The perfect Eyeshadow: Tips to look FABulous!

The Perfect Eye!!!

By: Eboni Morales

Eye shadow is one of the oldest makeup essentials originating back as far as the Egyptians, when Cleopatra and Neffertiti made the cat eye a permanent staple in ancient beauty. As popular as the look was, the look has been mastered in current beauty regiments by many but eye shadow techniques as a whole still remains a mystery to many. If you find yourself a novice in the art of eyeshadow, you have come to the right place! I am going to break down a few key tips that will allow you to no longer shy away from jazzing up your look with your eyes. For starters, in order to don the perfect eye shadow, you may want to determine what type of eye shape you have been blessed with. Determining this will narrow down, but not limit you to, shades and shapes that are the most flattering, work best and add drama for you. There are many eye shapes, based on culture, race, size of person, etc, but typically they can be narrowed down to 5 most common. Average (sometimes called Almond) Eyes are those that are typically symmetrically even by measure and have when open or closed visually seen eye hood and area under eyebrow.

Wide Set Eyes are characterized by being able to fit one and a half of another eye in between your eyes.

Close Set Eyes are determined by if you can fit another eye in between your eyes (hypothetically of course!)

Deep Set Eyes fall into the eye socket

Prominent Eyes bulge from eye socket

Hooded Eyes have a bit of skin that hangs over the eye socket which leaves very little eye lid for eye shadow. Once you have determined your eye shape you are one step closer to being able to produce a commendable eye shadow look for yourself. Each shape is complimented by certain shades of shadow and how it is applied.

Average (Almond) Eyes are considered almost perfect and any technique typically works. Wide Set Eyes can be perfected by using medium to dark tones in the interior of the eyes, stay away from lining the outside of the eyes too much.

Close Set Eyes should line the eyes extending out past the outer corners with liner and shadows. Mascara should be worn lighter/thinner in the inner lashes and heavier/longer on the outer lashes. For extra drama, if you dare, you can add two or more false lashes to the outer lashes to elongate the eyes.

Deep Set Eyes look so dark, so lighter shadow should be worn on the lid on the eye(socket) and a deeper shadow right above that onto the eye halfway to the eyebrow, followed by another lighter shadow right under the eyebrow. Make sure you keep liner on the top lid very thin.

Prominent Eyes are already very dramatic so many people want to make them appear more subtle. To do this try wearing dark or medium skin toned eye shadows surrounding the entire eye, use a lighter shade in the crease and brow bone. If a subtle eye is what you are going for, stay away from metallic and shimmering shades.

Hooded Eyes lack shadow area, so using shimmering and metallic shades higher or closer to the eyebrow will give the appearance of a larger eye.

Your eye color plays a HUGE part in complimenting the eyes. Pick your eyeliner and eye shadows wisely to ensure you are making the best choice to present the best eye. Here are some tips.

Blue Eyes: Blues eyes are best accented by dark browns or creamy navy eyeliner. Charcoal, black or grey shades are nice for a bit of drama.

Brown Eyes: Dark brown, cocoa and black colored eyeliners add depth.

Green Eyes: Try light brown or cocoa eyeliner to bring out their intensity.

Creating the most desired eyes…the SMOKEY EYE and CAT EYE! Many woman and in some cases men always want to know how to create these eyes. The truth is, they can be created with almost any color, blues, browns, blacks, browns or purples for that matter. The key is the way that it is applied. Try these steps….

1. Just like in grade school, tracing helped perfect the perfect line, and in this case, the same concept applies. Try dotting a line in your medium/dark color from your inner eye to the outer corner of your eye right where your lashes end.

2. Trace the line, starting thinly, gradually thickening he line as you reach the end. You may have to overlap your liner two or three times to get it just right.

3. If you are looking for EXTRA drama, you can extend the liner outside the lash line anywhere from 1 to 2 quarters of an inch out and upward.

4. Line your lower lash line from outer corner to inner corner (if you wish) with the same medium/dark color.

5. Follow up by using a shadow similar in color to the top and bottom liners and trace over the line allowing for some of the shadow to bleed above.

6. Use a blending brush (preferable), sponge brush or q-tip and smudge the shadow upward and outward to meet the line outside the eye and reach right where your eye socket crease is.

7. Now, use your darkest color and smudge in the crease of your eye socket from interior and exterior corner.

8. You can now apply a skin toned or slightly darker shade from the eye socket crease to under the eyelash. Go back and blend each lever up and outward. You may want or need to apply more shadow to one or more of the levels.

9. Lastly apply dark mascara on your top and bottom lashes. You want to apply two to three nice coats to the top lashes ensuring the outer lashes are heavily coated.

10. If you are feeling BOLD, top off your look with some false lash strips and you are going to definitley get noticed in a good way.

I hope you leave feeling a little less like a novice and ready to experiment with your eyes to add some Fabulous effects for Spring!

Enjoy & Be Beautiful!