Karina's 'LEMONADE' Smoky Eye Is Cold, Sharp, and Actually Replicable

aespa's Karina posted behind-the-scenes shots from the LEMONADE comeback trailer ahead of the album's May 29 release, and the internet noticed one thing first: the eyes.

The look, a gray-toned smoky eye with liner extended in every direction and almost no color anywhere else on the face, landed hard enough that fans immediately cycled back to the group's long-standing nickname for her: AI beauty. It's a compliment, and a specific one. Karina in a bodysuit in front of a mannequin, makeup doing most of the emotional heavy lifting, the photo basically wrote its own caption.

The concept behind the makeup

aespa has leaned into a futuristic, metaverse-adjacent world since debut, and their makeup has always matched. The LEMONADE comeback trailer references past eras, Savage, MY WORLD, Armageddon, Whiplash, and hints at a fracture in that world. The makeup reflects the shift. Where previous comebacks leaned into warmer, more sensual smoky tones (think mocha smoky, dirty-core), LEMONADE strips all of that out. Black liner paired with grey, ash, and silver shadow. Skin, lips, and cheeks dialed back to near nothing. The result is colder, sharper, more artificial, which is exactly the point.

How the liner actually works

The standout technique is what Korean beauty fans call sa-bang teu-im, roughly, an "open" eye effect where liner extends in all four directions to make the eye look wider and longer without feeling closed off.

For the upper lid, the liner runs long toward the outer corner at a near-horizontal angle, no flick upward. The inner corner line drops slightly below the lash line to create the illusion of a wider inner corner.

The lower line is where it gets specific: the under-liner is drawn below the actual lower lash line, then extended until it runs roughly parallel to the upper line. That near-horizontal alignment on both sides is what gives Karina's eyes their stretched, cool, slightly unreal quality. It reads artificial in the best way, which is very much the aespa brand.

Building the shadow

The base is a warm beige across the lid to neutralize and prep. Then ash grey goes in at the outer corner for depth. Charcoal grey layers on top to build dimension. No shimmer, no warmth, just stacked cool tones getting progressively darker outward.

For an everyday version, swap the charcoal for soft grey and stop before it gets heavy. Apply under-liner from the outer corner to the center only, and blur the edges. Keep skin semi-matte and lips in a desaturated nude. The effect stays cool without tipping into editorial.

Taking it off properly

Heavy smoky eye makeup is the kind that punishes you if you're lazy about removal. Pigment builds up in the lash line and under-eye area, and scrubbing it off raw irritates skin that's already thin and sensitive around the eye.

The right move: soak a cotton pad with a dedicated eye makeup remover and hold it over the eye for at least ten seconds before doing anything. Let the product dissolve the makeup, then press gently downward, don't rub sideways. A cotton swab with remover can handle what's left between lashes and in the lower lash line. That step specifically prevents the leftover pigment from sitting under the eye and reading as dark circles by morning.

Follow with a cleansing oil or balm over the whole face, rinse with lukewarm water, then a second cleanse with a gentle low-pH wash. Anyone doing heavy eye makeup regularly should add an eye cream afterward, moisture plus targeted eye-area care cuts down on long-term pigment buildup and keeps the skin there from deteriorating under the weight of frequent liner use.

LEMONADE, aespa's second full-length album, releases May 29.