Your goal with eye makeup should be to open up, lift, and make the eyes appear their most youthful and alluring. You want to take into consideration a few important things:
- eye shape
- eye color
Understanding your eye shape and color will help you choose colors and products (and product placement on the eye itself) that really enhances your natural beauty.
When it comes to basic eyeshadow application, you want to achieve two things:
1. Visually "pushing away" the areas you don't want to see and "bringing forward" the areas you want to emphasize.
2. Define and open up your eyes.
Proper eye makeup application will make your eyes appear more open and alert.
The techniques for eyeshadow application basically revolve around three components: a highlight color, midtone color, and a contour shade. The general rule to remember is that highlighting brings planes of the face (and eye) visually forward, while contouring is for darkening and receding areas. Though there are literally thousands of eyeshadow shades to choose from, for starters, use the three-shade application technique. It will enhance your most beautiful features and keep the focus on your eyes.
Your highlight shade is the lightest shade of the three shadows and everything you highlight visually comes forward. This shade can vary from more to less dramatic depending on the look you are going for. Matte finish eyeshadows are much more subtle than shimmery finishes. A good highlight shade I recommend is a neutral beige or light cream shade that borders on off-white. Once you've chosen a highlight color, apply it to your brow bone (the area immediately underneath the arch of your eyebrow) and your eyelid using a large flat eyeshadow brush. DO NOT apply this color from your lash line to your brow. In addition, add a little of this color to the tear duct area of your eye and along the inner one third of your lower lash line.
Next up is your midtone shade, which is generally a neutral brown that is a little darker than your skin tone. This shade is deeper than your highlight color but not as dark as your contour color. A good recommendation for a midtone shade would be MAC's soft brown, cork, or texture eyeshadows. These three are all midtone browns. This color is great for blending out the area between your lid and brow, providing a great transition for pretty much any color because it is neutral. You will apply this shade in the crease of your eye (the area right where the crease of your eyelid forms), from the outer corner of the eye inward, using a windshield wiper motion, combined with circular brush strokes. A great brush for this is a MAC #217 or #224 brush. Any rounded crease brush will work for applying this shade. Also sweep some of this color along your lower lash line.
Finally, there is the contour shade, which is used to create more dimension and give the eye more depth. This color would be darker than your midtone. Dark chocolate browns, black, or a deep purple are excellent shades for contouring the eye. I recommend MAC eyeshadows in espresso, carbon, and shadowy lady, for example. For contouring the eye, I use a smaller, pointier bristled crease brush such as the MAC #219 pencil brush to add precision definition in the outer "v" area of the eye using tight circular motions, almost dotting the dark color into that outer crease to create more depth. Your goal should always be to have a smooth graduation of color with no harsh lines. By layering your contour shade on top of your midtone shade and blending well, you will get that smooth, well-blended, defined look you want. You can also add some of the darkest shade along the lower lash line to define your eyes after applying eyeliner to the waterline or inner rim of the eye. You can use a smudge brush to blend that lower lash line to smoky perfection! Add mascara and you are ready to go, with eyes that pop and get alot of attention.
As with anything, perfect practice makes perfect when it comes to becoming proficient in eye makeup application. But over time, with the right tools, and consistency you will feel more comfortable. Start with neutral brown shades and progress to colors if you like. Makeup should be fun so don't be scared to play around with eyeshadows and see what looks you come up with!
