Monolid Mysteries

In grade school, a girl asked me how it's possible that I put contacts in my eyes.


In high school, when we were learning about how the pupil dilates and constricts under different lighting, Mr. Venckus or Ms. Tosto said, "Turn to your neighbor, have them close and open their eyes and then observe the movement of their pupils." My neighbor was unable to make these observations because there is little difference between the color of my pupil and iris.

I am a monolid. It sounds like a bad word, a term of derision, an epithet, but it isn't, and I don't know how else to describe the situation. I do not have any creases in my eyelids, so a) my eyes look tiny and b) unless I pile on the eyeliner like eyeshadow, my eyeliner is rarely visible. When I look downwards, you can see some of it (first photo) but when I look straight ahead or upwards, my precious work disappears into the folds of my eye somewhere (second photo). This is why I've extended my eyeliner past the outer corner of my eye for a cat-eye look. Actually, I took on that look after seeing it so stylishly and nonchalantly on my Plato professor's eyes. Unfortunately, that may have been all I learned that seminar.

I've never considered surgery or temporary methods to get the crease, because while the monolid is inconvenient in some ways, deep down, I like it. I have gotten similar advice from different sources regarding eyeliner on monolids, so I take the following to be the basics of monolid makeup. My cousin Mai gave me a makeup book from Japan, and I was excited to see a whole page dedicated to eyeliner on monolids. It suggests applying thick lines above and below the pupil and on the upper outer corner of the eyelid. Now that I think about it, I don't even follow this advice very well. I'll work on that. Anyway, likewise, the Saks Fifth Avenue man at the Shu Uemura counter (RIP) told me not to apply liner all around the eye, because it makes the eye look smaller. I suppose the excessive eyeliner crowds the eye, emphasizing the darkness of the eyeliner over what little white is visible. Here is the scan from the book Mai got me that may or may not render my words some sense.

If you look carefully, like in the lower right corner (click scan for full size)...GIRL AIN'T EVEN A REAL MONOLID! I spy some folds on the inner and outer corners. Obviously, the editors can't use a real monolid, because the makeup won't be visible, or it won't be visible enough to look sparkly-pretty in a photoshoot or in the final publication. But it must be the case that there are millions of true blue monolids like myself everywhere. I know there are ways around and through it: here's one good example, and she's got the dewy complexion-look down, too. Lulu says she has small double eyelids, but she always has good, glam makeup. We get by!

For the record, I use assorted Japanese brown eyeshadows from drugstores, Shiseido's cream eyeliner, and Givenchy's Phenomen'Eyes mascara.