I Recreated Ariana Grande's "34+35" Graphic Eye with Tips Straight From Her Makeup Artist

Ariana surprised us with a video for her track "34+35" off her latest project Positions last week, and like all other Ariana stans in the world, I’m still obsessing over the beauty looks. Quite literally, the looks were an eyeful—I’m talking about futuristic, graphic designs that popped on her eyelids, inspiring many a YouTube makeup tutorial. I admit, I’m no YouTuber but since I love a bold makeup look and all things Ariana, I decided to shoot my shot—but not before getting tips from the makeup artist who created the looks to begin with.

Michael Anthony was Ari’s key MUA on set and shared with me his inspiration behind some of the incredible glam moments. He, of course, shouted out the outfits that stylist Mimi Cutrell put together as inspo. Pink and lavender teddies, lab coats, and a retro robo ‘fit all played a role in coming up with innovative ideas like using nail art decals and different foil tapes he carries in his "bag of tricks" to make the chrome circuit board effect on Femme Bot Ariana. 

 "I used wax paper to assemble the circuit board and then placed different pieces on with lash glue until we got the perfect shape and size circuit board effect!" he explained. Impressive, no?

Well, listen to this other hack from Anthony if you’ve always wanted the pop star’s doll-like lashes: "I like to add a little bit of a lash, whether it be individuals or cutting half of a strip lash, especially for era looks where lashes play a large role. For this video, I used a combo of strip lashes that I cut into segments and arranged for slightly different effects."

The results speak for themselves, but since I can’t apply a strip lash to save my life nor do I own a "bag of tricks," I settled on recreating an eye look from the video that was actually my favorite and got Anthony excited to spill more. "The most expressive look is the dance sequence, where we used a white eyeliner that looks so good on Ari and makes so much sense in the mod, polka-dot set up," he told me. I’m always looking for bold eye makeup ideas that complement my big eyes since they’re my most prominent feature. The celebrity makeup artist was kind enough to break this one down for me.

"I did a traditional winged black liner and then followed that by doubling the line with a white liquid liner. I like to use waterproof liquid liners for wide graphic shapes so they don't transfer or need to be touched up during filming," he said. "I like to use a thin liner brush so I like more of a paint-like product like MAC PRO Acrylic Paint ($23) in white...Tom Ford's white eye pencil ($35) is great for tracing your shape before committing with a liquid as well." Noted! 

MAC Acrylic Paint $23.00

Shop

Another thing Anthony suggested is "to wing out to the end of the brow and leave enough negative space on the lid for the contrast to really show from a closeup to a wide shot."

Tom Ford Eye Kohl Intense - White Smoke $35.00

Shop

After Anthony shared his secrets, I attempted to do the look myself. I subbed in products that I already own that aligned with Anthony’s instructions—Kat Von D Super Pomade Vegan Eyeliner ($20) in white and a Fenty Beauty eyeliner that is no longer available (but I suggest Stila's Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner ($22), which I swear by for all my cat-eye looks). The results below:

I want to note that I did use the word "attempt" before starting this experiment, so I’m pleasantly surprised at these selfies. While my eye isn’t as clean as Grande’s (hello, she had a pro), it’s a lewk if I do say so myself. If I could just be a fly-on-the-wall for Anthony’s next glam sesh with Grande since, as he puts it, it was "a vibe," then maybe I’d absorb one-tenth of his skills. And yes, that was a shameless way of asking to be invited to Ariana’s next glam session.