There’s one surefire way to ensure your makeup looks modern and fresh right now. That is not falling into the old manner of creating an intensely-sculpted eye makeup look with multiple products precisely applied across the eyelid.
Many of us have been trying to master the blended and contoured eyeshadow look that once reigned supreme for years. With brands still delivering eyeshadow quads with four complementary shades from light to dark, it’s certainly tempting the feel like you still need to use each of them on different parts of the eyelid.
We’re here to tell you it’s time to simplify.
New makeup looks take a less is more approach. Instead of blending multiple colours of powder shadow, use just one and apply simply across the lid. Try a soft rosy or champagne shimmer or a shadow stick that gives a radiant gleam.
You’ll end up with a look that seems more relaxed, nonchalant and chic, rather than overwrought.
The Tom Ford show at Milan Fashion Week was a masterclass in making one product – eyeliner – go the extra distance, with a ‘perfectly imperfect’ eye look to accompany the elegantly glamorous fashion collection. A black liner was applied to lower lash lines, including the ‘waterline’ inside the lashline and blended out slightly with a touch of colour from the Tom Ford Eye Colour Quad in Ember Bronze. The top lids were left bare, save for a sweep of flicked-out eye shadow just in the outer corner of eyelids.
L-R: Maybelline Tattoo Liner; Dior 24H Stylo; Chanel Le Crayon Yeux; Gucci Stylo Contour Des Yeux;
It shows how useful a soft, smudgy eyeliner can be. It can also be worn alone, drawn across the base of lashes on your upper eyelid. Finish the line where your eyelid finishes but use an angled or pencil-shape eye brush to ‘drag’ the colour out and up slightly at the outer edges for a modern ‘cat-eye’ flick that looks cool, rather than contrived, and can be as subtle or as bold as you like.
When looking for the perfect eyeliner, you want one that eventually sets well but stays malleable and smudgeable for a few seconds. Swatch options on your hand while shopping and rub with a finger to see how much it moves.
If you end up with a liner than doesn’t stay put as much as you’d like, try blending a touch of powder eyeshadow over the top with a pencil-shape eye brush to deepen the intensity and prevent the oils and waxes in the liner from rubbing or wearing off.
