Every morning I wake up, brush my teeth, wash and moisturize my face, put tiny pieces of tape on my eyes, then do the rest of my makeup. Whoa, whoa, whoa! You put tape on your eyelids?! Yes, you read that right. I religiously, voluntarily put tape (sometimes I switch it up and use glue) on my eyelids prior to eyeshadow or eyeliner. This concept might be a foreign one to many, but this secret is extremely common to millions of girls who were born with mono-lids or uneven eyelids, like me.

At this point, some might already be confused by the terminology mono-lid. Let me explain. A mono-lid, also known as a single eyelid, looks like this:

On the contrary, the (oh so desirable) double-eyelid looks like this:

That small crease does wonders to one's eyes. Here is a side-by-side comparison:

The double-eyelid tape and glue have become a staple in many girls' makeup bags. However, it is only one part of the big-eyes craze sweeping all of Asia. Eyelid tape or glue are the cheap (and safe) alternatives to getting blepharo­plasty -- or, in simpler words, double-eyelid surgery. In addition to this, many Asian women are getting eyeliner tattoos (my aunts included), and who could forget the amazing circle lenses?

There are so many western outlets reporting on these different Asian crazes that just don't seem to understand why exactly we go through the trouble of putting contacts in our eyes even though we have perfect vision. Or why we spend time putting almost microscopic pieces of tape on our eyelids. Almost all of them report something along the lines of, "The New Asian Craze! Surgeries To Look More Western!

How about we take a step back now. Millions of women in Asia are not gluing their eyelids to appeal to Westerners. They're trying to appeal to Asian standards of beauty. Not to mention, a good chunk of surgeries aren't even for beauty-related reasons. Many women get these surgeries because their eyelids sag so low and interfere with their daily lives.

I, for example, only started using eyelid tape because my left eye had a double-eyelid, while my right eye had a mono-lid. I simply wanted to even them out. I didn't go on Amazon to order the tape and glue with the thought, "Oh boy, this is totally going to make me look Caucasian!" That's absurd.

I started using the tape and glue about four years ago -- my eyes are pretty much permanently even. However, I started using them regularly a few months ago once again because I decided I wanted higher creases. Not because I wanted to look white, but just because I wanted to define my personal look. With higher creases, the possibilities of different makeup looks are so much broader!

I willingly put tape on my eyelids every morning because I want to put tape on my eyelids, not because I'm trying to look less Asian.