Friday, March 29
Shadow

How to Apply Eyeshadow – A Complete Guide

Eyeshadow has mixed feelings among people. Some love eye shadow, others hate it. Others want to use eye shadow but do not really know how to apply it in a nice way.

Most women love the look of the eyeshadow but avoid using it themselves because they are afraid that it will look “too much”.

The truth is that it depends on how you apply your eye shadow and you do not have to be a makeup professional to use it.

Whether you choose subtle eye shadow or dramatic gold and glitter can really make a huge difference to how your eyes and look look.

The darker shadows enhance the depth of the eye and can make them look more dramatic and vibrant, while the lighter shadows play on how the light hits your eyelids, brightens the eyes and gives your look an enlightening touch.

Here are our top tips for applying eye shadow!

1. Choose a color that suits you

If you are a beginner who is just starting to learn how to apply eyeshadow, you probably do not want to mix with eyeshadows in several colors.

Instead, we recommend that you choose a color and continue to use it until you have learned the basics.

Traditionally, brown eye shadow is considered to be the safest and easiest eye shadow color to start with for beginners. You will also have no problem finding brown eye shadows around.

Alternatively, if you have warm undertones on your skin, you can also try a maroon color scheme for your eye shadows. This is trendy and also very portable, even for beginners.

To find out what your undertone is, look at the underside of the wrist. If your veins look more blue, you will probably have cold undertones. If your veins look green, you probably have warm undertones.

2. Apply the transition all over the lid

Use an eyeshadow brush and run it over your transition shadow to make sure it grabs enough pigment.

If you plan to spend some time and effort learning how to apply eye shadow, it is a good idea to get yourself a set of eye makeup brushes. There are many affordable choices of good quality from online stores or pharmacies.
If you are simply curious and do not yet know if you want to invest in eye shadows, you can start by applying eye shadows with your fingers.

Every time you use a brush in an eyeshadow powder, always make sure you shake off the excess. Simply tap the handle of your brush against any hard corners, such as the edge of the table or even the edge of your eyeshadow palette.

If you do not remove the excess powder from the brush, there is a risk that all that powder will end up on your eyelids and on your cheeks and the rest of your face. This is of course something you want to avoid.

Use your powder coated brush over your eyelids, but make sure you do not go all the way up to the eyebrows! Leave at least one small strip of natural skin color under the eyebrows.

For beginners who are learning to apply eye shadows, we recommend that you leave a larger space between the eye shadow and the eyebrows. You get a smaller canvas to work with, but it also means that any mistakes will not be reinforced or made clearer.

3. Apply darker color on the outer part of the eyelid

Take some of your darker color with a small brush and apply it lightly on the outer corners of the eyelid.
The conventional way to apply these darker eye shadows is in the form of an “outer V”.

The V-stretch extends outwards and upwards from the outer corner of the eye. Note that the upper part of the V is much lighter and thinner than the bottom, so apply with a much lighter hand with it.

Start with three colors

From the color scheme you have chosen yourself, you must now find an eyeshadow palette that contains at least three shades of that color.
The middle tone should be very close to your natural skin tone, or just a tone darker than that. This is usually called the “transition shadow”.

The lighter shade should be significantly lighter than the transition shade.
The intensity of the darker shadow or “contour shadow” can vary. The darker it is, the more dramatic your appearance will be.

If you want a natural look, we recommend that you only choose one shade or one darker or two darker than your transition shade.

5. Eyeshadow primer

Although this step is technically optional, we recommend that you invest in a good eyeshadow primer.
These are available to buy at affordable prices, so it is a well worthwhile investment. but it makes a huge difference in your eyeshadow experience.

What eyeshadow foundation does is that they create a slightly stickier surface on the eyelid, which will hold the eyeshadow better.

This means that your eye shadows will be more pigmented, as more of the powder may remain on the eyelid.
Having a layer that holds your eye shadow in place also means that it gets so oily gliding around so much.

Of course, eye shadow primer also helps to lengthen your island longevity and helps it live longer.

Some eyeshadow primers are also colored in a pink-white formula. The color acts as a color enhancer, which makes your eyeshadow colors look more vivid after application!

6. Apply the light color to the inner sleeve and your ball

With your more marked color, use another brush and start using it on the inner edge of your eye shadow as well as your inner corner.

A brighter inner corner usually makes the eyes look more awake and open. With the same color, you can also brush some of the brightness of that strip between your transition shadow.
This creates the illusion that your “headboard” is more defined, which again makes your eyes look deeper.