Starting Off: Eyeshadow
So this week we enter the world of eyeshadow!
There are SO many different ways to apply eyeshadow, and with so many colours and finishes to choose from it would take such a long time to go over everything, so I will be giving a brief description on colours, finishes, formulas and some of my favourites to keep it fairly quick!
If you are brand new to applying eyeshadow you need to start off with brushes (not the little foam applicators that come with eyeshadow). A lot of people own a lot of different brushes for applying it, but at the end of the day you only really need 3, as with these three you can pretty much create any look while only using these 3 brushes.
You do not need the same brands I have here below, these are just some of my favourites. The top and bottom are Sigma brushes and the middle one is a Real Techniques brush.
The top one is quite a dense flat brush which are best for applying colour. To use this what I do is pat the brush into the shadow on one side of the brush (you don’t need to use both sides), tap off the excess so you don’t get little bits of eyeshadow down your face (also known as fallout) and then apply it to your eyelids in a patting motion. Sweeping it will give a more sheer colour application and you are a lot more likely to get fallout from it.
The middle brush is used for blending out the shadow. Whether you have just used one colour, or 14 colours, I feel it is always important to blend the edges so you don’t have any harsh lines or little pockets of more intese colour. It’s also fabulous for blending colours together to give a lovely gradient effect between them.
The bottom brush is known as a pencil brush, and these brushes are used for applying colour to a very specific area of the eye. This could be a very dark colour to your outer corner to create a smoky eye, or a very light colour onto the inner corner of the eye as a highlight, or even if you wanted to use it to apply colour as a liner if you didn’t want a harsh line.
One of the most important things before applying any sort of eyeshadow, but especially the darker and brighter colours, is to prime the eyes.
This means you start with clean, dry eyelids and then use a product to help the colour stand out more, and also stay on longer.
A lot of brands have their own primers now, but I find in general that most of them still crease and don’t hold the shadow on all day…. until I started with this combination and find it works perfectly for me. I use the Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and then a MAC Paint Pot on top (the one here in the picture is the shade Painterly).
The MAC paint pots are basically small pots of cream eyeshadow you can apply on their own or under other colours. They can give amazing colour payoff, but do be careful with them creasing and you will need a good primer under it.
As for the standard powder eyeshadow, there are so many colours to choose from it can be hard knowing where to start, what sort of finish you want, and what will suit you. My best advice to you…. experiment! It’s the single best way to find out what colours and styles work for you best.
Neutral shades are the most popular and are the easiest to work with, they are also the most wearable for every day. My favourite set of neutral shades is my Urban Decay Naked Palette (ignore the fact it’s a little old now – and very well loved).
To apply these for an every day look I would apply the colour on the very left onto the inner corner of my eye, then one of the other paler shades across my whole eyelid, and then one of the darker colours into the outer corner and blend it all to give a subtle brown smoky look.
This palette is £37 to buy and I do love it as you can see, but I recently bought this palette by MUA which was a grand total of £4! This is a great dupe for the Urban Decay Naked Palette if you don’t want to dish out nearly £40.
Both of these palettes give a good range of shades if you want a good mix of different browns and neutrals to create a few different looks with.
I want to add this one in also as a sort of neutral shade. It is my favourite ever eyeshadow.
At first glance it looks like a deep brown, but when swatches you get the most amazing green sheen from it. It’s from Too Faced and the colour is Label Whore. It’s so pigmented you need the tiniest amount (the swatch shown is one swipe with my finger), and can be used in brown smoky eyes, or used to deepen up other colours.
As a final point I want to mention about brighter colours.
A lot of people stick to neutral shades as they feel like they can’t pull off a brighter colour, or feel it would look silly. Again if you experiment and practice you may find there are shades you will happily wear you never would have though possible before!
As an example I used this colour called “Electric Purple” to show you how wearable some of the brighter colours can be. (You don’t need to go this bright if you aren’t comforable with it, I just used a really bright one as an example).
I created this the other day to be able to show you that it is possible to wear bright colours on a daily basis if you want to, and not to be scared of colour!
Sorry this one is a little blurry, funnily enough, couldn’t see what I was doing!
The main thing I will say when using very bright or dark colours, is make sure you add that tiny highlight onto your inner corner, add a slightly darker shade in your crease (top of your eye socket) or outer corner of your eye, and then just make sure it’s all well blended!
I find putting black eyeliner on helps too, as I feel that’s what suits me!
I hope you found this helpful! Are you guilty of sticking with neutral shades or do you like the bright ones too? Are you going to try brighter colours now? I hope so!
Let me know in the comments below!
Hayfa
October 15, 2013 at 6:00 pmHehe we have very similar taste in terms of eyeshadows 🙂 Gorgeous pallets!
Hayfa
londonloafers.blogspot.com
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 6:02 pmI just noticed this as I’m reading your blog just now! 😀
Loving the look of your Sleek ones!
x
Laura
October 15, 2013 at 6:13 pmI love bright colors and I’m just now discovering that natural colors are fun too 😀
Laura
Pink Frenzy
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 6:15 pmYay for bright colours! 😀 Not enough people experiment and play about with colour I find! 🙂 xx
Hannah
October 15, 2013 at 6:25 pmOy my god, bright colours look so amazing on you…I really wish I could pull them off!! What colour would you recommend as easing in the colour?!?
Hannah xxx
http://adayinthelifeofanortherngirl.blogspot.com
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 6:33 pmAww thank you! You can pull the colours off! 😀 All you need is to play around and experiment and see what you do and don’t like 🙂
If you want to ease in, try maybe a brown with a slightly reddish/purpley tinge to it, and then get a different colour which compliments it (either more red/berry or more purple) and start adding colour to it and see at what point you like it! Black eyeliner ALWAYS makes the colour look better on me though, so try this too! 🙂 x
Hannah
October 15, 2013 at 7:32 pmAw thank you for the tips. I never thought of a reddy/purple colour. Will definitely try some out when the spending ban is over. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.
Hannah xxx
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 7:57 pmSee on the picture of the Naked palette, the third one in from the right? Even start off with one with just a hint of purple like that one and build up from there! 🙂 xx
Lianne
October 15, 2013 at 6:27 pmSuch a fab post hun – love how detailed it is!
Lianne | TheBrunetteSays…
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 6:34 pmThank you! I used to worry it was too long, but people seem to enjoy my ramblings haha! 🙂 x
Rebecca Sheen
October 15, 2013 at 6:35 pmI love all your eyeshadows! That purple looks Soo good on you!
Rebecca x
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 6:36 pmThanks! It’s quite bright I know, I just wanted to prove that anyone can wear colour! 🙂 x
Laurie
October 15, 2013 at 6:51 pmI love this tutorial review post it was great! Thabks for sharing your advice.
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 6:55 pmThank you for your lovely comment! 🙂
astrid
October 15, 2013 at 6:52 pmlove the eyemakeup!! i love my naked palettes aswell 🙂
astridlammua.blogspot.com
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 6:57 pmAww thank you.
The naked palettes are amazing aren’t they! I really want the second one but can’t justify it as I have the first one lol x
katie
October 15, 2013 at 7:17 pmbrilliant post!! I love your step by step process! I never use eye primers they any good?
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 7:20 pmThanks! 🙂
Some primers are good, some really arent lol.
I love the two I showed, and the Smashbox one is fab too! I wouldn’t be without a primer now 🙂 x
Megan
October 15, 2013 at 7:31 pmI love Label Whore so much! It’s one of my favorite sort of “holographic” eyeshadows! So beautiful and well pigmented! I still haven’t bought any of the Naked palettes. I don’t do enough neutral looks to justify spending that much on that many browns, tans and coppers. But I’ve seen the MUA Undress Me Too palette, and I love that one for some reason! It’s weird!
This is a lovely post with great info! I love the sparkly background you take your photos on! Super cute! xx
Megan | Little Miss Average
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 8:00 pmIt’s such an amazing colour isn’t it! It’s the only shadow I have totally fallen in love with from first swatch! I think because it is so versatile even though it’s still a “statement” shadow! 🙂
I love my naked palette as it’s great for really fast makeup or for work! 🙂
Thanks! I was wanting something a bit different so went for sparkles! 😀
xx
Angelica
October 15, 2013 at 7:53 pmOuuuu I have the same MUA Pallete and I love it!
My gosh a soon as I saw that electric purple I was a bit worried but it looks lovely on you!
LFA (lovefromangelic) Xx
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 8:02 pmI was surprised it’s taken me this long to get the MUA palettes to be honest! For the price they are fab!
Haha I do wonder how many people panicked when they saw the colour of it before seeing it on! 🙂
xx
Liz
October 15, 2013 at 8:54 pmCan’t believe that MUA palette was £4! It looks really expensive. Never tried any of their products so am going to have a look when I’m shopping next!
Liz xx
http://www.theotherdress.co.uk
Kammitted
October 15, 2013 at 9:00 pmIt’s superdrugs own brand! Their lippies are only £1 and I love them too! 😀
They really are awesome for the price!!
xx
Raspberrykiss
October 16, 2013 at 1:28 amTotally lusting after Painterly now! xo
Kammitted
October 16, 2013 at 1:44 amYou should it’s a beautiful product! That’s my second pot of it! 🙂 It’s a matte finish, if you want one very similar but with a shimmer finish then go for Bare Study! (Another favourite of mine!) x
popcosmo
October 16, 2013 at 3:11 amOoh, I’ll have to check and see if we have MUA here in the US – definitely looks like a bargain and the colors are fantastic!!! Your tutorial is great and I’m needing help with eyeshadows. This was fantastic!
Kammitted
October 16, 2013 at 3:21 amThey are such great palettes for the price! It’s amazing what you can get for just £4 in the makeup world!
Thank you so much for the kind words, I am really glad you found it helpful! 🙂 x
Tania
October 16, 2013 at 2:23 pmThe Naked pallette is something I keep seeing and I am slowly falling in love with it, so may have to buy it and give it a try 🙂
Kammitted
October 16, 2013 at 4:35 pmIt’s not the cheapest but it’s so worth it! 🙂 x
Abbey Worrallo
October 16, 2013 at 5:07 pmGreat post Kammi! I own all these brushes but have never actually known what they are for so thankyou 🙂 check out mine today too xxx
Kammitted
October 16, 2013 at 5:36 pmThank you! 🙂 Ahhh hopefully it has helped you then! 🙂 Will check yours out now! x
Ebony Jay
October 16, 2013 at 6:10 pmWonderful post! I love that you go into such great detail when you do these post (:
Kammitted
October 16, 2013 at 6:17 pmAww thank you lovey! That’s so kind! Yeah I do tend to waffle on a bit 😛 x
angie h
October 16, 2013 at 9:33 pmthank you for this amazing intro! i’ve always been just a base girl or a light wash of eyeshadow girl but it’s wonderful seeing brush recs and such.
Kammitted
October 16, 2013 at 9:41 pmThank you for the lovely comment! I am glad you found it helpful! You should play around with colours and see what you like! That’s how I learned 🙂 x
Sheen
October 19, 2013 at 10:40 pmThose brushes look lovely- totally want to get the Mua palette aswell!
The eyeshadow compliments your eyes beautifully 🙂
Kammitted
October 19, 2013 at 10:48 pmI love both my Sigma and my Real Techniques brushes!
The MUA palette was a new discovery for me, but it was only £4! Could not get over that lol. Such a bargain! 🙂
Thank you 🙂 x
Beauty Book Blog – Starting Off: Makeup Tools
October 29, 2013 at 6:33 pm[…] the face is done we have eyes! I went into detail how to use each of the following brushes in the Starting Off: Eyeshadow post I did for this series, but as a quick […]