Using Eye Colour is All About Good Combos

Since the first successful colour process was created by the Lumière brothers in 1907, everything has slowly come to colour; television, cars, monitors, phone screens, and now, every single new eyeshadow palette release. So, if it’s so popular, why are people so apprehensive to wear colourful eye makeup? In a world where Morphe sell 42 pan palettes of rainbow hues at suspiciously good prices, I don’t think we can afford to not be colourful.

But, I get it. I do. Colour is intimidating. Pink-eye is a look closer associated with, ahem, health complications and yellow-eye just sounds hideous. Colourful eye makeup is historically reserved for the runway and, in more recent years, seems to be something that exists predominantly in YouTube tutorials and Instagram grids. That said, I am partial to a full glam grocery run when I’m too lazy to take off a look I’ve just spent hours creating in my room. 

The issue with using eye colour is that it’s hard to know what colours work well together until you’ve made enough mistakes to learn what colours don’t work well together. And it’s not just what makeup tones suit each other, but also what eye combos suit what clothes, lipstick and hairstyle. Choose the wrong selection of colours and it’ll date you no end. You’ll feel mortified whenever you think about the fact you thought red and green was a good idea at Christmas. Hi, Mr Grinch.

The good news is that there is a simple way to knowing what colours go together for eye  makeup. And it’s by keeping your selection to one palette. Each palette is crafted by experts – they all have skin in the colour game – who wouldn’t put two colours on a palette that couldn’t work together somehow. Obviously, I’m not talking The James Charles Artistry Palette. Only he knows how to make a red and blue combo work. Think more Natasha Denona and Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Start small, too. A 6 pan palette with colours that go together on paper – or palette – will definitely go together on your eyelids. I love the Huda Beauty Obsessions range. And once the palette is chosen, go for a look that you know you can master (sorry, cut crease!) and get blending. And I mean blending – that meticulous, refined brush type of blending. My humble experience has shown me that half of the battle of making bright colours go together is making them blend seamlessly.

And if after all of this you’re irrevocably itching to use opposing colours, keep one for your top lid and the other for your bottom lid. A simple underlining of blue with most colours is a sure winner. 

Happy colour co-ordinating!

 

This is the Real Reason you Should be Wetting your Beauty Blender

We’ve all been there: sat down ready to do our makeup and realising one very important thing is missing… a freshly-wet beauty blender. Commence the angry trudge to the sink to wet, squeeze and repeat. 

But despite how often this happens – in my case, a little more than I’m proud of – do we know why we’re supposed to wet our beauty blenders? Like, really know why? It turns out, apparently not. 

I’ve always thought you should wet your beauty blender because when damp and spongey, it reaches your face’s little nooks and crannies, as well as helps different products blend together. And while this may hold some truth – after all, spongey = flexible – there is a more technical reason you should wet your beauty blender.

And that is because the water stops the beauty blender from absorbing product.

“The reason beautyblender works best when wet is because water helps it reach its absorption capacity,” says beautyblender founder, Rea Ann Silvan. “- so it won’t absorb your makeup!”

To prove this, beautyblender advises cutting an old sponge in half when wet. The result? Well, 2 halves of a whole beauty blender, and an open core that shows no product on the inside – just pure colour.

But that’s not all wetting your trusty sponges is good for. According to Silva, a wet blender means “your makeup [will] bounce on beautifully with no lines or brush stroke marks.”

So, while I’m not a total eejit for thinking wetting my beauty blender was a concept developed to aid contouring, it’s good to know there’s a technical logic behind the urban beauty legend.

It’s just a shame they don’t come pre-wet like this cool little guy…

Images sourced from @beautyblender Instagram.

A Look Into Beauty Bay’s EYN Bright Collection

When Beauty Bay launched their first own-brand eyeshadow palettes in September 2018, I thought to myself I’ll have to try those. Finally, over a year later, I got around to it. And I can confirm that Beauty Bay weren’t messing about. After trying their EYN Bright 9 Colour Palette, I am obsessed.

The EYN Bright 9 Colour Palette is a modest collection of rainbow-hued eyeshadows. It has shimmer, glitter and matte formulas in an array of colours, and funky shade names to match. Describing the palette, Beauty Bay promised that all of the shades are blendable and highly-pigmented for soft and subtle or bold and eye-catching looks alike. And IMO, they delivered. The pigment and durability of all the shades in the 9 colour palette is STRONG. Once I had swatched the shades, I couldn’t wait to get creative.

My Look

I used the EYN Bright 9 Colour Palette to create a blue-pink-purple look with a bright lid. I started by applying Tutti Frutti, a salmon pink matte, across my crease and upper eyelid with a large blending brush. I then deepened the pink base by using Spectrum Collections’ A07 brush to darken my crease with Surrel Strawberry, a strawberry pink matte.After creating a pink base, I took Blue Vibes, a deep blue shade, to my crease with the BH Cosmetics 103 Small Shader brush. I very slightly blended it into the top of my eyelid and to the outer corner of my eye to add some dimension.

For the eyelid, I simply applied Lagoon, a teal shimmer, to the middle and inner corner of my eyelid with my fingertip. I am really loving ‘messy’ and loose make-up looks recently. Not only do they look good, but they take the stress out of trying to create a precise look like a cut crease or halo-eye.And to complete the bright eye look, I applied Candid Candyfloss, a light pink shimmer, to my brow bone and inner corner with the Spectrum Collections A12 Fluffy Pencil brush.

On my eyelashes I wore Benefit’s Bad Gal Bang mascara – my firm second favourite to Roller Lash. On my lips I wore Jouer Cosmetics’ High Pigment Lip Gloss in the shade Beverly. I chose a gloss that had a bright strawberry-pink tone similar to the initial pink base I created with EYN palette. Big up co-ordination.If the EYN Bright 9 Colour Palette is anything to judge by, Beauty Bay’s entire EYN Bright collection shares the same levels of pigment pay-off as brands like Juvia’s Place and Violet Voss.

My favourite shade from the 9 colour palette is undeniably Lagoon. The shimmer’s pay-off, as I hope comes through in the pictures, was on Jeffree Star highlighter levels – BLINDING. Even when applied with a fingertip, Lagoon’s pay-off was smooth and blendable, but intense.

After trying Beauty Bay’s 9 colour EYN Bright palette, I intend on upping my rainbow-hue dosage from 9 to 42 ASAP.

Shop the 9 shade palette here: https://www.beautybay.com/p/beauty-bay/eyn-bright-matte-9-colour-palette/ and the rest of the EYN Bright collection on http://www.beautybay.com.

Why Colourful Eye-Shadow IS Classy

READ MY FULL PIECE ON WHY COLOURFUL EYESHADOW IS CLASSY HERE.

Colourful eyeshadow has become a centre of fear amongst the rise of nude trends and subtle glitter – but straying away from your usual gold and black smoky eye or matte brown staple look is more liberating than you think.

Replacing brown eyeshadow with red – and no, not a burgundy style red, a letterbox red – is the perfect place to start. Red eyeshadow is all the rage because it is colourful and not intimidating. It goes with black liner and a range of glitters and will set you free into the possibilities of colourful eyeshadow.

Red isn’t neon, it matches all your fave glitters and it’s familiar (we’ve all worn it on our lips.) Starting with red can lead you to darker pinks and as your blending confidence and faith in your creative streak grow, dark pinks will become baby pinks… And, baby pinks will become purples, and purples will become blues. Before you know it, green has become your staple eye look.

Believe me, I’ve been there.

So, what palettes should you invest in to kick-start your creative journey?

Urban Decay’s Full Spectrum Palette is the beginner’s holy grail for colourful shadow. It is lined with columns of colour groups in a range of finishes to provide you with choice. With choice comes possibilities, and with possibilities comes exploration. The shades in this palette are not neon and are all so easy to blend into one another. The brush provided in the palette has a large blending end which is perfect for tricky colour blending.

When you’re feeling braver and your colour confidence is peaking, look to some brighter shades. BH Cosmetics’ Take Me Back To Brazil palette is bold and bright, and great for colourful looks. Kylie Jenner’s brand also has a range of specific colour palettes for when you’re feeling one colour range.

In a world where nude palettes are a cosmetics staple item, it’s time to start breaking free. Put aside your Morphe 35O 35 and find space for Morphe 35B 35. Find space for creativity and you will watch your confidence as a make-up guru grow.

Josie Marie xo