How to apply eye shadow
Eye shadow can do astonishing things for your eyes-make them seem bigger, smaller, rounder, wider, narrower, more or less prominent. Eye shadow can also embellish what’s good about your eyes and camouflage what’s not.
The Tools
Only by trial and error can you find what tools work best for you. There are many forms of eye shadow-stick, liquid, cream and powder. All can be stroked on with a small soft flat brush or with your fingertip. Choose a shade of eye shadow to complement the color of your eyes-pale shades for day look most natural and more brilliant or frosted shades more dramatic for evening. Browns and taupe shades are useful for correcting, shading and emphasizing contours of the eye.
The Technique
Apply eye shadow after foundation and before eyeliner. Gently smooth shadow over eyelid beginning at inner corner of eye and blend up and slightly past outside corner of eye. Concentrate color near lashes and gradually fade it out as you approach crease of eyelid. For evening extend the color-shaded area all the way to the eyebrow. A line of white shadow or very light foundation applied directly under the arch of the brow creates the effect of a prettier and higher arch.
The Special Effects
To elongate a round eye (top sketch), start shadow a third of the way in from inner corner of eye and extend slightly beyond end of eye, going up and out toward end of brow. To bring out deep-set (center sketch) lighten the eyelid with a tinted foundation two or three shades lighter than your regular makeup base. Use a margin of light-colored shadow along the edge of the eyelid. Taupe shadow applied just under the brow will help to minimize a prominent frontal bone. Prominent eyes can be made to look less so and protruding eyes (bottom sketch) will seem to recede when brown or taupe shadow is blended over the entire eye area. Be sure to stop just short of the broline. If the area under your brow tends to be puffy or droopy, you can use some brown shadow just below the brow and softly line the fold of the eyelid with a deeper shade of brown.
