The Makeup Box

Blue-Tipped Winged Eyes

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Here’s a super-quick club-friendly eye that only requires 3 products and about 5 minutes to do.

You’ll need:

• Black liner
• A bright/strong colored shadow (I chose a matte blue from the Original 88 Palette)
• Mascara or flash lashes

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Step 1: First smear black liner all over the lids and along the lower lash line.

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Step 2: Use your finger tip to just smooth out the edges and fade the black out. 

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Step 3: Using a flat brush for control, apply the colored shadow along the entire lower line outwards into a wing, and then double back to the upper lid, along the socket line, so the blue sort of “wraps” around the outer corner of the black pencil. 

Then just apply mascara and that’s ALL you need.

Vibrant Blue Smoke (Kat von D Shade Shifter in Stockholm)

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This is a tutorial on how to bring out the most from your duochrome eye shadows, mixed with a quick overview of one of Kat von D’s Shade Shifter shadows. Duochrome shadows are the ones that seem to change color when you move them around under the light, because they have one base tone, and a different reflective highlight.

There were 3 in the Shade Shifter collection when I was at Sephora; a blue-brown which is a dupe of MAC’s Blue-Brown pigment (get that if you don’t like working with loose powder; it’s more vibrant than MAC Club pressed shadow), a green-gold which is a shinier version of MAC’s Gorgeous Gold, if I don’t recall wrong, and Stockholm, a blue-violet which I got.

It’s actually similar but not a dupe for MAC’s Cornflower pigment as they both share that blue base and violet sheen, but Cornflower is more purple, glittery, and translucent compared to Stockholm.

The tutorial I’m doing is an easy way for you to wear ANY duo-chrome shadow, regardless of color or brand. It’s all in the base, because white and black brings out the different facets of duochrome shades beautifully.

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Step 1: I first applied a white pencil (Maybelline Eye Studio Shadow Liner) to the inner corners of my lids and softened it out with my finger. You don’t want to have streaks or patchiness because the shadow can grab in those areas and look uneven later.

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Step 2: The rest of the lid is filled in with black pencil. I simply draw a line along the socket (the hollow dip above your eye ball) leaving only the inner corners empty, and then filled in the area below it.

I also ran the pencil along the inner rims of my lash line on both upper and lower lids.

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Step 3: When you’re done, use a shadow brush to gently smudge out the edges at the upper lids, so you don’t have any hard lines and edges. It should fade out and be smoky at the borders.

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Step 4: This is the simplest and most fun step. Just use a shadow brush to pack on the duochrome color from the white area to the black. It’s important not to go from the dark areas to the light because your brush could pick up some of the black and that would “contaminate” the areas that are supposed to be light.

NOTE: I also did not apply the shadow on the outermost portions of the eye because I wanted to keep that part black for more contrast with the rest of the lids.

You can see from the image that the white brings out the bright cyan-blue base of the shadow, and the black base brings out the violet sheen. You just made it look like you expertly blended 3 shades of shadow (turquoise, violet, black) when all you used was 1 single shade.

This same technique would work with ANY duochrome shadow, so grab what you have and have fun playing!

Colorburst: Yellow-Gold and Sultry-Blue Eye Makeup

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This is bright eye makeup look with an intense twist of contrasting color. The star product of the show is Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream #11, which is a gorgeous platinum-yellow gold shade that might be a good item to keep on your Xmas wish-list if you like this type of finishes!

Other than this, you will need:

• Black liner or kajal
• Shimmery brown shadow (I used MAC Sable)
• Deep blue shadow (try MAC Deep Truth)
• Pale blue or silvery shimmer (I used L’oreal 
• Mascara

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Step 1: Apply the Aqua Cream over the lid, going up close to the brow. If you have dryer lids or just more lines there, keep the color only within the socket line instead of going all the way up, or skip it all together. Bright metallic cream finishes can accentuate and CREATE a lot of “lines”.

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Step 2: This is a 2-step approach because I wanted a very intense metallic brown line. I lined my eyes with black pencil first, creating a short, thick flick at the end. Then using a flat brush, I coated that black pencil with a metallic brown pencil (MAC Sable). This gives you a more intense chocolate-brown than you’d get if you just used a regular metallic brown liner.

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Step 3: Using a soft blending brush, pick up the same brown and apply this gently along your socket line. Don’t over-apply as the color should be hazy and soft. If you have a small lid space or more lines on your lids (and skipped step 1), then the brown will not cut across the yellow like I did. It should be on top of the yellow.

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Step 4: Using a tiny brush and black kajal, I lined my lower waterline. Get it all thick and dark and don’t worry about it looking neat because you’ll be covering it up later.

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Step 5: Using a flat brush, I ran a navy blue along the lower lash line. NOTE! The blue doesn’t go on the waterline. It goes on the lash line, overlapping the black liner, but slightly below it. If you have a slightly dropping eye shape, don’t overdo this bit as it can drag your eye shape down further. Just trace a tiny bit of the blue along your lashes; enough that you can see the color intensity.

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Step 6: The fun step. I’m using L’oreal’s Infallible Shadow Marshmallow from the Miss Candy Collection earlier this year. (It’s still available in many places, but if you can’t get it anyore, just use any pale silver-blue.)

Using a fluffy blending brush, I just applied the shade a little under the darker blue earlier, going from a thin line and spreading into a bigger area at the cheekbones. This actually extends it into a highlighter, for that extra “shine” whenever the light catches it. 

Sci-Fi Cleopatra Eye Makeup

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Halloween is coming and someone requested for a makeup tutorial for Cleopatra makeup. 

Now, there are many tutorials around for the simple Egyptian eye liner look, as well as Elizabeth Taylor’s look in the movie Cleopatra, so I didn’t want to just do the same old thing.

A quick search in Youtube would get you tons of tutorials. 

I did a more jazzed up and possibly more dramatic version, but kept the overall shape quite true to the usual style. If you don’t want it to be quite so avant garde, just skip some of the steps. (I’ll tell you which ones.)

Tools:

• A small brush for lining
• Black gel liner (that comes in a pot)
• 3 matte or satin shadows of your choice (I used the 88 matte palette). I picked a pastel blue, a cyan blue, and a deep purple. If you want to stay true to ancient Egypt, pick a dark green or strong blue.

Step 1: The brows were one of the things the Egyptians exaggerated. Pictures of statues and drawings often showed them with brows darkened and then extended straight outwards.

First follow your own brow and fill it in with black liner. Don’t create a sharp arch. The shape should be quite rounded.

Then at the outer ends, instead of following the curve of your brows back down, pull it straight outwards toward your hairline.

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Step 2: On the lid, I placed the palest shadow, a soft blue. Keep within the socket line, and then just sweep straight outwards at the ends.

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Step 3: For some subtle sculting, I used a deeper, stronger blue on the ENTIRE eye, from brows downwards until it reaches the socket line. This gives you a very soft cut-crease which emphasises eye contours without being too obvious.

If your eye socket is already very deep, skip this and just use one single shade over the entire lid.

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Step 4: The liner. First line your upper lash line thickly, and then extend it at the inner corners, following the angle of your upper lash line. This creates that cat/hawk-beak eye. If you want, you can end it in a sharp point, but I decided to end it in a rounded “snake-head” for a twist. 

Connect that extended point back to the lower lash line.

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Step 5: Following the entire lower lash line, continue laying down the liner thickly, until you reach the outer corner.

Here, you want to follow the angle of your lower lash line and just extend outwards.

The ancient Egyptians actually kept the line horizontal, on an equal level with the brows. If you want to stay true to the historical look, don’t follow my upwards angle.

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Step 6: This is the optional step for those who want to jazz it up. Because I wanted a geometrical effect, I used a smoky matte purple to color along the lower lash line (under the liner), and then extended it straight outwards, Egyptian style.

You should get a rectangular block of color at your temples.

The other secret is that it can be hard to do 2 symmetrical eyes when you’re being so dramatic with liner, so using the purple to create the outer shape helps to hide any uneven angles on both sides of the eye.

Reverse-Color Lid (88 Matte Palette)

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I did a look a year ago inspired by the Queen of Blending. This year, I’m revisiting the look using different, stronger colors. Do note that you don’t need to use the exact shades I did. Just look for 3 colors that are sort of complementary, and line them up from light to dark.

Just make sure to apply an eye primer so the shadow goes on with maximum intensity.

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Step 1: Imagine an invisible line along your socket. Below the line, you want to pack the palest shadow onto the inner portions of your lid, and along the inner corners of the lower lid. Apply the same color ABOVE the socket line on the outer portions.

Just remember not to pull the color too far out at the outsides or your lids could look droopy.

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Step 2: I accidentally deleted the image I took when I applied the center shade (rich blue), so bear with me and look at the portion I marked out right down the center of the lid.

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Step 3: Using the darkest shade (purple), I applied the color in the opposite areas to the teal at the start. Above the socket on the inner corners and below the socket, on the lid at the outer corners. The color on the lower lids should match what is on your upper lid as well.

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Step 4: Using a fluffy brush, I blended out the inner corners. This is the tricky portion as a dark shade above the socket line at the inner corners can look very tacky and messy if not softened out.

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Step 5: I finished by using a fine brush to apply black kajal along the waterline, and then thickly along the upper lash line. Then curl lashes and apply mascara to finish.

Navy and Gold Evening Look with “Frankenshadows”!

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I like blending and mixing my own shadows. I do this mostly with loose mica, glitter, and binders, and sometimes I crush up unwanted shadows, mix them with other shades, and then press them into something entirely new.

In the nail polish community, your own blends of varnishes are called Frankenpolishes. Well, these are my Frankenshadows.

What I used here was:

• Nightmoth: This is a black matte pigment mixed in with metallic navy shimmer, with a pinch of aqua glitter thrown in. I can’t think of an alternative in the stores for you, but any very dark navy shade would do. You can always pat a little glitter on top for a similar effect.
• Ambre: This is more of a generic warm metallic amber-gold that you can find easily I believe. 
• MAC Blooz pencil: A dark navy pencil

Step 1: First, lay the base. You want the shadow to always be most intense around the lash line, so I used a dark blue pencil (MAC Blooz is no longer available but they have alternatives) and ran it along the lash line, top and bottom. 

Along the top lid, make the lid very thick.

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Step 2: Using a firm brush, very gently smoke the edges of the pencil out. On the top lid, I smudged it much further out so it fades towards the socket line.

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Step 3: The navy shadow. I used a flat shadow brush to first gently pat shadow onto the outer halves of the lids, up to the socket line. I also packed it right on the lash line, to set the dark navy liner.

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Step 4: With the fine smudger brush once again, I pulled the blue shadow inwards along the socket line so it faded inwards. Don’t pick up any more shadow with your brush, because the line is supposed to be very soft rather than hard and precise.

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Step 5: Using a smaller shadow brush for precision, I packed the warm gold metal shadow right onto the inner half of the lids in a tear-drop shape. It should fade into the blue but not be over-blended where they meet. That would muddy up the entire look. The gold and the blue should still stay very intense and clean. 

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Step 6: With a fluffy blending brush, I started to soften the edges of the navy shadow, which can be quite hard against paler skins. You want to ONLY BLEND ALONG THE SOCKET LINE. If you bring your brush down any lower, you will muddy up the gold. The entire look could go from navy-and-gold to plain ol’ charcoal in a second.

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Step 7: Finish by curling lashes and applying black mascara! (If you need to touch up the gold or blue, go right ahead BEFORE you apply the mascara.)