Backstage at Marc Jacobs, fresh-faced angels in wig caps flitted between hair and makeup. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this was just step 1 in a series of radical beauty transformations—of all of NYFW, Marc Jacobs usually shows the most extreme beauty look. (Remember this?) But what turned out to be the simplicity of makeup artist Diane Kendal's focused, singular look—a cat eye!—had Tom scrambling to get every shot. With models' hair tucked away and skin kept clean, variations on a traditional black swish stood out dramatically, without feeling overdone.

Don't get too comfy—this is Marc Jacobs, where there is no such thing as standard. Diane's team tailored at least six different cat eyes, painted on according to eye shape. She explains: “The classic cat-eye is quite flattering for most people—but for some of the girls, the key was in a thicker line, or an exaggerated outer corner.”

Which lends itself to a great beauty lesson to live well beyond the chaos that is Fashion Week: Your cat eye should be as individual and up for interpretation as you are. A great and positive takeaway! To start, Diane used the Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Crayon in Blacquer 42. “Every girl has the Highliner in the waterline… I always start with the waterline and the line underneath, and then I follow it around… so I can judge how to bring out [the flick]. Then I can match the top.” This is important because, she says, “If I start with the top, I get a bit lost.” Consider this technique as an eyeliner GPS.

For the fun part, Marc Jacobs Beauty Magic Marc’er Precision Eyeliner in Blacquer was used to “shape the eye and extend it out…looking at references from the '50s and '60s.” It’s a wet-to-dry longwear formula, “so it dries and doesn’t move," she explains. "On some girls we’ve made it thicker both on top and underneath…for girls with quite round eyes, we’ve done a very exaggerated point, [using] the tail of the brow as the stopping point." And for longer, more almond-shaped eyes, it was “quite a thick, straight line—but not too high [on the lid],” after which Marc's game-changing Velvet Noir mascara topped everything off. Overall, a very fitting theme for the brand making our favorite liners in the game right now.

—Anna Jube

Photographed by Tom Newton.

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