The Makeup Box

Color Overload: Jewel-toned Dramatic Eyes

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This is a dark and dramatic look that’s at the same time very bright and punchy. You have the option of wearing it 2 ways; one more of a traditional colored smoky look, and the other an all-out color-fest.

You’ll need:

A black base or eye liner

• A shimmery purple shadow or pigment (I used MAC Cornflower)
• A shimmery golden green (I used MAC Golden Olive)
• [Optional] Gold liquid liner (I used Lime Crime’s Rhyme)
• [Optional] Bright fuchsia lipstick (I used Barry M Punky Pink)

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Step 1: First smear the black pencil or base all over your lid, along the lower lash lines, and also the inner rims of your lids.

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Step 2: With a flat brush, gently smudge out the edges of the liner so you get a softer smoky look and look less like you walked out of Kungfu Panda.

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Step 3: The fun part is always applying shimmer on top of the black. I chose a violet-blue and packed it gently over the black. Do not rub back and forth as you might smear your liner. You can use any colors you want but remember the shades will tend to appear deeper and richer than usual, so choose brighter, more vibrant ones.

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Step 3: On the inner portion of the lids, pack the bright golden-green shimmer and let it fade slightly into the violet earlier.

Remember to run your brush along your lower lash line as well, so the color is there.

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Step 4: This is where it’s optional. Use the black liner from earlier and draw just the tail-end of a flick from the outer corner of your eye outwards. 

Then follow by running bright gold liquid liner along the entire upper lash line, meeting and stacking right on top of the black at the outer ends. Then add a bit to the inner corners of the lower lash line as well.

Finish with mascara and that’s all there is to it.

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Step 5: For the lips, you can choose either to go with a nude lip so the look stays focused on the eyes, or you can opt to just go crazy with a brighter lip like I did.

Elven Green Dual-Color Eye Tutorial (Coastal Scents Hot Pots)

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Green is a beautiful color but it can be garish all on its own too. 

Here’s a simple way to wear a rich green look but keep things still looking classy and “grown-up” for Fall by pairing it with a burgundy brown. I’ve done this before, and using a rich red-toned brown brings out the green better than if you use just a regular dull brown, taupe, grey, or black.

I paired Coastal Scents’ Kiwi Green Hot Pot with Cherry-Chocolate, both old favorites of mine, and then I jazzed it up with a little pale green glitter around the inner corner of my eye, which you can leave out if you’re wearing the look for day.

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Step 1: I began by applying the cherry-chocolate shade to the outer half of the lids and also lightly along the outer halves of the lower lash line. 

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Step 2: On the rest of the lids (inner halves) simply pack the green shadow.

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Step 3: This is the optional step; use a little glitter glue (brands like Sally’s has some) or clear mascara to pick up some glitter and then gently press it along the inner portion of your socket line, following the hollow above your eye ball.

Poison Ivy Green (Lush Green Makeup)

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I was inspired to do a green look since I just did a post on green items I liked, and since I seldom combine matte and shimmers, I figured I should do a simple look showing how you can use an “accent” shade down the center of the eye as a subtle way to enhance an eye look.

You’ll need

• a pale green (almost lime) matte shadow. I just used the 88 Matte Palette
• a dark matte brown. This is a generic shade you can find from most places, and I simply used one of the darker shades in the 88 palette
• a shimmery medium green (the one I used was L’oreal’s Permanent Kaki Infallible Shadow)

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Step 1: First create your outer V. Run the dark brown along the outer halves of your socket line, using your own bone structure as a guide.

The easy way to visualise where the arc should end is to imagine a line going from the outer corner of your eye up to the end of your brow. Don’t let the color extend past there or you could make your eyes look droopy.

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Step 2: Finish off your outer V with the dark brown and smoke it out a little to soften the look, and then pack a pale lime-tone green onto the rest of the lid. 

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Step 3: Now, pick up a medium metallic green shade, and then go over the center of the lids where the green and brown meet. This not only softens and blends out the color but also layers a very nice transition shade over the 2 matte shadows earlier, without turning the look into a very metallic or shimmery one.

(If you want to jazz up any matte look in future, just use a shimmer as the transition color instead of another matte. It adds dimension but doesn’t look over the top.)

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Step 4: Finish by running a brown pencil along the upper and lower lash line, then curling lashes, and applying mascara.

Neo Noir: Dramatic Metallic Look

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I wanted to revisit the classic dark-eyes-dark-lips noir look, but update it a little with muted, mysterious colors on the lids. It’s actually quite a simple look to recreate.

I’m using limited edition crushed metallic pigments from MAC, but you can easily find alternatives in the permanent range. You will need:

• Black pencil
• Bright teal-green (Rain Drop pigment; alternative: MAC Steamy shadow)
• Pale silver-green (Moss Garden pigment; alternative: MAC Reflects Transparent Teal)
• Mascara

Alternatively, you can choose any color as long as you pair a bright medium shade and a coordinating pale glittery shade. Just remember that because you are applying the shadow over a black base, the shades you choose need to be a shade lighter/brighter than you intend them to be. If you’re not sure, just test it over black pencil on the back of your hand first.

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Step 1: I began by applying a very thick coat of black kajal to the entire lid, up to the socket line. Then I ran it along the loewr lash line as well.

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Step 2: Using a finger, very lightly smoke out the edges of the liner so you don’t have any harsh lines. It should just look like a smoky eye.

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Step 3: Laying the first shade; apply the medium shade onto the entire lid, over the black, leaving only the center empty. I used my fingers because that controls crushed metal pigments better, but if you’re using regular pigment or pressed shadow, just use a shadow brush.

When you’re done, just brush or gently smudge the color out at the outer corners to create faint wings.

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Step 4: With a damp flat brush, I picked up the more glittery, pale shade and smoothed it onto the center of the lid. Blend slightly into the first shade, but not too much.

Next, apply the pale shade to the innermost corners of the eyes as well.

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Step 5: Finish by touching up black liner along the water line, and then applying mascara.

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For the lips, I applied a dark liver-brown (MAC Amplified Lipstick in Deepest Wish), then kept the cheeks soft with a very light pink (Bourjois Eye Shadow #15).

Lush Green: “Ombre” Glitter Liner

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So little work, so much impact.

The best kinda makeup tutorial, no?

Rainbow liners are quite popular, but I haven’t found them to be all that wearable for daily life. Now, this is a rather coordinated and low-key way to add some bling to your look and still get long-lasting drama.

You’ll need:

Black pencil

• Colored pencil (I used a deep teal green from Bourjois 87 Vert Eclatant)
• A medium sage green shadow (L’oreal Infallible Shadow in Permanent Kaki)
• Liner sealant (long-lasting) or eye drops (less durable); MAC Fix+ would work like the eye drops
• A deeper green micro-glitter (get super-fine ones from Coastal Scents, TKB Trading, and other makeup stores)
• Black mascara or false lashes

Step 1: Definition. I used black pencil to just darken the upper lash line. I applied it very close to the roots from the top, and then ran the pencil along the water line (below the lashes) as well.

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Step 2: Now with your colored pencil (you can use gel liner, liquid liner, anything you want), you want to lay down the basic shape and base color of the line. Obviously, your liner should more or less correspond to the glitter and shadow color you are using.

I applied it out along the upper lash line, thick and getting thicker at the outer corners, until I pull it up and out in a short wing. If you want maximum drama, you can draw the line REALLY far out.

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Step 3: Along the inner half of the colored liner, you want to use a flat brush to carefully pat on a coat of the softer green shadow. You want the drama to be on the outer halves, so the shade on the inside should be lighter or softer.

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Step 4: Now along the outer half of the lids, I dampen a flat brush in eyeliner sealant (Ben Nye, Mehron, etc all have affordable versions), coat the damp brush with glitter, and then press everything lightly along the outer half of the pencil. Just go over a few times until you build up a nice coat of sparkle.

The pencil below will stop things from looking patchy or uneven, so you don’t need to spend a whole lot of time on this.

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Step 5: Everything should dry and set very quickly, and then you can curl lashes and apply mascara to finish the look. If there’s any glitter fallout or smudging on the other portions of your skin, simply clean up with a Q-tip.

Now you get an interesting effect where your pale metallic green liner morphs into a deeper glitter liner!

Paradise Colors: Summer-inspired Eye look

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It’s time to jazz things up with some brighter colors, inspired by the runways. I’m doing a tropical-paradise color scheme, with lush emerald green, rich brown, and a glowing turquoise.

You will also need a brown pencil for definition and an aqua/turquoise (optional) colored pencil to echo the blue on the waterline.

I used Coastal Scents Hot Pots on the lids and Bourjois pencils, but do use any alternatives you have. You can do a look with similar colors; they don’t need to be identical.

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Step 1: Instead of following the color-wheel (blue, green, brown), I wanted a little extra contrast by putting the brightest color in the center of the lid, where it will pop against the dark brown.

Apply along the inner 1/3 of the lower lash line as well.

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Step 2: Pick up the bright aqua or blue and pack it down the center of the lid. Don’t blend it out too much as you want the color to be quite intense.

Apply the same along the center portion of the lower lash line.

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Step 3: Pack the dark brown into the outer 1/3 of the lids, and then gently run it inwards along the socket line, until you reach about the center of the lids, above the bright aqua.

As before, run the dark brown along the outer 1/3 of your lower lash lines to finish.

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Step 4: Here’s the fun part. Run a brown pencil along the upper lash line for definition and some extra contrast against the aqua blue.

On the lower lash line, I actually used a bright turquoise blue pencil (Bourjois 54 Bleu Clinquant) to match and intensify it.

Then I finished with black mascara.