:
Ashley confirmed that Ariana never likes to stray too far from her signature look, which the makeup artist describes as: "bronzed chiseled cheeks, sun-kissed highlighted skin, matte lips, winged liner, and wispy lashes."
However, she does like to mix it up a little, especially when it comes to Ariana's visually-wowing music videos. She said she is always "working on ways to play off of her staple look using different products, colours, and techniques."
"Honestly when you're working with an icon, you show up, figure out the vision, and execute," Ashley says. "You don't have time to prepare or even think, you just execute. Sometimes you have to get creative, and that's why my kit weighs 500 pounds."
"I think we are always in the process of evolving and trying new things."
Well, be gentle on us Ashley. Remember that time Ariana wore a low ponytail when she dropped the No Tears Left To Cry video? Yeah, that was tough for a lot of us to deal with. Ariana without her high-pony is a strange sight – not in a bad way, just in a way we're not used to.
Ariana without her cat-eye? I couldn't even imagine it.
