Eyelash

“ We look at the far eye, and this curves slightly away from us on the curve of the cheek. The eyeball nears the blunt end, and exposes a large space of white.
Lid, pupil, iris, eyelash, eyebrow, all follow in their turn; add such shadows as you wish, and you must certainly not forget the shadow of the nose and the forehead. The eye lies in a socket. In old people this is very noticeable. The shadow of the brow falls on the socket and gives a very sharp and bold outline for drawing. ”

“ Perhaps, beyond a certain point, eyelashes are like endurance, and cease to be a virtue. Who is it tells of a young lady whose long lashes gave her an overdressed appearance in the morning, so that one felt as though she ought to have a shorter set to come down to breakfast in? ”

“ Under the large, deep, and pensive eyes, the golden sun-burn of the cheeks deepens into an aureole of deeper brown, which looks like the shadow of the eyelashes, or may be a circle seared by the burning glances of her eyes. ”

“ While on the subject of making up, a piece of advice from the great actor Jefferson to the wonderful American actress, Clara Morris, is of interest:
“Be guided as far as possible by Nature. When you make up your face, you get powder on your eyelashes. Nature made them dark, so you are free to touch the lashes themselves with ink or pomade, but you should not paint a great band about your eye, with a long line added at the corner to rob it of expression. ”

“ The eyes are large, tolerably deeply set, and very beautiful, the colour a rich liquid brown, the expression singularly soft, and the eyelashes long, silky, and abundant. The skin has the Italian olive tint, but in most cases is thin, and light enough to show the changes of colour in the cheek. ”

“ The eyelashes serve to keep cold winds, dust, and too bright sun, from injuring or entering the windows of the body. When we walk against the east wind, we bring the tips of our eyelashes together, and in that way exclude the cold air from the surface of the eye ”

“ The eyelashes, therefore, are like so many sentries, constantly moving to and fro, protecting a most important organ from injury. The eyelids are the shutters by which the windows are opened and closed. But they also cleanse the eye, keeping it bright and moist. ”

“ A Persian treatise on the figurative terms relating to beauty shows that the hair should be black, abundant, and wavy, the eyebrows dark and arched. The eyelashes also must be dark, and like arrows from the bow of the eyebrows. There is, however, no insistence on the blackness of the eyes. ”

“ Who hasn't bumped into the woman who is woefully wandering around minus her eyelashes? My dear girls, you make the mistake of your life when you begin to snip and clip and tinker with those pretty little curtains that fall over your eyes. If eyelashes are cut in infancy they will grow longer, but when one gets big enough to wear long skirts and to do one's hair up high and wear a little bonnet with jet dofunnies on it, there's not much of a show for eyelashes being made longer by trimming. Touching the lashes with castor oil will increase the growth, and moistened salt is also good. ”

“ When obtained, refrain from rubbing or even touching the lids with the finger-nails. There is more beauty in a pair of well-kept eyebrows and full, sweeping eyelashes than people are aware of, and a very inattractive and lusterless eye assumes new beauty when it looks out from beneath elongated fringes. Many ladies have a habit of rubbing the corners of their eyes to remove the dust that will frequently accumulate there. ”

“ As a rule all that is necessary to remove "something" in your eye is to take the eyelashes of the upper lid between your thumb and forefinger and pull the lid down over the lower one. The lower lashes thus shut in, combined with the tears that flood the eye, will clean the eye in most cases. ”

“ The affection may exist to a greater or less degree, being in some instances scarcely visible, and not troublesome, whilst in others, the eyelashes lie on the upper part of the cheek, and the swollen granulated conjunctiva is exposed. ”

“ Because the eyelashes assist to modify the light, and to protect the eye, without actually closing the eye-ids. When the eyelids are partially closed, as in very sunny or dusty weather, the eyelashes cross each other, forming a kind of shady lattice-work, from the interspaces of which the eye looks out with advantage, and sees sufficiently for the guidance of the body. ”

“ The eyelashes, too, besides making the eye look well, are a defense to it. You know that there are often small things flying about in the air which we are not apt to see. If these fly against the eye, they generally hit against the eyelashes, and so are prevented from going into the eye. ”

“ To increase the beauty and expression of the eyes, various means are occasionally had recourse to, nearly all of which, except those herein mentioned in connection with the eyelashes and eyebrows, are not merely highly objectionable, but even dangerous. ”

“ THE EYELASHES AND EYEBROWS.—In Circassia, Georgia, Persia, and India, one of the mother's earliest cares is to promote the growth of her children's eyelashes by tipping and removing the fine gossamer-like points with a pair of scissors, when they are asleep. By repeating this every month or six weeks, they become, in time, long, close, finely curved, and of a silky gloss. The practice never fails to produce the desired effect, and it is particularly useful when, owing to inflammation of the eyes, the lashes have been thinned or stunted. ”

“ When, for any cause, the coördination is faulty, “cross eye,” technically called strabismus, is produced. Thus, if the internal rectus is shortened, the eye turns in; if the external rectus, the eye turns out, producing what is known as “wall eye.” It is thus evident that the beauty of the internal mechanism of the eye has its fitting complement in the precision, delicacy, and range of movement conferred upon it by its muscles.
334. The Eyelids and Eyebrows. The eye is adorned and protected by the eyelids, eyelashes, and eyebrows. ”

“ Magnus, the sculptors of antiquity made use of this slight lowering of the lid to express sensuous love; and accordingly it was customary to chisel the eyes of Venus with drooping lids and a small aperture.
In their task of moderating and varying the lustre of the eyeball, the lids are greatly assisted by the lashes. An eye with missing or too short lashes is apt to appear too fiery, glaring, or “stinging.” Long dark eyelashes are of all the means of flirtation the most irresistible. ”

“ All such operations should be performed by another person, for the eye is a most delicate organ. Yet, not even this organ has been spared by deforming Fashion. The fact that some Africans colour their eyelids black may have a utilitarian rather than a cosmetic reason. But what shall we say to the Africans who eradicate their eyebrows, and the Paraguayans, who remove their eyelashes because they “do not wish to be like horses?”
Twin sisters ever are Fashion and Idiocy. ”

“ The eyelashes do not count for much in drawing a head, except in so far as they affect the tone impression. In the first place they shade the white of the eye when the light is above, as is usually the case. They are much thicker on the outer than on the inner side of the eyelids, and have a tendency to grow in an outward direction, so that when the light comes from the left, as is shown by arrow, Fig. 5, the white of the eye at A1 will not be much shaded, and the light tone will run nearly up to the top. ”

“ "It would not be easy, indeed, to catch their expression, but their colour and shape, and the eyelashes, so remarkably fine, might be copied." ”

“ Next we examine the inner corner of the eye (nearest the nose) , where are the soft pink tear-ducts, which we touch in lightly with the pencil.
The outer corner of the eye forms a sharper angle, with the upper lid curving downward to meet the flesh of the lower lid and its corresponding upward curve.
Having sketched the shape of the eye as a whole, we might next return for a closers observation of the iris.
Is there anything in nature more lovely than the iris of the human eye? The liquid tint of blue, grey, or brown is like the luminous colouring of a strange flower. And it is colour. ”

“ Under the forehead are two eyebrows; if they are straight, it is a mark of a gentle disposition; the eyebrows bent down to the nose are an evidence of an austere temper; if they incline towards the temples, of a mocker and scoffer; if they are drawn down, it is a sign of an envious person. Beneath these are the eyes, which by nature are two in number: the parts of each eye are, first, the upper and under eyelid, the edges of which are furnished with hair. ”

“ But for you, the eye is more or less dimmed, wide-opened or closed; the lid twitches, the eyebrow moves; a wrinkle, which vanishes as quickly as a ripple on the ocean, furrows her brow for one moment; the lip tightens, it is slightly curved or it is wreathed with animation—for you the woman has spoken. ”

“ The brow is sometimes drawn back, so that the ball appears very prominent; the eye assumes to represent the whole soul, and seems to suppress the office of every other feature: there is then an imperialism in the eye which belongs to the grand and sublime. It moves slowly, calmly, and in curves through a sphere of moderate extent; the look is pleasing, very intelligent, and sometimes keen; the pupil is contracted, and the iris in a state of tension; the lustre is sometimes most dazzling; the brow is rather bent down, and not unfrequently indented. ”

“ Further, does it not appear to you wisely provided that since the eye is of a delicate make, it is guarded with the eyelid drawn back when the eye is used, and covering it in sleep? How well does the hair at the extremity of the eyelid keep out dust, and the eyebrow, by its prominency, prevent the sweat of the forehead from running into the eye to its hurt. ”

“ The long sunken eye-slits, whose outer corners curve down, so as to follow the lines of the brow-arches, give them an air of sleepy cunning, the eyebrows often overhanging as to form a den for the suspicious roving eyes. The lips are thick, broad, and pouting. The whole face seems dazed, and it is almost beyond mortal patience to see the heavy, slow, owlish way in which their head turns on its axis if anything attracts their attention. ”

“ The long, almond-shaped eye with thick eyelids covering nearly half of the pupil, when taken in connection with the full brow, is indicative of genius, and is often found in artists, literary and scientific men. It is the eye of talent, or impressibility. The large, open, transparent eye, of whatever color, is indicative of elegance, of [142] taste, of refinement, of wit, of intelligence. Weakly marked eyebrows indicate a feeble constitution and a tendency to melancholia. Deep-sunken eyes are selfish, while eyes in which the whole iris shows indicate erraticism, if not lunacy. ”

“ For the pupil and iris of the eye, the eyebrow, the nostril, and the lip are all set in dark on pale ground. You can't draw a white eyebrow, a white pupil of the eye, a white nostril, and a white mouth, on a dark ground. ”

“ Wrinkles at the eyes are abominable, and about the mouth. Eyebrows making one circle, if meeting, or close and straight, are equally bad. Those are good meeting the line of the nose, as if a double bridge. Eyes long, and wide between the eyebrows; and no wrinkles in the forehead when they laugh, or about the mouth, are signs of bad luck and duplicity. Eyes all zigzag are full of lies. A low, flat forehead is bad; so are uneven eyes, one larger than the other, or in constant motion. ”

“ In September, when I first saw him, his left eye was very much diminished in size, and the cornea studded with white spots; the vision very imperfect, and constantly discharging water. The right eye was so opaque that neither iris nor pupil was to be seen, and he could only see the shadow of an object. ”

“ A hard and harsh countenance—eyes far sunk under projecting eyebrows, which were grizzled like his hair—a wide mouth, furnished from ear to ear with it range of unimpaired teeth, of uncommon whiteness, and a size and breadth which might have become the jaws of an ogre, completed this delightful portrait. ”

“ The eyebrows sink down towards the middle of the forehead; the eyes [Pg 130] are almost closed, wet and drawn down towards the cheeks; the nostrils swelled; the muscles and veins of the forehead appear; the mouth is shut, and the sides of it are drawn down, making wrinkles in the cheeks; the under lip, pushed out, presses the upper one; the face is wrinkled and contracted; its colour is red, especially about the eyebrows, the eyes, the nose, and the cheeks. ”

“ The fine pencillings of the eye-brows, the curves immediately beneath the eyes, the superior contours of the cheeks, the line and shadow-line of the long, straight nose, the outlines of the lower parts of the countenance, the curlings of the small kissable lips and dainty chin, are all finely, unsurpassably symmetrical. ”

“ The same moderation should be exercised in making up the eyes and mouth. Brown on the lashes and eyebrows is softer than black, especially for blondes. Heavy black leading above and below, accentuated by broad shadows on the lids of dark blue, make them look like burnt holes a short distance away. Few eyes are large enough to stand it, and those that are, do not require it. A little light or dark blue close to the lashes of the upper lid is necessary, but very few eyes need any make-up at all on the lower lid, except a faint shadow, perhaps, of light blue. ”

“ There are a thousand physical transgressions that dim the lustre of the eye, or sink it too deep in the socket, or flatten it, or paint a circle round it. So of the face in general. There are a thousand forms of transgression that take away the carnation of the lip and cheek, and leave unnatural hues, not to say pimples and furrows, in its stead. ”

“ Our next care is the insertion of the eyes, which must be done while the eyelids are yet fresh. Some dexterity and skill are required in this operation, and on it will depend most of the beauty and character of the head. The seats of the eyes are supplied with a little cement, the eyes put in their place, and the eyelids properly drawn over the eyeballs; but if rage or fear are to be expressed, a considerable portion of the eyeballs must be exposed. ”