Eye Make-Up Secrets from The Pros

• More advice from Mary Greenwell: ‘Grey-brown eyeshadows suit all skin types, from the very light to the very dark.’

• Laura Geller advises women to turbo-charge the impact of a daytime eyeshadow for night by moistening the sponge applicator. This makes the colour go on darker, deeper and bolder.

• We’ve all spoiled our make-up with stray specks of eyeshadow that get smeared onto cheeks. Make-up artists always liberally dot loose powder over the cheeks, so that fallen specks can be swept away, without ruining your foundation.

• Kevyn Aucoin says: ‘Depending on how you use it, eyeliner [liquid or pencil] can make the eyes appear larger or smaller. It’s not always necessary to line top and bottom lashes - in fact, I rarely do, unless I’m doing a very dramatic evening look. Lining just the top lashes opens up the whole eye area and the eyes, and the eye make-up gets more definition. Another way to open up the eyes is to line the lower rims with white eyeliner.’ (Yves Saint Laurent make one.)

• Like kissing, using liquid eyeliner is an art nobody ever teaches you. If you avoid liquid eyeliner simply because your hands aren’t steady, Chanel’s make-up maestro has the secret of shake-free eyelining: put your mirror on the table and bend over it. Now rest your arm on the table and draw, as close to the lashes as possible and as thickly or thinly as you prefer. No more shaky lines or squinting.

• Make-up artists use ‘layering’ techniques to stop cosmetics from sliding off the face and disappearing. For eyes, that means fixing pencil liner with a line of powder shadow over it. ‘Really work an eye pencil into the roots of lashes,’ encourages Mary Greenwell. ‘It gives the optical illusion of longer lashes.’ ‘There’s nothing worse than seeing white space between the lashes and liner.’

• As the weather heats up, put your eye (and lip) pencils in the freezer for a few minutes, before sharpening them. In cold weather, pencils get too hard - and can drag. Max Factor’s movie make-up artist Bob Mills advises: ‘So that eyeliner pencil glides on smoothly, soften the point before use with a blast of warm air from a hairdryer.’

• If you find eye make-up seems to fade, crease or rub off, you might like to look around for a special eyelid foundation - Estée Lauder make a great one - which fixes eye make-up.

More secrets from the Pros - Mascaras

• Mary Greenwell warns blondes off black mascara (and liner): ‘They create Barbie-doll type lashes. Use brown, especially for day.’

• Barbara Daly, creator of the Colourings range for The Body Shop, advises: ‘To apply mascara to your upper lashes, keep your head straight but hold the mirror at chin level. This means you’ll be looking down into the mirror, so that when you start to sweep the brush from root to tip, you’ll be able to see the whole length of the lashes. It also prevents the smudging that can happen if you open your eyes while the mascara is wet.’

• If mascara’s too runny, don’t waste money by throwing it out. Mary Greenwell advises leaving it open overnight, to dry out a bit.

• If mascara smuts often end up on your cheeks, try applying it to top lashes only, and use a soft brown/charcoal/grey pencil underneath your eyes.

The Secrets of Eyelash Curlers...

Some models and make-up artists (unlike Bobbi Brown) wouldn’t be without them - but eyelash curlers are infernal contraptions until you get the hang of them. Used properly, they can make your lashes look twice as long.

• Do invest in a good curler; it’s worth the investment; cheap metal curlers can actually cut your lashes. Tweezerman’s is one of the new high-tech curlers and the rave fave of those in the know. It has non-stick silicon pads which gently curl lashes, rather than ‘crimping’ them.

• Don’t use the curlers after you’ve applied your mascara; mascara can stick to the curler and the lashes get tugged out when you release it.

• Do clean the curler, especially the pad, preferably after each use with a cotton square and alcohol.

• Don’t pull with the curler clamped down, or you’ll yank lashes out.

• Do replace the curler if the rubber starts to crack.

• Do try the double-squeeze method: place the open curler near the upper lash roots, and arrange your lashes between the two rims. Squeeze gently for five seconds. Release the curler, and move it slightly towards the mid-lash area, then repeat the process. The effect is a beautifully rounded curl.

Faking It

False eyelashes as daywear have had their day. (For now.) But some women still like to wear them at night, for high drama. You can buy them either in strips, or as little clusters, packaged with their own, rubber cement-like glue that ensures painless removal (with a little tugging). International make-up artist Chris Colbeck first applies glue to the tip of a lash cluster, from the tube. Then, with tweezers, he nestles only one small cluster of false lashes into the real eyelashes just at the outside corner of the eye. ‘Often, that’s all a woman needs.’ For a fuller effect, he places clusters closely together, along the natural lash line.

Strip lashes can be trickier, and should first be cut to fit. Then glue the band; place the strip on the lid just above the real lashes; anchor it first in the middle, then at the edges. Applying mascara to natural and false lashes ‘fuses’ them for a more natural result. ‘And eyeliner can fill any gap between the two,’ adds Chris.