Your eyes are the most expressive part of your face. You can enhance the look of your eyes by applying eye shadow. The technique is not difficult. If you can master some basic steps in how to apply eye shadow, you can achieve beautiful effects that can rival even the top professionals in the beauty industry.
When you are doing your make-up, it is a good idea to work on your eyes first before you apply any foundation to your face. As you are applying your shadow, bits of powder may land on your face. If your face has a flawless layer of foundation on it, these specks of color can be irritating. So, apply a little bit of foundation onto the eye area first to prep it, apply the shadow, than set it with a gentle dust of powder.
Before you apply any shadow, it is important to understand how the different shades will affect the appearance of your eyes. Typically, the light colors will bring out the eye areas that are shallow. If there are prominent areas around your eyes that you wish to de-emphasize, applying darker colors will make those areas recede.
When you apply your colors, you want to blend the colors so that the light colors will smoothly and gradually transition to dark colors seamlessly. This is how you will shape your eyes.
Brushes produce better results than sponge applicators. A flat brush is good for applying a color over the whole eyelid. A dome-shaped brush is good for applying shadow on the crease of your lid and blending that outward. If you want a little shadow close to your lash lines or on your eyes’ inner corners, use a soft pencil brush. Using the correct brushes will give you better results.
Avoid loading your brush with too much powder, or else you will not be able to control the amount you apply. Removing extra eye shadow is troublesome. Always start with a little, then add on more until you get the desired effect.
Start with your lightest color. This can be a color close to your skin tone. Use your flat brush and apply this near your eye’s inner corner and above your lash line. This light color will highlight your eyes. You can apply this just under your eyebrow area, too.
Then, apply the medium color by patting on the powder with your flat brush. Go over your whole eyelid, from the top of the lashes to the crease, but not further out than that.
Next, use your dome brush to pick up your darkest color. You will contour your eyelid with it. Begin on your eye’s outer corner and blend into the crease in a circular motion. The color should be the darkest right above your lash line. Blend the color out and let it fade gracefully.
Finally, use a clean dome brush and blend all the colors together to soften the look. You should not be able to tell where one color begins or ends.
These are just the basic techniques on how to apply eye shadow. There are endless effects that you can explore by using different combination of colors. The important key is to blend well using the right brushes. With some experimentation, you can create different moods and effects suitable for every occasion.