Color me Happy
If you’ve ever been afraid to use less-than-neutral eye shadows, this is the look for you. It involves a tasteful application of perhaps one of the most easily misused colors in the eye shadow spectrum. Don’t be shy. Turn up the color!
I had a lot of fun with this look, playing with the blue pencil and shadow. It’s inspired by runway looks for Spring 2013, but translates surprisingly well into a flattering look for daily life. Though you can’t miss the color, this look is not overwhelming.
Prep your face with a light foundation to let your skin breathe.
With a blue pencil eyeliner, line your top lash line from corner to corner, gradually thickening it on the outer corner. This is the beginning of a cat eye look, so bonus points if you’ve done this before! If not, don’t worry. Here’s how to do it: Take a good look at the angle between the outer corner of your eye and the very end of your eyebrow. You might want to lay your pencil along the angle to get a visual. This is the perfect cat eye angle for you. With the fingers of your off hand, very gently stretch the skin out along that angle. You are only flattening the natural creases of your eye, not actually stretching the skin. With your dominant hand, trace that angle from the corner of your eye to about a third of the way to the end of your brow. Don’t stress over neatness right now. We’ll fix that in the next step.
With a pearlescent blue eyeshadow, go over the blue pencil eyeliner. Use this step to help neaten up your edges. This technique uses the eyeliner as a base for the shadow and helps to keep this look in place all day long.
With the same blue shadow, take your crease brush and brush a light layer of the powder in an S shape over the crease. Make sure it sweeps over the inner hollow of your eye and ends at the end of your brow. This shape helps to keep the blue evenly distributed. Don’t go too heavy in this step! It’s this mere hint of blue that keeps the look from going all 60’s on us.
For the finishing touches, take a neutral skin-toned shadow and dust it under your brows. Use this step to finalize the top shape of the blue shadow. This step also helps to fixate the edge of the blue and keep it from slipping around. Also take the same shadow and pat it over the very center of your lid, blending the edges out to the rest of your lid. This helps to avoid the 60’s look and keeps it light. With a liner brush,stamp a very fine line of black eyeshadow right in your upper lashline,then sweep the leftovers out below the cat eye line. It’s a barely noticeable step, yet it thickens your lashes and adds dimension to the look.
Finally, apply mascara to your lashes and a lightly pink lipstick to your lips. With this same lipstick, wipe your (clean) finger over the bullet and then rub the lipstick into your cheekbones. (I found that two finger swipes per cheek was my perfect color, but it may be slightly different for you.)
And you’re done!
Alternate Ways to Use These Techniques:
The blue can technically go with any eye color, but if you have brown eyes, purple or green eye shadows could really bring out the depth of color in your eyes. Or perhaps even orange! Dig through your glutenfree makeup, find those bold shades that you’ve been too chicken to wear, and have fun making a color splash with your look.
Try combining colors. Perhaps blue liner and purple crease color? Or maybe blue pencil liner and green powder over that? The colors in the original are so simple, the whole look could be dramatically changed with just a few tweaks.
Try making the cat eye longer. I actually did this on myself while playing with the look on accident. It really amps up the drama, more than you might think. Just that one little difference turns this into a “grabbing” and dynamic look.
Products used:
Face:
• intuitive COLOR Smooth
• intuitive COLOR Color
• intuitive COLOR Set
• Red Apple Lipstick Brownie Points
• Red Apple Lipstick Secrets
Eyes:
• Monave Bright Blue eyeliner
• Red Apple Lipstick Blue Jay
• Everyday Minerals Rare Silk
Lips:
• Red Apple Lipstick Secrets
Written by Afton Jones. Find her at www.glutenfreemakeupgal.com.
