By Sophia Santoyo
Break it Down Now, Y’all
The world of makeup is a very big and fun place to be. There’s so many, almost too many, possibilities for looks and plenty to gather inspiration from. When I started doing my makeup, and I mean really doing more than mascara and eyebrows, I was 14 and definitely not any good at it. I didn’t know anything about blending, where my crease was; I didn’t even think about priming my eyelids before going crazy with eyeshadow.
Since then, I’ve learned so much about brushes, blending techniques, and everything I need to create a beautifully blended eyeshadow look.
Brushes
There’s many different types of brushes for a reason. One of my favorite and affordable brands for all of my brush needs has to be Morphe. You might’ve heard of them, but you might’ve not. They have amazing quality brushes for all of your makeup needs. Although, I would recommend practicing with a starter kit from Amazon or trying out Elf Cosmetics’ brushes. My first professional brush set was purchased from Amazon, and I’ve held on to a few of those old staples that never fail me to this day!
However, there’s more to picking brushes than you think. Not any old blending brush will work. It all depends on your eye shape and lid space.
Big Eyes
With big eyes, you have more lid space to work with. You have more room to pack and blend colors up to right below your brow bone.
Morphe
- This is a great brush for getting right inside your crease OR for blending out the harsh edges of your shadow
Morphe
R39 - Pointed Blender
- This one is great for packing color onto your eye, then blend it
Morphe
R40- Deluxe pointed blender
- For blending out edges and if applying a singular color all over the lid
Morphe
M330 - Blending Crease
- For pinpointing a color right into that crease (where your eye folds)
Small Eyes
With small eyes, there’s less lid space for blending. But don’t worry, genetics won’t stop you from having bomb ass shadow! Smaller, more precise blending brushes will give you more control over where you want the shadow to go and make blending easier.
Morphe
M456 - Mini firm blending brush
- My favorite brush for packing color onto a specific area and blending it out just enough, but not too far up
Morphe
M455 - Detailed bullet crease brush
- Perfect for getting in between colors and blending those
Morphe
M506 - Tapered mini blender
- An all-around great brush for: blending colors together, blending out harsh edges, and packing color onto the eye
Blending Techniques
Over the past 5 years that I’ve spent practicing makeup, I have come a long way with my eye shadow blends. Here are a few:
Use Wet (unset) Concealer as your Base
Using wet concealer makes the colors pop out more. This also helps with blending by making it faster and the shadow sticks to the concealer as you blend. Lastly, it will make your shadow brighter and crease-less, longer.
Use a Light Hand
I know the feeling of desperately wanting the shadow to work for you, but you just end up with sore eyes from all of the rubbing. Being patient and using a lighter hand to blend out shadow is the best way to get shadow where you want it. Also, you can stay in control of where it ends up.
Use Circular Motions
This helps with distributing the shade evenly onto every part of the eye as well as blend the color out a little bit at the same time. Also very helpful with controlling where you want the color.
Start With a Base Shade
Don’t go straight in with a dark color. Try to use another color that you’ll later blend the dark color into to control how dark you want to go.
Always Go Back With Your Initial Shade
As a final touch, going back with the brush you first used with the base color on it (don’t add more), get those edges and blend it all out one more time for good measure.