The eyes have it — do Japanese girls’ makeup skills hinge on one essential feature?

Japanese makeup aficionados are all about the eyes, but do they really make such a big difference to your look? Let’s see what Twitter says!

We love those amazing before-and-after comparisons that lots of Japanese girls post online showing the contrast between their suppin (bare) face and their made-up one. It’s no secret that Japanese women put a lot of faith into their makeup, with many going to great lengths just to avoid the embarrassment of being caught bare-faced in public. Some even slip on a surgical mask just to nip to the nearest convenience store if they haven’t had chance to put on their makeup.

But a new doodle doing the rounds on Twitter suggests that there’s only so much that masterful makeup skills can do to transform your face. In fact, the whole look can hinge on one make-or-break key feature. Yep, we’re talking about the eyes! Those born without the epicanthic folds characteristic of most East Asians can find all this fuss about eyes to be, well, a little bit odd. From double eyelid surgery in South Korea to eyelid tape in Japan, there’s a whole industry out there built around the prevailing opinion amongst Asian ladies that when it comes to eyes, bigger is better. Monolids in particular are considered to be something which needs “correction” through surgery or cosmetic intervention (even though to many non-Asians, monolidded eyes are just gorgeous.) With so much of Japanese make-up trickery focusing on making eyes bigger, what on earth happens if you’ve already got “perfect” eyes, but your other features aren’t on point?

Let’s take a look at the aforementioned doodles. The first picture, titled “The eyes are ugly” shows how a stereotypically pretty face with characteristic monolids can become mega-gorgeous simply by making up the eyes in the current popular fashion.

The second picture is titled “Everything but the eyes is ugly”, and shows a woman with a less stereotypically pretty face, but with natural eyes which already fit the current beauty norms.

As you can see, no amount of makeup can make her as conventionally pretty as the first girl. We suppose this might be comforting to women who harbour insecurities about their eyes, but we think it’s also just a teensy bit unfair to the second category.

Still, no need to worry if you’re the second girl, since you can just throw on one of those flu masks and bewitch everyone with your scintillating gazes. Just make sure it’s a pink one! Another Twitter user knocked up another version of the cartoon with a flu mask over the face of the second girl to demonstrate this exact point.

ここにマスクだと思う ↓原画↓ @hrsmc6 勝手にごめんなさい(〃・д・) -д-))ﾍﾟｺﾘﾝ http://twitter.com/hrsmc6/status/… https://t.co/GX3AqWMfRn
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りゅーじゅ@ぺたー↑の絵描きマン (@juuuuukun0201) February 18, 2016