Eye Makeup Essentials?

ahs483

ahs483

Member
Jun 17, 2006
1,276
3
#1
Hey girls.

So overall I would say I'm kinda an intermediate eye makeup user...I'm no expert but I have some good products and can make my eyes look pretty good. However after watching several tutorials on youtube, I started to feel really overwhelmed, or maybe UNDERwhelmed with the products I have. I feel like there are SO many different kinds of products and colors and I'm just like AHHH WHAT DO I NEED?!

So I'm asking you, what would you say are some eye makeup essentials? I mean I know shadow, mascara, liner...but I'm more curious as to like specific colors and types to create different kinds of looks. What do you find yourself using the most and why?

Also, do you think it would be a good idea to invest in a large palette where I could try lots of different colors? What's your opinion on palettes?

Thank you!
 
#2
Well gosh that's a pretty subjective question, LOL. Meaning, what works great on some people won't work on others just due to coloring, body chemistry, skin type, allergies...

I'm very partial to MAC for eye makeup and I always come back to my favorite neutrals:

smoke & diamonds
satin taupe
shroom
unbasic White

I love their pencil liners in Smolder and Phone Number. The black liquid liner is also awesome.
ZoomFast mascara

Now all that said I also love Stila's original smokey eye quad too.

As far as investing in a large palette that is one way to go however I find when I buy a pre-made palette there are always a few I don't use so it ends up being a waste.

I like buying MAC's empty palettes and filling them with their pan e/s of my choosing :biggrin:

Hope that helps? What are the products you are using that you are not happy with?
 
#3
eye liner! I find that my eye makeup always looks incomplete without some eyeliner. I'm a gel/liquid liner whore. pencils get smudgy on me.

and I also got caught up in trying to fill up empty palette's with all the pretty colored eyeshadows that I could find. I find I don't use much of the bolder colors though. But I do know that you should probably just invest and build your own palette than buy the cheaper pre-made ones since you might not use all the shadows, and it's not travel friendly if you're carrying it around with you to just use, say, 2 out of the 6 colors.
 
#4
Some sort of eyeshadow primer is essential! Urban Decay Primer Potion is great, I have heard good things about Too Faced Shadow Insurance, I am using a small tube of Tarte and it is wonderful too!
I like palettes, especially Sephora issued ones, for under $30 (the cost of 2 MAC shadows) you can get a wide range of ideas. I just got this one:
http://www.sephora.com/browse/produ...W5BH4E4CV0KQLQIGQ?id=P258058&categoryId=C7010 and I think the colours are incredible and they are seperated into what goes with what! I have not used it yet, so I can't say about the quality, but have been happy with my other Sephora shadow palettes.
 
#5
I felt the same way when I starting watching youtube beauty videos lol. It was definitely overwhelming! :wacko: I was like- "Where in the hell do I even begin!?" haha

As far as Mac goes- Satin Taupe eyeshadow and Painterly paint pot are my ABSOLUTE essentials (I am NC20 for reference) if I had to really narrow it down. I also love Stila shadows- they are SO soft. My two faves are Wheat and Black Cat. For mascara and eyeliner I tend to go drugstore (they are just usually better IMO). Last Blast mascara and Revlon Colorstay eyeliner are two of my faves. For liquid liner I *LOVE* Mac blacktrack fluidline, but Wet n' Wild has a great dupe.

For me, good brushes are ESSENTIAL, especially for eye makeup. Mac is the best for brushes... 239, 217, & 224- AMAZING. You will never go back. For eyeliner... Sonia Kashuk has a great bent eyeliner brush for like $5ish.

I definitely recommend going the palette route if you are planning on building your collection. It will save you money and space in the long run. I didn't and regretted it when I found myself having to depot like 15 shadows lol. Hope this helps!

My last piece of advice it to test out/educate yourself on eyeshadow finishes when it comes to Mac. This will immensely help you when narrowing down what you want/like/don't like. Enkore (from youtube) has some great vids on this I believe.
 
#6
For me, an absolute essential would be Urban Decay Primer Potion. To be honest, a $2.00 eyeshadow will look and perform just as well (mostly anyway) as a $15.00 shadow if you use a good quality primer underneath. It helps the color show up true and last all day long without creasing.

An excellent quality, long wearing pencil liner (Urban Decay 24/7). Yes, I love MAC's blacktrack, but you have to use a brush and that's just one more thing to have to deal with and clean. In a hurry, the UD pencil gets the job done and looks just as good as the other.

A great mascara, and I have found that L'Oreal makes some of the very best ones around. I've used Voluminous for years and always come back to this one.

As for eyeshadow colors...this is all going to depend on you. What I did was invest in MAC palettes and pro pan shadows for the colors that I know I use a lot (neutrals) and then for brighter colors that I don't use much, I bought Coastal Scents palettes. They are far cheaper, you get a lot of colors, and the quality is really great.
 
#7
OOOOO eye makeup is my FAVORITE!

My standards:
- primer
- lancome artliner in noir (liquid eyeliner)
- BE buxom lash mascara
- lancome hypnose mascara in deep black
- EYESHADOW! lol I will try just about ANY kind... I have cheap palettes, I have no name brands, I have UD/BE/Too Faced/Lancome/Estee Lauder/MAC/etc... just buy colors that flatter you
- some good blending brushes!

If you prefer pencil liner UD 24/7 liner is my absolute FAVORITE as it glides on without tugging but it stays on all day long without giving me raccoon eyes or making a black rainbow on my eyelid! lol
 
#8
My everyday look is black liner/kohl with neutral highlight. I also smudge, winged eye, thin/deep eyelines. Sometimes I find color kohl pencils easier to blend than color shadows (I like Dior and L'Oreal)

The tools I reach for over and over are:

Nars #15 smudge brush
Nars #16 angled contour (v-crease)
Shu Uemura #6 OB small angled badger brush (precise wing)
MAC 227 wide brush (upper lid)
Loew-Cornell Maxine's Mop (equiv. of MAC #239) for color layer

Dior eye pencil in Noir, MAC e/s in Carbon
Jane EyeZing in Dream Cream
tube of Smashbox primer, Bobbi Brown creamy concealer for eyelids
Andrea ModLash is my current eyelash fave
 
#9
may basic look is very light and i'm only beginning to learn eyeshadow now (at 27) haha but for my basics i have:
setting aside skin care (moisturizer and my hydrating face base)

1. laura mercier mineral loose powder in natural beige
2. guerlain concealer
3. YSL faux cils mascara
4. shu uemura blush in peach
5. shu uemura liquid eyeliner
6. mac lippie or gloss
 
#10
for eye makeup, primer is essential if you go to school or work everyday. There aren't many times for touch ups at either of those places, so yeah, primer is a definite. I love UD's primer potion. if i don't apply it before i put eyeshadow & eyeliner on then four hours later my makeup will all be under my eyes. i also love UD eyeshadow when i feel like I want to wear shimmer that day, I love MAC eyeshadow. i was in love with a gold Bobbi Brown shimmerbrick I bought one year but it was very very limited edition and i can't find it anywhere now.......it had the most gorgeous gold eyeshadow colors, but I think that their shimmerbrick called Copper Diamond is pretty similiar to it, even though its not the exact same one. Also, mascara is a staple for most people. Its really subjective though because there's all different mascara. I only wear mascara maybe once or twice a week and then the rest of the time I just wear false eyelashes. But mascara is really subjective because for example, when I wear mascara I like my eyelashes to be so long and curly that they almost look fake, (Diorshow is a good mascara for that, as well as a good heated eyelash curler.), and my friend likes mascara that is really natural looking that only curls your eyelashes a little bit, where you can barely tell that its on. Also, a good MAC eyeshadow brush and a good light under the brow highlighter and you should be fine! :smile:
 
#12
I find Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliners hard to do without. Zero, Crash, Gunmetal. I am not good with gels and liquids and these seem very creamy and forgiving on application. You can smudge them if you work fast.

I've recently discovered Korres mascara which I looooove. Black for me and this one is a black black.

And for shadows I just have fun. Using primer def keeps them in place. I like BE Primetime for eyes. Or if I am using certain colors I will use MAC paint pots as a base and skip the primer. I find I don't need both. Bare Study or Rubenesque are my fave. I am very fair and those are light colors working well for me. My favorite shadow colors are anything in an Urban Decay palette. I just bought Shadow Box (? black with a gun on it and purple foiling detail) and the colors are so fun.

And def a lash curler.
 
#13
ahs483 said:
Hey girls.

So overall I would say I'm kinda an intermediate eye makeup user...I'm no expert but I have some good products and can make my eyes look pretty good. However after watching several tutorials on youtube, I started to feel really overwhelmed, or maybe UNDERwhelmed with the products I have. I feel like there are SO many different kinds of products and colors and I'm just like AHHH WHAT DO I NEED?!

So I'm asking you, what would you say are some eye makeup essentials? I mean I know shadow, mascara, liner...but I'm more curious as to like specific colors and types to create different kinds of looks. What do you find yourself using the most and why?

Also, do you think it would be a good idea to invest in a large palette where I could try lots of different colors? What's your opinion on palettes?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Im really into Smokey Eyes atm!

What I use most days:

1.UDPP
2.Stila Slate Eyeshadow
3.Stila Kettle Eyeshadow
4.Stila Ebony Eyeshadow (if I want matte) or MAC Black Tied
5. I use a matte black eyeshadow to line the eyes
6.Cargo Lash Activator to both top and bottom lashes
 
#14
ChristyR143 said:
A great mascara, and I have found that L'Oreal makes some of the very best ones around. I've used Voluminous for years and always come back to this one.
Click to expand...

ITA! I liked Voluminous very much.

I am not sure if L'Oreal made a version of Voluminous in a deep red angled tube but that one was quite excellent as well.
 
#15
I would say if you needed one thing, just get the coastal scents 88 matte eyeshadow palette or something similar. You really can't go wrong with that. After using that you can start to realize what you like/use in terms of colors more and then you can branch out with other brands. HTH!
 
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