Aegyo-Sal
The Pudge You Actually Want

For as long as you can remember, you've been told to hide your under eye bags. And you gladly did so with all the concealer and foundation that you could cake on.

But what if someone told you that accentuating the pudge right beneath your eye could make you look more youthful and cheery? 

Well, leave it to the South Korean gals to figure out that highlighting and contouring your "aegyo-sal," a Korean word for charming/baby eye fat, is exactly what you need to make yourself look younger and your eyes more cheerful and inviting.

Back in June, Michelle Phan did a video tutorial on the Aegyo-sal trend, using a collection of her own eyeshadows and blending brushes,  but our beloved Korean cosmetic companies took no time at all to produce their own unique makeup tool called the Dear Girls Cute Eyes Maker to achieve aegyo-sal perfection.

Initially, I was pretty skeptical about this tool - I know a gimmick when I see one. Besides, I had a face highlighter and light brown eyeshadow - I didn't see the point in purchasing a separate tool just for aegyo-sal. But it was after I found out that it was one of the hottest products at Etude House, I decided it was time to see for myself.

The Dear Girls Cute Eyes Maker is shaped like a standard eyeliner or eyebrow pencil but has two sides that twist off, revealing foamy cushion ends. If you peer into the caps, there are two tones: light brown and a shimmery champagne pink.

This will accentuate your eye pudge. Yup, Koreans think of everything.

Etude House suggests starting off with the light brown to contour right beneath the eye pudge. Then, smile hard with your eyes to bring out the pudge to see where you should contour. The next step is to use the champagne pink to line the inner corners of your eyes and right underneath your under lashes up until where you contoured in the first step. Finally, using a mirror (and plenty of sunlight) use a blending brush (or your finger) to make sure the brown blends in naturally with the champagne pink. (After a couple of tries, I found that it didn't matter which step you started with first, since you blend it out anyway.)

Quick and easy Aegyo-sal.

One aegyo-sal is bigger than the other, but I contoured according to what was naturally there.

I was a little amazed at how easily and well I achieved the aegyo-sal look - it took about 2 minutes per eye and definitely looked more cheerful. What I liked most about the tool were the plushy foam ends - so soft that I didn't feel like I was putting too much pressure on my delicate eye skin. Also, upon closer inspection, the two tones were incredibly sheer, it gave me the aegyo-sal look my more pigmented shadows probably can't give me.

As you can see, I'm wearing minimal makeup since I'm supposed to be going for the youthful look. In addition to the Dear My Girls Cute Eyes Maker, I am wearing IOPE Air Cushion in S22 to even my skin tone and get me that youthful glow, The Faceshop Design My Eyebrow in Natural Brown for my brows and the Clio Kill Black Waterproof Pen Liner to line my eyes.

Can you see the difference with or without aegyo-sal? What do you think looks better? Let me know your thoughts!

xo, char