Wedding Series, Part Two: Eyes and Eyebrows

This post is the second in a four part series I’m creating for my bridesmaids.  The first three parts are detailing tools and different makeup that I already have in my arsenal.  I will describe the uses for all sorts of different tools and the cost of items and where they can be bought.  The last part will go into makeup looks that would be appropriate for my wedding specifically.  Keep in mind, a lot of clickable links in here to buy stuff!

I’m focusing on the eyes in this post; my favorite area to do makeup!  There are so many different amazing things you can do with eye makeup.  However, I will just keep it to the basics and tell you the different things I have learned about eye makeup.  Let me say, eye makeup completely transform your makeup look!  Think of when you do a full face of makeup with no eye makeup yet.  It looks a little odd and then once you add eyeshadow and eyeliner and some mascara, it transforms.  That is the amazing part of eye makeup!

Eyes

I will start this off by admitting that I have extremely oily eyelids.  If I just apply eyeliner or eyeshadow, it’ll be smeared and bleeding and creased within an hour.  I dealt with this for about three years of wearing makeup before I learned of the magical powers of eyeshadow primer!  You heard me rant and rave about face primer in my last post.  Let me say, if I had to pick one item of makeup to have, it’d be eye primer.  My makeup does not last without it!

You use eye shadow primer to make your eye makeup pop and last longer.  There are many out there and you have to try them out and see what works best for you.  I bought this Too Faced Shadow Insurance Anti-Crease Eye Shadow Primer from Sephora (here) for $20.  This is a nice soft nude primer that you put on before eye shadow.  Many makeup gurus and bloggers use this primer and love it.  I am not that person.  It works decently but it does not have the lasting power of other primers for me.  I generally have some creasing at the end of the day with this primer.  However it might work for you!

This right here is my holy grail eye shadow primer!  The Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin (buy here for $20) is the very first eye shadow primer I bought after recommendation from a friend, and none have compared to it yet.  This color shade is a champagne color that has a mousse-like texture.  I prefer that because it also looks nice on its own if I want to just wear eyeliner.  They do have many color shades.  This primer works like a dream.  I will put on all of my eye makeup around noon, I can go out and about to parties, go to sleep with my makeup on, and wake up in the morning and only have a little smudging under my eyes.  I do not apply this under my eyes though.  Do yourself a favor and splurge on a high end primer here.  It will make a difference.

This is an E.L.F. Glitter Primer (here for $2, or you can find at Target and Walmart) that I received in a makeup swap.  E.L.F. is an inexpensive makeup option for those not willing to splurge on money.  I like their eyeshadows but everything else is hit or miss.  I have not tried it out yet but it is something you should know exists.  Glitter primers are more sticky so that they can hold loose glitters better or a very glittery/shimmery eyeshadow.  I generally wear matte eyeshadow so this is why I have not tried this.

This is another product I have only used once that I received in a makeup swap.  This is the E.L.F. Hydrating Under Eye Primer that can be bought for $3 (here) or at Target or Walmart.  This helps to hydrate the eyes to keep them less puffy while also preventing concealer from settling into the fine lines of our eyes.  I rarely have that issue with my concealer (due to using a high end, long lasting concealer), but this would be helpful if you are having an issue with concealers settling.

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I’m only giving you an example of one eyeshadow palette because the options with eyeshadows are boundless.  It would take hundreds of posts to go through how many options are available.  Eyeshadows are where I am more willing to venture into drugstore brands and also use high end shadows.  I will say that if you splurge on your eyeshadow, you will have an eyeshadow that lasts longer, has better color payoff (amount of color that goes on in one brush), as well as better texture that goes onto the lid more smoothly.  However, I love drugstore eyeshadows like E.L.F. and NYX (especially NYX).  I was gifted this Urban Decay Naked 3 palette for my birthday last year.  You can find it at Ulta or Sephora for $54 (here).  That price sounds scary, but, believe me, you are getting a high quality eye shadow that does not even compare to drugstore brands.  The shadows are buttery, have amazing color payoff, and are very long lasting.  This is my most used palette, which has rose-hued shades, but there are 3 other palettes that have browns and now darker smoky shades.  This is a good neutral palette that can be used any time, which is why I use it constantly.  There are some cheaper dupes from Coastal Scents that also work well, but not as well as the UD brand palette.  I would suggest investing a palette with neutral shades.  By the way, palettes give you more bang for your buck than buying individual shadows.  Look at the close ups of the shadows.  They are gorgeous shades!

To reference a future post in this series, I regularly use this palette for a neutral smoky eye look. I generally use three shades to create the look and decide that day if I want it to be a matte look or a shimmery look.  I always use a skin-colored matte shade to go over my primer, because it always seems to make my eye makeup last longer.  If I want to go for a matte look, I will use a combination of Strange, Limit, and Nooner.  I use this look a lot for work.  If I want a shimmery look, I use a combination of Dust, Buzz, and Liar, and if I want to go more dramatic, I will add Blackheart as well.  I use this for going out or special events.

I received this Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil (buy here for $18) in another makeup swap. I actually use this pencil quite frequently.  Most of all, I use it in the inner corner of my eyes to brighten my eyes as well as a highlight right under my eyebrows. I will sometimes use it on my cupid’s bow, especially when wearing lipstick.  A highlighter pencil is really useful to highlight areas and make them stand out.  It doesn’t have to be an expensive pencil like this.  You can use the pencil below.

Instead of the expensive Chella pencil, the Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk has been a frequent go to.  I got this from Ulta for $4.50 (here) and it also does a great job of highlighting areas.  I love this pencil, but since it is a milky white, you have to really be careful to blend it in well. I know a lot of people use the various shades of this Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil as a base for their eye makeup.  It is too creamy for me to use for that purpose and it’ll crease.  Maybe it would work for you?

Now on to eyeliner!  If nothing else, I always use eyeliner and mascara.  I have tried probably every type of eyeliner.  Because I used to have a huge issue with eye makeup creasing, I always had to use liquid eyeliner.  I have now branched out and use what I think looks best for my style of eyeliner.  I almost always create a cat eye and I have to use what works best.

I exclusively use the Rimmel London ScandalEyes Gel Eyeliner that can be bought for $6 at Ulta (here).  This is a very nice creamy gel eyeliner.  You use a brush to apply this type of eyeliner, but it does create very dark and thin lines.  Perfect for a cat eye! This type of eyeliner is also fairly long lasting and dries perfectly.  You can see a swatch of this down below.

Another popular type of eyeliner is a regular pencil.  You can use one that you sharpen, like the one above, or you can use one that is retractable (it twists up).  I do not regularly use a pencil at all.  For me, it isn’t smooth enough so it drags along my eyelid.  I will occasionally use pencils on my lower lash line if I want a more intense look.  The eyeliner pictured is another one that I received in a makeup swap.  This is a Tarte Amazonian Clay Eyeliner that you can buy for $19 at Sephora here.  This is another type of product that I think you can buy a cheaper product and have something mostly comparable.  Again this is a product I do not use very frequently.

Liquid eyeliner was once my go to type of eyeliner because it was always the type of liner that would actually stay on my lid.  Now I rarely use liquid eyeliner.  I will use it if I am wearing false lashes though, because it hides the line of lashes.  More on that later.  I received this eyeliner in an Ipsy bag, which is a makeup subscription bag.  I have used it a bit and I like it quite a bit.  Mostly because it is black but it has silver glitter in it.  You can find this Elizabeth Mott You’re So Fine liquid eyeliner in Glitterati for $18 here.  I’ve used many drugstore liquid liners and they are all fairly comparable, to be honest.

This is another form of liquid eyeliner. which is a felt tip liquid pencil.  This one comes in a marker form, but it can also come in the type where it is dipped in the liquid liner.  This type of eyeliner tip might be good for you if you have trouble making a clean line.  I like a brush type liquid liner like the Elizabeth Mott liner above. I got this liner in another Ipsy bag and it can be bought here for $12.  I am not aware of any other marker type liquid liners.

This is a unique type of retractable pencil eyeliner.  This is a gel eyeliner that is a pencil form, so it has a smoother application than the regular pencil eyeliner.  Maybelline is the only one that I has created this type of pencil.  I like how smooth this pencil applies but it gets rounded and dull so it doesn’t create thin and precise lines the same way that a gel eyeliner in a pot would work.  This is the Maybelline Eye Studio Master Drama Cream Pencil in Midnight Master for $8 at any drugstore or Ulta.

From top to bottom: Maybelline Gel Pencil, Skone Liquid Felt Tip, Elizabeth Mott Liquid Liner, Tarte Pencil, and Rimmel Gel Liner.

As you can see here, the darkest of the liners are the Rimmel Gel Liner that comes in a pot, which is on the bottom, and the Elizabeth Mott Liquid Liner that is in the middle.  I find that these will always be the darkest liners and the most precise as well.  You have to find what you like the best and what works the best for you.  Do you have a preference?

Most people know of mascara. It almost seems silly to include it in this post. BUT mascara is a very important part of the eye makeup regimen.  Along with eyebrows, it completely pulls the whole look together.  This Urban Decay Perversion mascara is my favorite mascara in the world.  It has a base/primer you can use underneath it called Subversion, which I have never used but I have heard that it makes it twenty times more amazing.  This is a sample that I got in a swap, but I plan to buy the full size at Ulta for $22.

Another step that is not completely necessary but one that I would suggest for those special occasions would be false eyelashes.  I like to wear these with either costumes or any time that I really wanna have a super dramatic eye.  I got these for fairly cheap at Walgreens, and I love to buy awesome ones from my local costume store.  These can be difficult to apply so I usually require help. I’d recommend falsies for a wedding…

You’ll need eyelash adhesive with your falsies.  This is the complicated part for me.  I got this when I bought some falsies from my local costume store, but I believe you can also buy this for fairly cheap in any drugstore.  It may even come with a lot of false eyelashes?

This ain’t pretty, but you can see that this is my go to eyebrow powder.  This is one thing that I do not splurge on because this Wet n Wild Eyebrow Kit for $3.99 at Walgreens works pretty well.  I dump the cruddy brushes and just use my own brushes (see Part One).  This powder surprisingly has quite a bit of longevity.  Rarely do I have smearing on my eyebrows which is nice.  I use the lighter color on a regular basis and the darker color when I have my hair colored a darker shade.  I love this eyebrow product.

Last, but not least, I have been using a clear eyebrow gel to set my eyebrows.  I got this gel in, can you guess?, a makeup swap. This works pretty well but I don’t know if it’ll be something that I purchase at full price.  I think Maybelline has a clear mascara too.  This helps keep the eyebrows in place and looking nice.

That is it for this post!  Thanks for sticking with me on this one.  I hope it has been informative.  If you have any questions, let me know! I love talking makeup! ;D