I’m pretty sure I’ve done one of these before, but it was a long time ago and I’m ready to give y’all some new tips on how to get you on top of your eye shadow game.
1. Use an eye shadow base and set it with powder before applying any color to your lid. I like to use MAC’s Soft Ocre Paint Pot on my bare eyelids as a base because it’s pretty close to my natural lid color. Then, I take an ivory colored shadow (’cause I’m super white) and sweep it over top. The base will make the eye shadows more true to color and vibrant, while the shadow makes it easier to blend out the other colors you want to use. If you have a darker complexion, you should use whatever colors are just a touch lighter than your skin color to create a blank canvas.
2. Use a transition color in your crease to help blend colors together. A transition color should be a neutral matte shadow into which you can blend your darker colors so that you don’t get raccoon eyeballs. My personal favorites are Makeup Geek’s Creme Brulee, Hipster (which has a little shimmer, but I love how cool toned it is), or shadows from my limited edition Tarte Bon Voyage Collectors Set. With the transition shade, you won’t need to keep bringing the dark color up higher toward your brow bone to blend it out. It’s kind of a barrier that tells you, “WHOA! Let’s stop with the dark now before you start to look like a crazy person!”
3. Always start with a little bit of product and build up to your desired darkness. Far too many times, I’ve packed black shadow onto a brush, only to have most of it end up on my cheeks, ruining my face makeup. If you allow yourself time to blend and build up the color, you’ll get less fall out, more seemless blending, and a better end result. Don’t get frustrated when your eye shadow isn’t as dark as you want it at first!
4. If you find that you are very heavy handed in your shadow application (i.e., where you first touch your brush to your eyelid is always darker and does not blend out well) try holding your brush closer to the end of the handle. By moving your grip further from the bristles, you will find that you aren’t able to apply as much pressure on your lid, which keeps from depositing too much color on one section of your lid. This will help so much with your blending, whether you are trying to blend colors together or just blending out your transition color. You can tell if you are applying too much pressure to your eyelid by how much it moves around while you blend. If your lid is moving around a lot, then you are applying too much pressure and you are not blending your eye shadow. Ease up a little bit; you want your brush to move a lot, moving the shadow around, not your eyelid.
5. Kind of along the same lines of depositing too much color, apply color (especially dark colors) to the outside corner of your eye first, then blend toward your inner corner. If you start with your color in the inner corner, you’ll deposit too much color and it will be hard to blend out. Really good eye shadow looks focus more color on the outside corner, elongating your eyes, whereas a lot of dark on the inner corner can make your eyes appear close together and smaller. There, of course, are plenty of examples of people who focus color on the inside corner, but those tend to be more “avant-garde” looks.
6. For any blending, use a fluffy brush. For packing on color more intensely, use a dense, flat brush. For your inner or outer corners, use a pencil brush. For the lower lash line, use a short, dense smudge brush. The bristle length, density, and shape will really dictate what the shadow is going to look like on your eyes. If you use the wrong tools, you’ll never be able to achieve your desired effect.
7. Sometimes your fingers are your best tools! If I’m applying a particularly shimmery shadow (like Makeup Geek’s Foiled Shadows) I like to pack the color onto my lid with my ring finger. Using my finger helps keep the intensity and integrity of the color. I can then use a fluffy brush to blend out the edges. I also like to use my finger for inner corner highlighting and sometimes to smudge my lower lash line.
8. If you are having a hard time blending colors together or blending out your edges, take a clean fluffy brush and blend. Do not add more of the colors you are trying to blend because they will end up just looking muddy and not cute. If you have a clean brush, it will do all the blending for you!
I know it might sound like a lot of steps, especially for you effortlessly beautiful ladies, but they are totally worth it. You will see such a difference in your eye shadow right away, if you follow these steps!
