Costhetics has a question for those of you who love news and information about cosmetic enhancement and cosmetic surgery as much as we do: What do Bella Hadid, Natalie Portman, Angelina Jolie, Olivia Wilde, Ali Wong, and Kendall Jenner have in common?
Yes, they’re women. Yes, they’re beautiful. What we want to talk about, however, is their eyes. Almond-shaped and upturned, their so-called ‘foxy eyes’ are inspiring a new trend in aesthetic enhancement.
Why Women Want to Get Foxy
Foxy eyes, also known as cat eyes, and ‘designer eyes,’ are having their moment. Actually, they’ve been having a moment for centuries, since Cleopatra’s super-symmetrical almond eyes first drove men wild. Almond eyes are oval in shape with narrow corners, longer in width than they are round. It’s considered a very adult eye, the antithesis of a child’s wide-eyed look.
Foxy eyes are prized for their exotic and mystical appearance. According to L’Oreal Paris, you have almond eyes if you have a visible crease in your eyelid and your iris touches both the top and bottom of your eyelid. “Most techniques in makeup are employed to achieve this exact eye shape,” MAC Senior Artist John Stapleton has said.
Why Some People Are Offended by Fake Foxes
Fox eyes may be seen as desirable to some, but to others they are a point of pain. Asians see them as the focus of racial slurs, racist cartoons, and other negative stereotypes. The elevation of their desirability by a primarily Caucasian patient base is seen as the height of insensitivity.
“While it may not have originated from a place of ill-intent, it appropriates our eyes and is ignorant of past racism,” wrote Dear Asian Youth, a California-based activist organisation reports CNN. “Our eyes are something we have to live with every day.”
Designer Eyes: Permanent or Temporary Enhancement
People who want to alter their eye shape have three options:
- Invasive Surgery – Eyelid surgery, known as blepharoplasty, can be used to remove excess skin and fat, and alter the shape of the eye. Brow surgery lifts the temporal brow to achieve a similar goal. Will you want a foxy eye 10 years from now? Costhetics urges anyone who is eager to jump on the foxy eye surgery bandwagon to remember that trends may come, but they also go.
- Non-Invasive – Cosmetic injectables are a popular option for fox eye aspirants. Fillers and fat, some of it derived from a patient’s own body, are injected into the outer edge of the brow to elevate it and pull the eye up. In addition to creating the desired change in eye shape, injectables are less risky than surgery, require little to no downtime, and last two years.
- PDO thread lifts are an extremely popular choice for achieving a fox eye. The procedure is minimally invasive, with no scalpels used and no stitches required. Instead, a thread is inserted into the treatment area to pull skin upwards towards the temples.
The Internet is filled with tutorials and tips for going foxy without all the work. Women are pulling their hair back in a tight ponytail on Instagram, shaving off the end of their eyebrows on TikTok (#foxeye), and contouring like crazy with make-up. All of this means you can test drive the look on yourself before making any substantive changes.
Do you really want the change, however? Knowing that fox eyes are offensive to others may be a reason to consider embracing a make-up trend that is less controversial. That’s how Costhetics sees it.