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5 Easy Steps to Head Turning Eyes

by Lexi Smith |

In the world of makeup, it is easy to get confused. Luckily, we have some pretty pro tips to help you find your way. Specifically, today we’re going to be focusing on five easy steps to get head turning eyes!


We are going to run you through some steps on how to get the best finished eye look, while giving pretty pro tips to help you navigate eyeshadow’s biggest problems that can even leave some pros furrowing their brow.


The first step, which we think might be one of the most important one to get a flawless finished look, is priming the eyes, which then should be set with a translucent powder or a powder close to your skin color. You can prime the eyes with either your favorite eyeshadow primer or concealer, which primes the eyes great as well. Together, a primer followed by a powder, creates a base to lay down your eyeshadow, so that shadows that are applied after won’t skip or pull on the eyes.


Two of our favorite eyeshadow primers are Urban Decay’s original Primer Potion, which is clear, and Mac Cosmetics’ Pro Longwear Paint Pot, which comes in different shades for different skin tones. 


It is pivotal to set your eyeshadow base before going in with your eyeshadow, so that the product can blend out to the best of its ability. If you try to blend out eyeshadow on a wet base, chances are it will stick and then not smoke out in a seamless gradient like you want. A seamless eyeshadow look is the goal, which means you cannot tell where one color stops and the other one starts.


*Pretty Pro Tip: If you do end up with a patchy eyeshadow look or a big blob, try holding your blending brush towards the end and blend in circular motions. Holding your brush at the end will give you less control over the brush and it will allow it to wiggle more when you blend out the shadow.


Secondly, depending on what eye look you’re going for, you will pick up a transition shade. The transition shade will do exactly what the name implies, transition the darker crease color to the lighter brow bone color. The importance of this step is to create that seamless gradient we want for our eyeshadow look. This color should be in between the color you chose for your crease and your brow bone. 


Thirdly, we’ll go to the crease which will set the tone for the eyeshadow look. To find where your crease color goes, in the mirror, simply, look where your eyelid creases right before your brow bone. If you don’t see a crease, you might have hooded/vanishing eyelids. For hooded/vanishing eyelids, you will create the illusion of a crease.


*Pretty Pro Tip: To create the illusion of a crease, when you have hooded/vanishing eyelids, you will apply the crease color with your eyes open. Apply the shadow right above the fold that separates your eye socket from your brow bone. This will give the eye the depth that hooded eyes don’t have. Think of it like contouring your eye, like you would your cheekbones.


Hooded/vanishing eyelids will also benefit from keeping the crease color on the outer half of the eye and blending upward, making the eyes look bigger.


Depending on what type of look you will be doing, your crease can be different colors. I do recommend the color always be matte though, meaning that the eyeshadow has no shimmer or sparkle in it. The point of defining your crease is to create depth in the eyeshadow look. If you’re putting a shadow in your crease with shimmer or sparkle it will catch the light and eliminate the depth you’re trying to create. 


To define your crease, we recommend using a fluffy eyeshadow brush to blend out the eyeshadow and distribute it evenly. 


*Pretty Pro Tip: If you want a super simple eyeshadow look, you can take your bronzer and use it as your crease color to keep your look monochromatic. Monochromatic makeup is when your makeup look essentially uses all colors in the same hue, from lips to eyes to cheeks. 


Fourthly, we'll apply eyeshadow to my eyelid. Personally, we love using a shimmery or sparkly shadow here to make my eyes stand out, but you can totally keep your eyelids matte and go for an 80’s makeup inspired look. 


A great option for a timeless eyelid color is DollUp Beauty’s shimmery gold eyeshadow, Frisky


Last, we will do a brow bone highlight to give the eye a lift without taking a drip to your doctor. Like the eyelid color you can have it shimmery or matte. Once you choose if your eyelid is going to have some glow or be matte, I'd recommend you staying with that same finish for the brow bone, so the eye look is consistent. 

And, that’s it! Five easy steps to get a head turning eyeshadow look. Although, if you want an in-person explantation of these steps grab some girlfriends and book a Pretty Party with us. We’d love to have you!

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