Eye-Shadow Design
Options for building an eye design are almost too numerous to list. The basic concept is to shade the eye to accent its shape, or to change
its shape by using a progression of light to dark colors across the eye, blending one over the other so that you can’t see where one stops
and another starts. Here you can follow, step by step, how to use one eyeshadow or several different eye shadows to create a well-blended,
classic eye-makeup design. Even for the most formal eye-makeup design, four different colors should be plenty. Whether you use one, two,
three, or four different eye shadows, they become a full design when worn with eyeliner, temple contour, and mascara.
One-color design: This design blends one soft, subtle color all over the eye area, from the lashes to just under the eyebrow, with no
patches of skin showing through. You should not wear only a splash of color over the eyelid and ignore the rest of the eye area.
Application: When applying a single color, first place it from the lashes to the crease using a brush such as a Shadow Softening Brush.
Make sure that you do not extend the color into the inside corner of the eye (off the lid area) or out beyond the lid onto the temple. Also be
certain there are no patches of skin showing through on the lid next to the eyelashes. The entire lid at this point is one solid color.
Next, place the color from the crease up to the brow, following the entire length of the eyebrow from the nose out to the temple area. Avoid
leaving a hard edge at the back (outside) corner of the eye where the eyeshadow stops. If desired, use a brush such as a Soft Blending
Brush. This will create subtlety and a soft highlight under the eyebrow. Because the eyeshadow for the one-color eye-makeup design is so
soft and subtle, blending and application is quite easy. The best colors for this design include light tan, neutral taupe, beige, pale mauve
brown, pale gray, light golden brown, camel, and light auburn. Whatever the color, it should definitely not be obvious.
Two-color design: This is the most common, practical eye design. Approach this design by applying the lighter color to the eyelid and
the deeper color from the crease up to the brow, or you can apply the deeper color to the lid and the lighter color from the crease to the brow.
Generally speaking, the under-eyebrow color should be a shade or two darker than the lid color. You do not want it to be a distinctly different
color, just a different shade. The lid can be taupe, beige, tan, camel, gray, light auburn, golden brown, or any light neutral shade, and the
under-eyebrow color should be a deeper shade of the same color. Women with darker skin tones can wear muted rose, mauve, or peach as
long as it does not make their eyes look irritated or is not too obvious. Bright, noticeably shiny, or whitish shadows can look dated and make
the brow bone look more prominent and heavy.
Which color and what shades go where? The general rule is that the larger or more prominent the eyelid area is compared with the under-
brow area, the darker or deeper the eyelid color can be; the smaller the eyelid area is compared with the under-brow area, the brighter or
lighter the eyelid color can be. The notion is that if the eyelid area is already prominent or large, it is not necessary to make it appear any
bigger by applying a light color to it. If the eyelid area is small, it is appropriate to make it more prominent by wearing a lighter color.
Application: Whichever way you choose to apply this design, the lid and under-brow shades should meet but not overlap at the crease.
You can use brushes like Large Round Shadow Brush or Small Round Shadow Brush to apply the light shade to the lid and Crease Defining
Brush or Angled Shadow Brush to apply the darker shade from the crease up to the brow. Then, using a small wedge brush Wedge/Brow
Brush, you can use the light color again as a highlight just along the lower edge of the eyebrow. This can bring dramatic, but subtle, attention
to the shape of the brow and the eye without the need for another eyeshadow color. You can also apply the lighter color from the lid to the
under-brow area and use the darker color in and slightly above the crease. Then take a brush such as a Precision Shadow Brush and use
the darker color to softly shade the back corner of the eye, making sure this shading is an extension of the crease color. For more dramatic
variations on this theme, see the three- and four-color designs below.
Three-color design: Start by applying either of the basic one- or two-color eye-makeup designs mentioned above. Once you have done
that, the third shade, an even deeper color than the two previous colors, is added to the back (outside) corner of the lid or in the crease, or
over both the crease and the back corner of the lid.
In this design, the lid and under-brow colors are softer and less intense than the color at the back corner of the lid or in the crease.
Regardless of where you place this third, darker color, it can be a beautiful deep shade of brown, charcoal, cedar, mahogany, sable, red-
brown, slate, chocolate brown, camel, deep taupe, eggplant, or even black.
Application: If you apply the third eyeshadow in the crease, the trick is to not get the crease color on the lid, but rather to blend it slightly
up into the under-eyebrow area and out onto the temple. Crease Defining Brush or Angled Shadow Brush make this step easy. When
sweeping the crease color across the eye, be sure to not follow the down-curving movement of the shape of the eye. The best look is
achieved if you blend the crease color out and up into the full back (outer) corner of the eye, and up onto the back of the brow bone.
When you apply the crease color, be sure to watch the angle of your brush as you blend the color from the crease out and up toward the
under-brow area. If you place your color with the brush straight up at a 90-degree angle, you will look like you drew on wings. The softer the
angle and the fuller the sweep, the softer the appearance, so be certain you blend out and slightly up from the lid area toward the under-brow
area. If you have a small eye crease area, Precision Shadow Brush will make a controlled application and expert placement foolproof.
If you apply the third color at the back corner of the eye, the color hugs a small section of the lid, blending out and up into the crease and
temple area. This step is explained in more detail for the four-color eye-makeup design.
Four-color design: In this design, you again start with the one- or two-color eye-makeup design, then add a darker color to the crease
and an even darker color such as black or deepest gray to the back corner of the eye. Shading the back corner of the eyelid involves the arts
of placement and blending. Because this area almost always requires a dark color, blending is essential to make it look soft, with no hard
edges.
Why bother with a crease color and more shading at the back corner of the eye? The best part of this full eye-makeup design is that it
shades, defines, and creates movement by adding a shadow in a curved flowing motion that follows the natural shape of the eye. The difficult
part of this design is blending the crease color across the entire length of the eye without making it look obvious, choppy, or smeared. The
goal is to tuck the color just in the crease at the fold nearest the nose and have it hug the crease until you get to the back corner of the eye,
where you start the movement of the eyeshadow up and out onto the brow bone. Again, this sweep of color should not look like a stripe
across the eye.
Application: Be sure to knock the excess eyeshadow off your brush, and apply the color with very small strokes over the back corner of
the lid only. The problem here is keeping the color on the back of the lid only. If you don’t know how to handle the brush, the back wedge can
take up more than half of the eyelid (looking more like a mistake rather than carefully blended shading) or look like a stripe across the temple.
As mentioned above, when you apply the crease color, be sure to watch the angle of your brush as you blend the color from the crease out
and up toward the under-brow area. If you place your color with the brush straight up at a 90-degree angle, you will look like you drew on
wings. The softer the angle and the fuller the sweep, the softer the appearance, so be certain you blend out and slightly up from the lid area
toward the under-brow area.
Remember, the center or fold of the crease area is always the darkest, so start your brush there and blend out in each direction. A brush
such as a Soft Blending Brush makes it easier to soften and blend darker colors. Concentrate your efforts on the crease area you want to
shade. Start all the way at the front part of the eye area under the front third of the brow, then follow the crease through the center, blending
slightly up toward the brow. As you approach the back corner of the eye, begin your movement up and out toward the temple, aiming toward
the eyebrow.
Tips
Matte powder eye shadows in an array of neutral tones from light to dark are your best bets for a classic, sophisticated eye design that
accents the shape and color of your eyes. Unless you’re using just one eyeshadow color, use at least two eyeshadow brushes for application.
Prep the eyelid and under-brow area with a matte-finish concealer, foundation, and/or powder before applying eyeshadow. This ensures a
smooth, even application and (if you have fair to medium skin) will also neutralize the red and blue coloration of the eyelid.
Tap off any excess eyeshadow from your brush before applying—this will prevent over application as well as flaking eyeshadow.
If you really want to make the color of your eyes pop, choose a contrasting color in a soft tone and apply this to the lids. Blue eyes come alive
with pale peach or cantaloupe hues, green eyes seem richer with light bronze or caramel tones, hazel eyes become more alluring with
chestnut and golden brown shades, and brown eyes are nicely accented by almost all neutral tones.
Eye-Design Mistakes to Avoid
Do not over color the eyes; excessive bright colors are distracting, not attractive.
Do not create hard edges; you should not be able to see where one color stops and another starts. Practice your application and learn to
blend well.
Do not wear bright pink or iridescent pink eye shadows; they make eyes look irritated and tired. Muted or pale pink is an option.
If you are concerned about making skin look more wrinkled, do not wear shiny eye shadows of any kind because they exaggerate the
appearance of lines. If you have smooth, unlined eyelids and prefer a touch of shine, apply it sparingly for subtle shimmer rather than
distracting glitter.
Do not apply lipstick or blush over the eye area; it might sound like a time-saver, but if you have a lighter skin tone, it can make you look like
you have been up all night crying. However, most bronzing powders can work as eye shadows.
Do not match your eyeshadow to your clothing or your eye color. If you have blue eyes, blue eyeshadow makes the blue of your eyes look
duller. And complementing your clothing is at best dated; besides, what if you’re wearing red or black?
Avoid eye glosses and other greasy products at all costs. These may look intriguing in photographs, but are more annoying than alluring in
real life because they stick, smear and smudge all over the place in a very short period of time.
its shape by using a progression of light to dark colors across the eye, blending one over the other so that you can’t see where one stops
and another starts. Here you can follow, step by step, how to use one eyeshadow or several different eye shadows to create a well-blended,
classic eye-makeup design. Even for the most formal eye-makeup design, four different colors should be plenty. Whether you use one, two,
three, or four different eye shadows, they become a full design when worn with eyeliner, temple contour, and mascara.
One-color design: This design blends one soft, subtle color all over the eye area, from the lashes to just under the eyebrow, with no
patches of skin showing through. You should not wear only a splash of color over the eyelid and ignore the rest of the eye area.
Application: When applying a single color, first place it from the lashes to the crease using a brush such as a Shadow Softening Brush.
Make sure that you do not extend the color into the inside corner of the eye (off the lid area) or out beyond the lid onto the temple. Also be
certain there are no patches of skin showing through on the lid next to the eyelashes. The entire lid at this point is one solid color.
Next, place the color from the crease up to the brow, following the entire length of the eyebrow from the nose out to the temple area. Avoid
leaving a hard edge at the back (outside) corner of the eye where the eyeshadow stops. If desired, use a brush such as a Soft Blending
Brush. This will create subtlety and a soft highlight under the eyebrow. Because the eyeshadow for the one-color eye-makeup design is so
soft and subtle, blending and application is quite easy. The best colors for this design include light tan, neutral taupe, beige, pale mauve
brown, pale gray, light golden brown, camel, and light auburn. Whatever the color, it should definitely not be obvious.
Two-color design: This is the most common, practical eye design. Approach this design by applying the lighter color to the eyelid and
the deeper color from the crease up to the brow, or you can apply the deeper color to the lid and the lighter color from the crease to the brow.
Generally speaking, the under-eyebrow color should be a shade or two darker than the lid color. You do not want it to be a distinctly different
color, just a different shade. The lid can be taupe, beige, tan, camel, gray, light auburn, golden brown, or any light neutral shade, and the
under-eyebrow color should be a deeper shade of the same color. Women with darker skin tones can wear muted rose, mauve, or peach as
long as it does not make their eyes look irritated or is not too obvious. Bright, noticeably shiny, or whitish shadows can look dated and make
the brow bone look more prominent and heavy.
Which color and what shades go where? The general rule is that the larger or more prominent the eyelid area is compared with the under-
brow area, the darker or deeper the eyelid color can be; the smaller the eyelid area is compared with the under-brow area, the brighter or
lighter the eyelid color can be. The notion is that if the eyelid area is already prominent or large, it is not necessary to make it appear any
bigger by applying a light color to it. If the eyelid area is small, it is appropriate to make it more prominent by wearing a lighter color.
Application: Whichever way you choose to apply this design, the lid and under-brow shades should meet but not overlap at the crease.
You can use brushes like Large Round Shadow Brush or Small Round Shadow Brush to apply the light shade to the lid and Crease Defining
Brush or Angled Shadow Brush to apply the darker shade from the crease up to the brow. Then, using a small wedge brush Wedge/Brow
Brush, you can use the light color again as a highlight just along the lower edge of the eyebrow. This can bring dramatic, but subtle, attention
to the shape of the brow and the eye without the need for another eyeshadow color. You can also apply the lighter color from the lid to the
under-brow area and use the darker color in and slightly above the crease. Then take a brush such as a Precision Shadow Brush and use
the darker color to softly shade the back corner of the eye, making sure this shading is an extension of the crease color. For more dramatic
variations on this theme, see the three- and four-color designs below.
Three-color design: Start by applying either of the basic one- or two-color eye-makeup designs mentioned above. Once you have done
that, the third shade, an even deeper color than the two previous colors, is added to the back (outside) corner of the lid or in the crease, or
over both the crease and the back corner of the lid.
In this design, the lid and under-brow colors are softer and less intense than the color at the back corner of the lid or in the crease.
Regardless of where you place this third, darker color, it can be a beautiful deep shade of brown, charcoal, cedar, mahogany, sable, red-
brown, slate, chocolate brown, camel, deep taupe, eggplant, or even black.
Application: If you apply the third eyeshadow in the crease, the trick is to not get the crease color on the lid, but rather to blend it slightly
up into the under-eyebrow area and out onto the temple. Crease Defining Brush or Angled Shadow Brush make this step easy. When
sweeping the crease color across the eye, be sure to not follow the down-curving movement of the shape of the eye. The best look is
achieved if you blend the crease color out and up into the full back (outer) corner of the eye, and up onto the back of the brow bone.
When you apply the crease color, be sure to watch the angle of your brush as you blend the color from the crease out and up toward the
under-brow area. If you place your color with the brush straight up at a 90-degree angle, you will look like you drew on wings. The softer the
angle and the fuller the sweep, the softer the appearance, so be certain you blend out and slightly up from the lid area toward the under-brow
area. If you have a small eye crease area, Precision Shadow Brush will make a controlled application and expert placement foolproof.
If you apply the third color at the back corner of the eye, the color hugs a small section of the lid, blending out and up into the crease and
temple area. This step is explained in more detail for the four-color eye-makeup design.
Four-color design: In this design, you again start with the one- or two-color eye-makeup design, then add a darker color to the crease
and an even darker color such as black or deepest gray to the back corner of the eye. Shading the back corner of the eyelid involves the arts
of placement and blending. Because this area almost always requires a dark color, blending is essential to make it look soft, with no hard
edges.
Why bother with a crease color and more shading at the back corner of the eye? The best part of this full eye-makeup design is that it
shades, defines, and creates movement by adding a shadow in a curved flowing motion that follows the natural shape of the eye. The difficult
part of this design is blending the crease color across the entire length of the eye without making it look obvious, choppy, or smeared. The
goal is to tuck the color just in the crease at the fold nearest the nose and have it hug the crease until you get to the back corner of the eye,
where you start the movement of the eyeshadow up and out onto the brow bone. Again, this sweep of color should not look like a stripe
across the eye.
Application: Be sure to knock the excess eyeshadow off your brush, and apply the color with very small strokes over the back corner of
the lid only. The problem here is keeping the color on the back of the lid only. If you don’t know how to handle the brush, the back wedge can
take up more than half of the eyelid (looking more like a mistake rather than carefully blended shading) or look like a stripe across the temple.
As mentioned above, when you apply the crease color, be sure to watch the angle of your brush as you blend the color from the crease out
and up toward the under-brow area. If you place your color with the brush straight up at a 90-degree angle, you will look like you drew on
wings. The softer the angle and the fuller the sweep, the softer the appearance, so be certain you blend out and slightly up from the lid area
toward the under-brow area.
Remember, the center or fold of the crease area is always the darkest, so start your brush there and blend out in each direction. A brush
such as a Soft Blending Brush makes it easier to soften and blend darker colors. Concentrate your efforts on the crease area you want to
shade. Start all the way at the front part of the eye area under the front third of the brow, then follow the crease through the center, blending
slightly up toward the brow. As you approach the back corner of the eye, begin your movement up and out toward the temple, aiming toward
the eyebrow.
Tips
Matte powder eye shadows in an array of neutral tones from light to dark are your best bets for a classic, sophisticated eye design that
accents the shape and color of your eyes. Unless you’re using just one eyeshadow color, use at least two eyeshadow brushes for application.
Prep the eyelid and under-brow area with a matte-finish concealer, foundation, and/or powder before applying eyeshadow. This ensures a
smooth, even application and (if you have fair to medium skin) will also neutralize the red and blue coloration of the eyelid.
Tap off any excess eyeshadow from your brush before applying—this will prevent over application as well as flaking eyeshadow.
If you really want to make the color of your eyes pop, choose a contrasting color in a soft tone and apply this to the lids. Blue eyes come alive
with pale peach or cantaloupe hues, green eyes seem richer with light bronze or caramel tones, hazel eyes become more alluring with
chestnut and golden brown shades, and brown eyes are nicely accented by almost all neutral tones.
Eye-Design Mistakes to Avoid
Do not over color the eyes; excessive bright colors are distracting, not attractive.
Do not create hard edges; you should not be able to see where one color stops and another starts. Practice your application and learn to
blend well.
Do not wear bright pink or iridescent pink eye shadows; they make eyes look irritated and tired. Muted or pale pink is an option.
If you are concerned about making skin look more wrinkled, do not wear shiny eye shadows of any kind because they exaggerate the
appearance of lines. If you have smooth, unlined eyelids and prefer a touch of shine, apply it sparingly for subtle shimmer rather than
distracting glitter.
Do not apply lipstick or blush over the eye area; it might sound like a time-saver, but if you have a lighter skin tone, it can make you look like
you have been up all night crying. However, most bronzing powders can work as eye shadows.
Do not match your eyeshadow to your clothing or your eye color. If you have blue eyes, blue eyeshadow makes the blue of your eyes look
duller. And complementing your clothing is at best dated; besides, what if you’re wearing red or black?
Avoid eye glosses and other greasy products at all costs. These may look intriguing in photographs, but are more annoying than alluring in
real life because they stick, smear and smudge all over the place in a very short period of time.