How to apply eyeshadow – firstly like everything in life we all have to start somewhere. The objective of this brief article is to outline the basics in terms of skills and application you need to achieve a nice and presentable eye (in terms of make-up that is). The more you practice the easier it becomes and the more confident you will become. This article is limited to just the application of eyeshadows, eyeliner, mascara and false eyelashes are covered in their respective articles. The basic assumption for this article is that you do not have a hooded eye or large folds of skin in the eye area, if you do there are some additional comments at the bottom of the article that will assist.
What you need
What do you need? All that is really required is an eyeshadow brush (medium size) and a three basic eyeshadow colours. To demonstrate the technique I have selected a light, medium and dark shade of eyeshadow as shown.
Basic shadow placement begins with putting on three eyeshadow colours: Light, medium and dark. You then proceed to blend the eye shadow colours into one another; this softens any harsh lines between the colours. For the best outcome, the whole eyelid should be covered in eyeshadow. Leaving any part of the lid exposed can weaken the overall look. The four basic steps are as follows
Step 1 Apply the medium eyeshadow colour of your choice on your eyelid. This colour is typically the predominant colour (for example a gold shade) and is the statement colour of the three shades.
Step 2 Apply the dark eyeshadow shade in the crease of your eye (referred to as the socket line)These darker colours normally consists of browns or blacks. This is a form of “contouring” that creates definition for the eyes.
Basic eye shadow positioning
Step 3 Apply the light eye shadow colour from the crease to just under the eyebrow and from the brow bone into the tear duct. This light colour helps to reflect the absorbed light around the nose giving the appearance of a fully eye. This is usually achieved using a white, ivory or cream colour to highlight the area.
Step 4 Using a clean eyeshadow brush or blending brush, blend the darkest colour just into the highlight colour, moving back and forth like a windscreen washer. Repeat the blending into the medium eye shadow colour. Remember to only blend where a colour meets a colour. If you pull one colour completely into another it will make the application appear sloppy and muddy.
Hooded Eyes Sadly with age our eyes become hooded or dropped. In these circumstances use the predominant colour on the lid but do not go right back to the socket line as it will overlap the fold. We normally recommend as our top tip that you apply soft white eye shadow above your eyebrow and a soft pink eye shadow below the arch of your eyebrow, blending them both in. This will help to define and elevate it.
