Funny enough, I don’t actually listen to Kpop. With the exception of Big Bang (yasss I got my Made Tour concert tickets!), I’m mostly a hip hop girl. However, I am absolutely obsessed with Kpop music videos and Kpop stars on variety shows. Why? THEIR AMAZING MAKEUP LOOKS!
Forget runway shows. As a makeup artist, or even just as a makeup enthusiast, if you’re ever in need of inspiration, do yourself a favor and watch Kpop videos! They’ve got flawless, creative, gorgeous looks that always add a little something to put a new spin on glamour.
While perusing the online Korean entertainment community, Omonatheydidnt, I came across an announcement about the group Sistar making a comeback. Any Sistar fans from LA? Go see them perform at KCON this weekend!
They had teaser images of the girls and the makeup looks instantly jumped out to me. I wanted to find exact dupes of the products they were using to get these sexy looks and share them with you!
I invited my dear friend and makeup artist colleague Chloe Kaypee over to listen to some K-pop, have some drinks, and play around with products to recreate these Sistar comeback looks. She also brought along her friend Cassie to join in on the fun.
First off, we kind of melded two looks together because we were digging the hell out Hyorin’s gorgeous eyeliner and Soyou’s vibrant purple lip.
I love Hyorin’s fresh and daring take on liner that falls somewhere between a cat eye (ticks upwards at the tail) and a puppy eye (ticks slightly downward at the tail, elongating the eye), with the sharp, graphic break in the middle.
A great way to draw such a precise line would be with the Clio Waterproof Pen Liner in Kill Black, which is exactly what we did on Chloe here. Practice makes perfect when it comes to precision looks like this, so if you’re a liner newb, don’t be discouraged! Just keep practicing and you’ll get the hang of it. Think of it like when you were learning cursive in grade school, a steady confident hand makes the prettiest flourishes.
To get Soyou’s lip look we used the gorgeous Three Concept Eyes Lip Color in shade V applied directly from the tube. This is such a beautiful purple, and it works on a variety of skin tones. It looks good on both me who’s usually a shade 21 in BB creams and Chloe here who is usually a 27 in Missha face products. I really love this product! The 3CE lipstick formulation is creamy and goes on vibrantly.
For the face we used the aforementioned Missha M Cover BB in No. 27, applied with a damp beauty blender-type sponge from The Face Shop. We skipped the blush and let the point makeup take center stage. The only thing added to the cheeks was a subtle highlight applied directly onto the skin with the Innisfree Mineral Glow Stick.
Since the eyeliner and lip are so strong we just did a light finger tip application of the Peripera Wholly Deep Jewel Pot in shade #1 Be Illumi all over the lid.
While we’re discussing the Peripera Jewel Pot, allow me to take a moment here to talk about how much I love this thing. Chloe and I both marveled over how insanely shimmery it is, and yet unlike other loose pigments we’ve both used during our careers as makeup artists, there is NO fallout.
Usually when you use a product like this it looks great upon your initial application, and that’s under the very best of circumstances (a very steady hand). Then all of a sudden you notice it looks like you’ve cried glitter tears after about an hour of wear — the product starts to flake off and migrate down your face. Not so with this shadow! This pot stays put all day long, no fallout and no glitter tears, just long lasting, high shine amazingness. I can’t speak highly enough about it. It’s products like these that remind me of why I love K-beauty so much: superior formulations and innovations on old favs at a great price point. What more could I ask for?
Since we loved this product so much we used different colors to duplicate Dasom’s look here:
Cassie taking inspiration from Dasom and looking gorgeous.
For the face we kept things simple with Hera CC Cream in shade 23 because Cassie has such lovely skin. We highlighted along the cheeks and tops of the orbital bones in a “C” shape with Innisfree Mineral Glow Stick applied with a flat synthetic highlighter brush and gave her just a hint of warmth in the cheeks with Innisfree Mineral Shading Powder in Vanilla.
This time we used Peripera Wholly Deep Jewel Pot shades in #4 Be Celeb and #7 Be Trendy to make a sideways triangle shape to elongate Cassie’s eyes. It starts at the crease, goes out past the orbital bone, then joints to make a point with the eyeshadow swept under the bottom lid. We also went back in with shade #1 Be Illumi in the tear duct area to highlight.
We gave her a thick black wing on the upper lash line with Tonymoly Backstage Gel Liner that followed the dramatic shape of the eyeshadow. To emphasize her eyes even more, we joined that black wing from the bottom using the Clio Gelpresso Waterproof Pencil Gel Liner in Dark Choco on the outer corners, another great eye product that I love very much! This pencil glides on effortlessly and stays true all day long.
Clio (and their sister brand Peripera) make some really excellent eye products that I would say are comparable in quality to MAC, but even better formulated in my opinion.
They also do a great lip, which is why we chose Peripera Peri’s Cushion Lips in OR02 to give Cassie the same bright hot orange lip Dasom was rockin’. It looks like a perfect match to me, and this cushion keeps lips soft while still giving you serious color. I keep three different shades from this line in my purse at all times! It’s perfect for quick applications of either a soft gradient wash, or a bold full lip like Cassie has for Dasom’s look.
Here’s a swatch of the colors we used. Left to right: Clio Gelpresso in Dark Choco, Peripera Wholly Deep Jewel Pots in #4, #7, and #1, Peripera Cushion Lips in OR02, and 3CE Lip Color in V
By the time we were done, Chloe and Cassie looked like they were ready to start a girl group and conquer the music world, and it was all thanks to a little inspiration from Kpop!No matter who your favorite Kpop group is, there’s always inspiration to be had (I’ve been rockin’ Seungri’s purple eyeshadow in the Big Bang MV Bae Bae lately a lot more often than I’d like to admit ).
Do you have a favorite Kpop group? Has Kpop ever inspired your makeup? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
—Coco
Coco Park, a.k.a. The Beauty Wolf, is on the prowl for beauty in all its forms including, but not limited to, makeup, art, and hip-hop. She’s a cityslicker from the South living in Montreal with her family. Catch @thebeautywolf on Instagram.
