How to Apply Eyeshadow Step by Step (Beginner Friendly Video)

How to Apply Eyeshadow Step by Step (Beginner Friendly Video)

Hello, lovelies, have you ever wanted to know how to make your eyeshadow game flawless? Eyeshadows come in various textures and colors and can be used to achieve just about any look from making the eyes more attractive to adding depth and dimension. And makeup artists seem to have mastered the eyeshadow game; they are worshipped for their blending and highlighting techniques. So, herein are a few tips from three YouTube Makeup artists LauraLee, Christine Dominique and Brianna Fox to help you apply eyeshadow like a professional:

Select the right palette

Choose an eyeshadows palette that has a wide variety of shades you can play with. There are no rules when it comes to makeup, so you will be trying different shades from time to time to find out which ones are best for your skin tone and eye color. So, make sure the palette has various kinds of shades ranging from dark to light.

Familiarise yourself with different parts of the eye

Learn the various terms used to refer to parts of the eye, so when you are told what products to put where you are comfortable doing so, cram as many eye terms as you can into your beautiful mind.

Familiarise yourself with the range of colors in your palette.

According to your skin tone and color of the eyes, which palette shades are the darkest, medium, and lightest for you. Categorizing palette shades this way is vitals since lighter shades are used for highlighting areas of the eye. Medium colors are used for blending between the darkest and lightest areas of the eyes, and darker shades are used for adding depth, dimensionality, intensity, and drama!

Get the right tools and learn how to use them

When it comes to blending, avoid densely packed brushes. The best blending brushes are fluffy and clean. So, get your mitts on a brush with bristles that are a little bit freer towards the top. For lid colors, however, fluffy brushes are a no-no! Fluffy brushes make lid colors fly all over the face.

Top recommended blending brushes include the tapered Signa Beauty Small Blending Brush, Morphe M5O7, Morphe M433 Pro Firm, to mention a few.

Now that you are set with your eyeshadow palette and brushes, here’re the steps to getting a flawless eyeshadow:

Step 1: clean up brow and prime the eye

One question, you lovelies always ask is what to do to make the eyeshadow appear vibrant and longer-lasting, the answer is clean up your brow and prime the eye. Failure to prime your eyes may leave some oils on your skin that, if mixed with the eyeshadow, makes it difficult to blend, and your eyes won’t stand out as you’d like to.

Some people ask whether they should go with a primer or a concealer. According to Ms. Christen, it depends on your skin concerns. Primers are good for fixing large pores, but they may leave your skin dry. Concealers, on the other hand, are a little bit more hydrating than primers. Top Recommended Primers include Pro Long Wear Paint Pot, Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and Mac Painterly PAINT Pot. For concealers, Tart Shape Tape Contour and the Maybelline Master Concealer are the best brands.

To make the colors pop and keep your brow looking clean, take a brush and some concealers and clean the area underneath your eyebrows extending all over the lids. Using a beauty blender, work the concealer into your in-bouncing motions then give it a minute or two before setting the powder base.

Step 2: Set the powder base

The eyelid has a lot of indentations and superfine line which make eyeshadow blending a bitch! You can see these lines if you look closely at your eyelid. So, use a translucent powder or an eyeshadow that is similar to your natural skin tone and set the primer with it.

What the powder base does is it fills any line so the shadow seats on top of a smooth surface, kind of a smooth canvas; it’s going to help your brush glide into your eyelid smoothly.

Step 3: Create a Gradient

Eyeshadow gradients, everyone is into these sultry looks. They make one feel and look like a movie star. Makeup artists are worshipped for their gradient, creating techniques, and the secret lies in transition shades. Transition shades make everything look more natural than just color on the lid.

If you want to create a gradient, don’t go in with darker shades, these are a bit harsh and make blending difficult, warns YouTube Makeup expert Christine Dominique Use transition shades instead. Transition shades help create beautiful gradients on the crease, making it look nice and airy – airbrushed.

For a nice gradient, you are going to have to use more than one shade. So, start with a light shade, pick it up using a fluffy brush, tap off the excess, then apply it above the crease (the area that others see when the eye is open). Next, pick a slightly darker shade than the first one, using the same brush, tap of the excess, go into your crease and apply it right below the first shadow, use light pressure, and slowly build up that intensity.

For a flattering look, keep the inner corners of your eyes bright using lighter shades that keep the dark shadows from transferring towards the inner areas of the eye.

Step 4: Add Dimension

To add dimension, use a darker shade, probably something matte. heStart on the outer corner of your eye but do not go in with a lot of product in a big fluffy brush. This is only going to make a mess, instead of getting a precise area, the shadow is going to go everywhere.

When it comes to creating dimensions, more brush control is good

Use mall brushes that are tapered towards the end are the best; these give you more precision. Start with just a small amount of shadow at a time. So, tap your precision brush in the shadow, tap the excess off, and apply the shadow on your crease in circular motions.

Hold the brush a little bit closer to the bristles to add a little bit more pressure in a specific area. Once you feel there’s no more shadow left on your brush, add a little bit more shadow at a time.

Step 5: Blend

Next, take your blending brush and start pulling the dark shade from the corner towards the mid and outer areas of the eye to get rid of any other lines you might have created with your brush earlier.

Fluffy brushes are the best for blending. If you are using lid colors, however, fluffy brushes are a no-no! Use a densely-parked brush and hold it close to the handle so you can apply the lid color more precisely without making it fly all over your face.

Less brush control is reasonable when it comes to blending

When it comes to blending, less brush control is key. Holding a fluffy blending brush, a little bit too close to the handle, creates more pressure making it too hard to blend. So, if you ever feel that your shadow is getting too patchy, try not holding your brush closer to the bristles as this gives you too much control.

For softer, kind of airbrushed blends, hold your blending brush towards the back of the handle instead because less control is a good thing when it comes to blending.

Once it’s all blended, start taking a little bit more color and park it on to add drama. Apply this second layer of shade on your brow bone, too, and blend it in to make everything look seamless.

Finish off the look with using eyeliner and lashes

If you are feeling playful and energetic, you can add false lashes; but if you are satisfied with mascara or just some eyeliner, that’s okay too. This is a universal look, wear it anytime; feel free to intensify the colors, switch them up; however, you want.

Word of advice.

Maintain your brows lovelies. Putting texture over texture doesn’t look good. So, if your eyebrows are the type that grows so fast, thread away any stray hairs regularly for smooth eyeshadow.

Summary of eyeshadow Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’tsDon’t fail to prime and clean your brow
• Don’t start a gradient using dark colors
• For lid colors, fluffy brushes are a no-no.
• Don’t add concealer on top of fallout
• Don’t over the highlight brow bone
• Don’t use light shades on the lower lash line

1. Do’s

• Add a primer
• Build up the color using transition shades, make it darker gradually
• Use a densely-parked brush like SIGMA E58 when applying lid colors
• Use fluffy clean brush when blending
• Hold blending brush towards the back of the handle.
• Dust off fallout
• Always start small, tap off the excess shadow from your brush.
• Add a tacky base for pigments

But remember, the beauty world is all fun and no rules, so if you’ve been doing the don’ts and like it so far, don’t change! But for beginners, the above tips guide on how to apply eyeshadow correctly.