Eye makeup is a crucial part of Hollywood magic whether you're starring in Sex and the City or Captain America but lately, if you haven't noticed, Hollywood and Television have taken eye makeup to a whole new level, a messier level. Let's call it, The Eye Smear, dun-dun-dun!
It dramatic, mysterious and shall we even say, sexy? It's been a part of our film industry since the beginning. When film just began, makeup artists would use the dramatic eye effect due to the quality of film and who are we kidding, for drama. As film became more refined, so did the look.
The messy look that we're more familiar with initially became prominent with rock stars. Kiss, probably the most popular rock band to play with dramatic eye makeup made it more of a cliche, unfortunately, after the rock star era faded. However, rock musicians continued to play with eye shadow in a non-traditional way like Keith Richards, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Steven Tyler, to name a few.
Although not every film stars a character with the smeared effect, it's pretty clear, more and more films/shows are designing their characters to sport them. Khal Drogo, played by Jason Momoa, dawned the eye makeup in Game of Thrones. Perhaps the look was to establish the character's culture and barbarian lifestyle, however, not every barbarian adopted the look. Drogo went on to become a fan favorite. Was this going to be a trend or was it just coincidence that the following characters would also smear the shadow and become fan favorites?
Sebastian Stan grabbed some Maybelline (I actually don't know what brand it was) as Bucky in Captain America: Winter Soldier. Alycia Debnam- Carey grabbed her war paint as Lexa in The 100 and recently, Monroe Hayden smeared her eye shadow as Fox in Fox. Even Stephen Amell took it on as Oliver Queen in Arrow before upgrading to a mask.
Most would associate the dramatic look with villains but as you can see, not many villains are actually sporting it. Most of the characters, however, do tread the line between good and evil with Drogo seeming like a bad guy in the beginning but eventually earning the trust and love of Daenerys Targaryen. Bucky being brain washed to follow evil orders but actually being a good guy that Captain America, himself, stands by. Lexa, appearing to be the enemy of Clark and her "tribe" but becoming the love of her life. And Fox, lying to Mina and Xander, making her appear to be the evil manipulator only to reveal she did it all for love. Maybe the look signifies that. With just a wet cloth, their darkness could be wiped. Even Oliver Queen has a dark past.
The look has underlined their characters onscreen appearance and has made fangirls go wild. Perhaps we'll see more characters dawn the look in the near future?
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