Beauty in the eyes of the beholder
Read in Indonesian
In general, brushes, sponges and eyelashes are the basic tools of make-up artists. However, when we scroll through social media pages of Indonesian make-up artists, there is another tool that they share in common: coloured contact lenses. The clients of make-up artists who specialise in weddings, in particular, are hardly seen without coloured contact lenses.
A 29-year-old bride on her wedding day was told by her make-up artist to wear coloured contact lenses even though she hasn’t never worn one before. “[The make-up artist] said [the coloured contact lenses were] to make my eyes look livelier and different,” said the bride.
Amanda, an 18-year-old student, echoed a similar opinion. “At a past photoshoot, the make-up artist asked me to wear bright blue contact lenses. It was not my cup of tea, but they said it would open up my eyes and look better in photographs.”
Image: Eyes with and without coloured contact lenses for comparison courtesy of Eyelovin
The eye area is indeed the most prominent feature of the face. A small change in eyebrows, eyelid and eye shape can drastically transform the face. Take eyelids, for instance. Undergoing blepharoplasty, a surgical method to create upper eyelid creases or double-eyelid, has become so common that it isn’t considered a serious procedure.
Blepharoplasty was developed in 1896 by Japanese surgeon Kotaro Mikamo. He introduced this surgical method to create double eyelids. The procedure can be done in two ways – full incision or suture. Both methods require the doctor to develop depressions or holes across the lid, sutured together to create a double fold. Both surgeries can be performed on people with natural double eyelids as well. People who have asymmetrical eyelids may choose to undergo this surgery to make them symmetrical.
Double eyelid surgery in Asia is seen as a rite of passage because double eyelid surgery allows the eyes to appear larger and to a lot of Asian countries, big eyes are ideal and more desirable. In fact, some are encouraged to undergo the procedure at a young age. “My mom wanted me to get it [blepharoplasty] and honestly I just couldn't bother arguing with her about it, and I wasn't against it,” said J, a 21-year-old student.
Approximately 50% of Asians don’t have upper eyelid creases – Asians have smaller and slanted eyes, usually with single, heavy drooping eyelids. These are more prevalent in East Asians. In Indonesia, they are more prevalent in Chinese Indonesian than native Indonesian. Asian eyes are, in fact, like lexicons. For example, in clinical terms – epicanthic fold, or a skin fold of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner of the eye.
Coloured contact lenses can bring a similar effect – making the eyes appear larger and more lustrous - to a certain extent. Combined with eye make-up, the impact of coloured contact lenses can be dramatic.
As seen on South China Morning Post, a Chinese woman recorded her dramatic make-up transformation that could be mistaken as two different individuals before and after applying the make-up. The eye area is noticeably the most dominant factor of the drastic transformation.
There are plenty of similar before and after make-up transformations online. All of them feature the same techniques – eyelid tape to create double eyelids, coloured contact lenses, filled-in eyebrows, smokey eye make-up and heavy eyelashes.
The roots of the double eyelids and coloured pupils trend arguably stemming from Eurocentric beauty standards. There is a fascination around bright eye colours like green or blue since they are rare and uncommon among Asians. “When I was in primary school, I bought grey-ish blue colour contact lenses because I watched a video of a beauty influencer on YouTube,” said Stephanie, an 18-year-old student.
Image: Gloria cosplaying LLENN from Gun Gale Online
However, that is not always the case. In the cosplay community, cosplayers use contact lenses to match the colour of their eyes with the wig and costumes. Gloria, an avid Indonesian cosplayer, said, “It looks strange if we don’t match our eye colour with the wig, especially if the wig is in bright colours.” The coloured contact lenses also match the character she is cosplaying.
The rise of K-pop and K-dramas helps spread the coloured lens trend. “I started wearing coloured contact lenses after watching Korean drama,” said Pamela. Male and female K-pop groups have normalised wearing coloured contact lenses.
Eyelid surgery is not exclusive for aesthetics purposes. Some may undergo eyelid surgery due to visual concerns and to fix their droopiness in order to look fresh and to ease their ability to see. Other concerns include baggy upper eyelids or excess skin on the lower eyelids – people with these conditions undergo surgery in order to have clearer vision.
Moreover, beauty standards around the world vary. Within different Asian societies, there are different beauty standards. In Japan, kawaii culture is an example of how Japanese people may aspire to look. Kawaii means cute-a round face with large eyes, and it signifies youthfulness, or childlike and innocent. On the other hand, Korean beauty standards are the V-shaped jaw, straight eyebrows or puppy brows and large, bright eyes.
Western beauty standards glorify having a defined jawline, a square-shaped face is attractive and a slender pointed nose signifies poise. Full lips like Kylie Jenner has become the idealised Instagram face because it’s seen as more “inviting.” Large eyes–blue, hazel or green–are considered beautiful.