Steal This Adorable K-Drama Makeup Look

If you've seen the astronomically-popular Korean drama My Love From Another Star, you probably know that its beauty game is ridiculously off the charts. After all, Cheon Song Yi and Yoo Se Mi (the two female leads) are both actresses — so it only makes sense that they always walk into a room armed wearing immaculate warpaint. That said, they both have slightly different signature looks — leading lady Song Yi's daily look is ultra-simple, featuring a natural eye look and a bright pink lip, while her frenemy/love triangle rival Se Mi's is a bit more involved, featuring waterlined eyes and orange lipstick. Both looks are great, but today I thought I'd take my best shot at breaking down Se Mi's ever-so-slightly higher-impact look — because frankly, dark brown eyeliner and orange lippie are two things that need to be combined more often, IMHO.

Now, if you haven't watched the drama yet, Se Mi (played by Yoo In Na) is kind of the ingenue/villainess all rolled into one — think All About Eve. She comes off as sweet and reserved in the beginning, but as the drama wears on, it quickly becomes clear that she has a major chip on her shoulder — and you'd better believe she's prepared to kill Song Yi with kindness (though not literally — we can leave that to her unrequited love's older brother and his various hitmen. Yeah, it's kind of a long story).

The Base

• Foundation: For this, I'm returning to my trusty IOPE Air Cushion BB — it's perfect for achieving that bright, dewy look, after all.
• Blush: Se Mi uses pale pink blush to go with her ultra-girly aesthetic (Benefit Blush in Dandelion does nicely for the job).
• Brows: Her brows are fairly high-impact, yet they've still got that soft-focus look to them — so I'd go for a thicker brow look, using a powder to keep things natural. You may even want to color outside the lines a bit, to get her enviably voluminous look.

The Eyeshadow

Se Mi's eyeshadow tends to run quite natural/neutral — clean eyelids with a slightly defined crease (though she doesn't tend to use shadow above the crease, just right up to it). I swept a touch of a pale brown shadow (MAC Eyeshadow in Soba, something of a must-have for most K-drama-inspired looks) up to my crease line, and I finished with a smudging of dark brown shadow (Urban Decay in Darkhorse) on my upper lashline, making sure to emphasize the outer corners.

The Eyeliner

In most of the dramas I've been watching lately, the heroines tend to keep their eyeliner confined to the top lid only — not so with Se Mi. She routinely lines both her upper and lower waterlines with a dark brown pencil (I used Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliner in Demolition, my HG pencil liner of the moment). Using the dark brown pencil to waterline is nice, because it lends a nice pop to your eyes, while still keeping things on the more natural side.

Next, I added a thin stripe of gel liner (Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Liner in Caviar Ink) onto my upper lid, winging the line straight out (you could even try it winged slightly down, as is trendy in South Korea right now) — then I topped it all off with a single coat of mascara.

The Lips

Have fun with the lips — Se Mi tends to go for various shades of orange and bright pinks, so I went with one of my favorite summer shades (Sephora Rouge Cream Lipstick in We Have to Talk). Even though she usually sports high-impact colors, she blends them well, and tends to go for sheerer formulas, which gives her a more romantic vibe. To get the look, just apply your lipstick as normal, blot, then smudge with your fingers, and top it off with a clear-ish gloss. And there you go — just add some tears to your eyes, and you've got it!

Images: My Love From Another Star/DramaFever (4); Rosie Narasaki (4)