Creating an Everyday Look
Find the crease of your eye. Depending on the shape of your eyelid, you may have a pronounced crease or a subtle one, but everyone has a crease in their eyelid. To find it, close your eyes half-way, then pull lightly up on your lid.
Cover the whole lid in your base color. Choose a base color that works well for your eye color and/or skin tone, and dip your brush into it. Swipe the brush across the whole lid, following the crease you found in the previous step for your upper boundary. Don’t apply color above the crease — it’ll look strange!
Choose your second color. A color that’s slightly darker than your base shade will work best. This is the color that you’ll apply in the crease to create the illusion of shadow and depth. Rub your brush on a towel or paper towel before dipping it into your second shade to prevent getting the first color into the palette for your second color.
Apply the second color. Beginning at the outer corner of your eye, run the brush along the crease that you found in the first step. Make sure you apply this color evenly along the crease, but don’t bring the color all the way down to the inner corner of your eyelid. Don’t worry if there’s a stark contrast between the two colors at this point — it should look a little strange at this point.
Clean your brush or choose a new one. Because you want to blend together the makeup that’s already on your eyelid, not add more makeup to the mix, make rub the brush against a clean cloth or paper towel in order to remove any remaining makeup from the bristles. A towel works a little better because of its rough texture, but paper towels don’t require washing.
Blend the center of the lid. Beginning once more at the outer corner of the eyelid, make small circles with your brush, moving inward until you've reached the center of your eyelid. Repeat this process from the inner corner of the eye. Although you should not be dragging your base color up into the crease color, you should be mixing the two colors gently with your circular brush motions.
Blend the crease color. Move your brush back and forth across the crease of your eye like a windshield wiper, blending the color horizontally. Gradually move the brush downward toward the base color, keeping the brush moving in the same back-and-forth motion. Again, you should be gently drawing the crease color down into your base color, blending them together.
Continue both blending processes until you're satisfied. Switch back and forth between blending the base color up with small, circular motions and blending the crease color down with sweeping back-and-forth motions until you can no longer see a stark distinction between the two colors. Don’t over-blend, or you’ll end up with overly dark, smudgy eyelids.
Check your makeup. Especially when you’re starting out, you might apply too much makeup and end up looking a little clownish. If you apply too much eye shadow, lightly dab at the excess eye-shadow with a piece of Kleenex or a cotton swab. If you’re very unhappy and would like to start over, remove the makeup with makeup wipes or with eye makeup remover and a cotton swab, and begin again with a clean canvas.
Always make sure your brushes are clean. This is the most important step for blending eye shadow properly. While you could use anything from your fingers to a tip to blend your eye shadow, clean brushes will result in a flawless blending effect. Spritz your brush with a daily cleanser every time you use it. Just spray it onto the brush and let it dry; this will prevent bacteria from growing in the bristles. Once a week, give your brushes a deep cleaning by using a gentle shampoo on it. Run the brushes under warm water to rinse out leftover makeup. Fill a bowl with lukewarm water and a gentle shampoo or brush cleaner. Swirl your brush around in the water, dabbing it against the bottom of the bowl to separate the bristles. Rinse it under running water, repeating the process until no more makeup-colored water runs off the brush. Gently pat the bristles dry with a cloth or towel, then let them air dry.
Creating a Dramatic Look
Choose your colors. For a dramatic, smoky look, you’ll need four colors that will be blended together to draw attention to your eyes. Though you can choose specific shades to your liking, you’ll need one black shadow, a dark brown shadow, a medium brown, and a highlight color that’s fairly close to your natural skin tone. Beyond that, you’ll need a fifth color that will serve as the base color for your lid. For the four blending shades, choose matte-finish products that blend more smoothly than shimmery products. Make eyeshadow more pigmented to add to the dramatic look.
Apply the dark brown eye shadow. Using a thin, stiff dome brush that’s good for buffing and blending, create a diagonal line that goes from the outside corner of the eye to the outside corner of the lid’s crease. It should be a very short line. Begin pulling the shadow inward onto the lid, but not further than a quarter of the way across the lid. The color should be darker at the outside edges of your eyelids and fade as it moves inward. You should create a “C” shape on the outside corner of your eyelid — sweeping in a little bit in the crease and at the lash-line.
Apply the medium brown eye shadow. Using the same brush, apply the medium brown shadow in a sideways, windshield-wiper motion just above the crease of your eyelid. It should see like you’re brushing the bottom of the bone in your eyebrow.
Apply and blend the highlight color. The highlight color should not draw a lot of attention to itself, but is used to complement the heavier colors beneath it by providing a contrast. As such, don’t go nuts matting it onto your face. Using the same brush, apply it to the area between the medium color and your eyebrow. Use small circular motions to subtly blend it into the medium color below it. You should not be able to see a distinct line between the medium brown and the highlight color.
Apply and blend the black shadow. For this color, you need more precision, so use a smaller brush that you used for the three previous shades. Apply the black shadow in exactly the same area and shape as the dark brown shadow you applied first. Because you’re using a smaller brush this time, you should be able to see the dark brown color around the edges of the black shadow. Switch back to the larger brush to blend the colors together and soften the effect. Apply more dark brown over top the edges of the black if you need extra help softening the disparity between the colors. Keep buffing the outer corner of your eye in a “C” shape until the two colors have blended together in a natural way.
Apply the base color. You can use any color you’d like on the center of your eyelid, but apply the product using a flat brush instead of a stiff dome brush for blending, use a flat brush that’s better for packing the powder onto your skin. Apply the powder to the flat side of the brush. Press the flat side onto the eyelid to apply the powder. Don’t cover the darker color you applied earlier to the outer edges of your eyes.
Blend the colors one last time. Switching back to your dome brush for blending, gently buff the darker outside corner of the eye toward the base color, using small circular motions to blend out the distinct line separating them. Keep blending any parts of the eyelid that seem to have sudden changes in color rather than gradual transitions.
Choosing the Right Colors
Match your eye shadow to your eye color. Choosing the right color of shadow can draw out the beautiful tones in your eyes and really make them pop. Light, cool eyes (blue, gray): use warm colors to contrast against the cool color of your eyes. Don’t apply heavy, saturated colors, though, as they might overwhelm your natural coloring. Brown eyes: you have a lot of options, because brown is a neutral color that works well with a variety of shades. You can use tan shades to subtly draw out the color of your eyes, or use dark or bright shades for a striking contrast. Green eyes: purples, pinks, and rusty reds will highlight the beauty of your eye color.
Match your shadow to your skin tone. You skin is the canvas for your eye shadow, so you have to make sure that you’re choosing shades that will work well with the color of your skin. If you have dark skin, avoid white and ashy shades, as they often seem to go on invisible over dark skin. If the color coming through from your skin below doesn’t bring out the best in your shadow, it will look dull and lifeless on your eyes. Opt instead for deep and vibrant shades. Dark skin can hold up to a bold statement like shimmering gold or silver, or deep purple shades. If you have light skin, avoid grays and silvers, as they can draw out a sallow complexion in your skin. Deep, saturated colors might overwhelm your complexion, so avoid those as well. Instead, choose sheer colors that go on light and subtly highlight your eyes.
Take the event and time of day into consideration. If you’re going to work or running errands during the day, you might look like you’ve overdone it if you wear dark, heavy colors. During the day, either keep your colors fairly close to your natural skin tone, or use very light applications of colors that draw out your eye color. However, if you’re going to a big party or out to a club, go big! Go for dramatic shades that draw attention to your face.
Don’t try to match your eye shadow to your outfit. The makeup on your eyelids should be used to enhance your eyes, not your outfit. Matching your eye shadow to your outfit might look too match-y, and will draw attention away from your face to your clothes. You want your eyes to shine through, not your outfit.
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