Cat eye eyeliner influenced by ancient Egyptian cat statues

Image: MikeB

Well, something entirely different for me and something I knew nothing about until I thought about it while preparing this post (for the first time). But there seems to be a trend on the Internet which is that women like cat eyes and they want their eyes to look like the eyes of a cat. You can do this with plastic surgery. I have seen that. And you can achieve it with eyeliner and make up. That was about the sum total of my knowledge on this topic! But I now feel that cat eye eyeliner is influenced by ancient Egyptians.

Cats in Ancient Egypt – not what you think it was like.

Real cat eye is more rounded but this cat does look like they are wearing eyeliner!. Image: MikeB

Perhaps the bigger topic is what do cat eyes look like? Clearly this makeup artist and the woman involved believe that cat eyes slope upwards at the far end. That is what the make-up achieves. They seem to be elongated with sharp pointed ends left and right. I don't see this with cat eyes by the way. I've seen lots of domestic cat eyes and this is not what they look like! So, this is a human perception. Perhaps the phrase "cat eye" is simply a description of a certain type of human eye appearance which appeals to some women but one which is not actually in truth linked to the eyes of domestic or wild cats.

Online news media say that "many women have a love-hate relationship with winged eyeliner". It looks fierce. Perhaps it is the fierceness which is the link to cats! The phrase is "winged eyeliner". It is the eyeliner at the far end of the eyes as I've mentioned which elongates the eye and turns the end upwards slightly. 

There is a reference here to the era of ancient Egypt and Cleopatra and Nefertiti! That's where the origin of this eyeliner comes from, I think. And I've now got a clearer picture about this. The ancient Egyptians loved their cats. They worship them through cat gods.

We have the filmic rendition of cat eyes in many films. I'm thinking of the Cleopatra film. The trend for cat eyes is not based upon the real domestic cat eye but upon the statues of cats of ancient Egypt. That's my assessment.

Correction!? Here is a photo from Ukraine of a cat with 'cat eyes'. 

Picture: Defense of Ukraine. It is Vyshyvanka Day in Ukraine today May 19th, 2023.

Tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you.