Please help me with eye shadow application

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
I'm giving up on trying to keep eyeliner on my lids. My droopy lids rub the liner off within 60 seconds. So I'm thinking I might try some shadow, but I've rarely worn shadow in my lifetime--really just something sheer & sparkly on occasion during my younger, club hopping days. ;)

Makeup experts, please help. How do I apply shadow so it looks natural, & I don't look overly made up like the girls behind the dept. store makeup counters? I'm thinking of gray tones, but I have no idea how to apply it & not look like a street walker. :eek:
 
I like mineral eye shadows because you can put on as much or as little as you like. www.everydayminerals.com and www.larinem.com are two brands I use a lot, as well as Bare Escentuals ( at www.qvc.com ).

One nice thing about the first two: you can order samples sizes (and if you have a light touch like me, they last a LONG time!). That way you can try out both the product and colors.

For eyeliner, there are products that you can mix with mineral liners to make them stay on. Bare Escentuals has that kind of product. (While you're at QVC, you might also want to check out Mally Beauty eyeliner: I think she--and maybe some others?--has a two-step eyeliner that includes a product that keep the liner on all day).

As for application: I pretty much use two basics:
1) put a light color on lid and up to eyebrow. Fill in crease and outer edge of eyelid with darker color. (This is the technique for a "smokey eye" if you go heavy, which I don't).
2) put light color on lid. Fill in crease and outer edge of eyelid with darker color. Brush highlight color over all to blend.

If you go to QVC and look up Bare Escentuals eye shadow, you can watch some of the presentations, and during them, they give ideas on how to apply (even if you don't buy that brand, the application tips will apply to all mineral makeups).

HTH!
 
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Laura, I feel your pain! I have the same problem and would love one day to have an eyelid lift, but until then, I need to be able fake it. I found this in the November issue of In Style:

Fake A Eye Lift-To correct a droopy upper eyelid, N.Y.C. makeup artist Paula Dorf recommends artful contouring. Use a light-colored shadow near the lash line and a deeper shade in an arc above the crease where the lid is dropping. "The lighter shade makes the bottom of the lid more visible, while the darker shade makes the puffy top part recede," says Dorf. The result? A more wide-eyed, youthful look.

Now if only I could have a professional makeup artist apply it for me!
 
Laura,
I totally agree with Kathryn and mineral makeup, specifically Bare Escentuals. I am addicted to this stuff and have loved it since I started using it about 5 years ago. And QVC is the place to shop for BE!

You can't go wrong with the application - start off with a little then apply more to get your desired look. The eye colors can look a little frightening in the pots they come in as they appear much, much darker, but you'll see once you put them on that they are all very wearable. Before BE, I never wore eye makeup. But the mineral application is so easy, you can't go wrong.

I am loving the greys out right now too - I have two kits that I'm using now that are all greys/charcoals with a little sparkle. Not glitter, but sparkle!!;) They are called Black Diamond kit and Rocker Eye kit (QVC has the black diamond and Sephora has the rocker eye). Both are fantabulous greys and very wearable for day or night.

Good Luck and don't be skeered of eye shadow anymore!!:p:p
 
I do wear eyeliner, but I like eyeshadow to look natural too.. here is what I do:

I have three shades of skin tone: One very pale, sort of white, one that is very similar to my skin tone, but of a goldy tinge, and then a darker brown:

I apply the lightest one over my lid and up to my eyebrow bone
I then apply the medium shade exactly the same, only leave the inner most corner (about 1/3 of the width of the lid). Then blend with your finger. This gives a sort of lightness to the inner bits of your eye, which makes them appear bigger.
I then use the darkest colour: I use as fine-a brush that I can and run it along where you'd put eyeliner on the top. I then apply it to the outer edge of the eye and only in the crease of the eye (just where the bone is) I then blend with my finger. This means that you have shadow and light bits (also known as shading! lol) but it is all skin tones, so it's not obvious. And mascara, if you want too :)

Hope this helps :)
 
Practice practice practice

1) BOOKS - I recommend anything by Bobbi Brown or Carmindy. Bobbi Brown has one out called Living Beauty (for those 40+) and her new one is Make Up Manual. I would check these out at Barnes/Noble and then decide which one you want and order used from Amazon. I love Bobbi Browns make up but I have gone to minerals as I feel they are better for my skin. See Below

2) Neutrogena has some eye shadows out called Healthy Duo's and another one that has 4 shades in it. They are not mineral based however they are inexpensive, have some shimmer and you can play around with them.

3) Do you have Sephora near you or Ulta. You can play with all the make up. Schedule an appointment with a make up artist - big help.

4) One Dermatologist I go to sells Glo-Minerals and the other one I go to sells Jane Iredale. Both are pricey but I am loving the Jane Iredale. Google it. I really hate loose powder stuff so I tend to shop for the other.

5) Liner - I use a waterproof pencil and instead of lining right above the lash line - I dot it in between the lashes themselves. It makes for a more natural look. This was taught to me by a make up artist in Seattle years ago. This is how they tatoo liner on also but I have heard that hurts like hell.

Good Luck ~
 
yikes....I was gonna give my 2 cents....since beauty has been a hobby as long as I can recall and then I saw the comment "like those ladies behind the cosmetics counter" and I realized I work in that arena at present. I never realized we were thought of this way.....however, that being said, I do wear a lot of Bare Escentuals and various other brands and take my look from natural to polished to drama queen.....so maybe I'm different??
 
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Thanks for the info ladies, exactly what I need! I think I've got my work cut out for me. :eek:

Lorajeanne, I apologize if I offended you, I didn't mean it & I made a generalization I shouldn't have. Maybe I should've said "like the ladies behind the makeup counters in New Jersey." ;)
 
I don't wear shadows much either but I'm another fan of Bare Escentuals eye shadow and blush and order from QVC or buy at Ulta. I can't wear the foundation but love the colors and ease of the shadow. My favorite shadow though, is Laura Gellar (also on QVC) baked collections. Several shades mixed in one pot and you don't have to blend anything--it's already done. Love it.
 
I think it's all about the brushes. Don't give up on eyeliner until you've tried the MAC brush #263. It's a super thin, angled brush meant for placing eyeliner right in the lash line. You can wet the brush and put a bit of dark cake eye shadow on it, then just place the brush right inside the lash line. Then use a smudge brush, like the Laura Mercier Smudge brush, and place a smokey color of eyeshadow right above the lash line. My favorite is a deep purple/eggplant color. Blend the eyeshadow up from the lash line. You can also put a bit of the eye shadow on the lower lid. It's a somewhat dramatic eye, but I don't think it's inappropriate for day time.

For me, mascara is the thing I just can't get right. I've given up using all but Neutrogena's Lash Tint, which really doesn't do much of anything, but it's the only one that doesn't mess up my face. How do people apply mascara neatly?
 
Dreamyjeanie - LOL at the website's "Hooded Eyes" ! :p

That's me with the droopy lids and I pretty much saw the same tips in a magazine years ago. Works well for me - my eyes "pop" but I don't look overly made up.
 
nancy324 said:
For me, mascara is the thing I just can't get right. I've given up using all but Neutrogena's Lash Tint, which really doesn't do much of anything, but it's the only one that doesn't mess up my face.
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PUH-leeze! Now, Nancy, I spent a weekend with that face, and I don't think it's possible to mess it up! You're gorgeous even first thing in the a.m., so I don't want to hear this!!! :p
 
I'm with Kathryn on the mineral shadows. I use Jane Iredale, BE, LaurEss and I'm thinking of trying out E.L.F (eyes lips and face) mineral eyeshadows, as they are really cheap in comparison to other ranges.

My suggestion would be to go on to youtube, where they have some fantastic tutorials on how to put on make up. You can even put in a specific type of make up and search for a tutorial. I've recently looked at some E.L.F tutorials (some good some bad!). There are also swatches on their, so you can see the colours. Also, if you want reviews of different makeup, hit makeupalley.com - hours of endless fun!

Hope that helps a bit!:)

Emma
 
TeTe said:
PUH-leeze! Now, Nancy, I spent a weekend with that face, and I don't think it's possible to mess it up! You're gorgeous even first thing in the a.m., so I don't want to hear this!!! :p
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Awwww. I love you, TeTe. (Why don't we have a smiley with hearts?). I wasn't trying to put myself down, though. I was just saying that by the second use, every mascara I've tried gets clumps and gets messy. You didn't see me with black spots all over my lids and under my eyes. It's not pretty. ;)

Totally off-topic, but when's our next weekend GTG, huh?? I'd love to come to Virginia!
 
Go to youtube

Try a search on youtube. I recently watched a short tutorial on how to apply eyeliner. I use youtube for reviews and tutorials on makeup alot these days. My husband calls it youtube university because I go there quite a bit to look up how to's. :)

Carmen.
 
Bobbi Brown

I too like Bobbi Brown shadows. What I would do is go to the make-up counter. They will be more than happy to instruct in application ,especially if you are buying their products. Bobbi Brown stuff is very natural looking. She is all into the fresh face. She is in her mid-forties i think and all her stuff is geared to that age bracket. One thing though, kinda expensive. her shadows are 20 bucks a pop. I love them. they last all day.
 
I'm another fan of BE makeup and did not know how to wear eye make-up without looking like a clown until I bought one of their kits with the instructional DVD. It was very simple, which is what I needed. Two colors, two brushes.

If you go the mineral route, you might want to try the Eyelid Primer to give it extra staying power: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/pro...avAction=push&navCount=3&categoryId=cat920007
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