Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio D

I don't mean to brag (okay, I do) but I can play a mean two-part invention on the piano. Why is it, then, that when it comes to applying eyeliner, I am completely butterfingered? In spite of detailed and patient instruction from the world's best makeup artists, I always wind up with a situation that might generously be called inequitable distribution.

My problem appears to have been solved, though, by the new Clarins 3-Dot Liner ($26; clarinsusa.com). The tiny applicator brush at the end of the pen has three points, which I dot along my upper lashline; the result looks like a continuous line, very neat and consistent. Brillante!