How To Pair Your Eyeshadows Like a Pro
Today I am going to show you how to pair eyeshadows together to create tons of looks. For many of us, it can be confusing when we are looking at a palette of colors to try and figure out which ones work best together and which ones won’t. This tutorial will help you to learn which colors, finishes and combination work best together and hopefully help aid you in picking which shades to choose from.
THREE BASIC RULES OF PAIRING EYESHADOWS TOGETHER
- Always include a neutral – Using a neutral eyeshadow along any brighter shades you may use will keep the look more wearable and tone down the overall look.
- Always mix your finishes – Eyeshadows come in finishes, shimmer and matte. Using all shimmer on your eyes will make you look like a disco ball while using just matte finish eyeshadows will look too flat. Using a combination of both with give depth and detail to the look.
- Use a light, medium and dark color – A mixture of these three, regardless of the color scheme, will give you a well rounded look with a lot of dimension.
SKIN TONE SHADES
Now we can move on to blending shades. You always need to have a couple of shades that can be used for blending that are close to your skin color. One a matte finish and one with a shimmer finish. The matte one you will use under the brow bone to blend out any harsh lines, the shimmer will be used to highlight under the brow bone or in the inner corner to open the eye and make it appear lighter.
- Fair Skin – Vanilla Bean (matte finish), Shimma Shimma (shimmer finish)
- Medium Skin – Creme Brulee (matte finish), Purely Naked (shimmer finish)
- Dark Skin – Latte or Cocoa Bear for very dark skin (matte finishes), Glamorous (shimmer finish)
Below is a guide that gives you different kinds of color combinations that you all can put together. There are two ways of doing this Monochromatic Looks and Polychromatic Looks.
MONOCHROMATIC LOOKS
These are where you take one color in varying shades and do a look based on just that color.
This look incorporates a light, medium and dark pink. The dark goes on the outer part of the eye, the medium pink on the middle of the eye and the light pink goes in the inner portion of the eye. Blend together this gives you an overall pink look.
This is a traditional dark brown smokey eye. This is where you take a dark brown and place it on the lid, a medium brown in the crease, and a light brown or tan color right above the crease to blend the colors out.
This stunning green eye is easy to do. Place a light green all over the lid and wing up the end with a medium green shade and right along the lash-line you smudge a darker green color.
EXAMPLES OF MONOCHROMATIC QUADES
Purples
- Wisteria
- Sensuous
- Duchess
- Drama Queen
- Highlight and Blending Shade
Browns
- Beaches and Cream
- Goddess
- Cocoa Bear
- Bada Bing
- Highlight and Blending Shade
Greens
- Appletini
- Dirty Martini
- Envy
- Corrupt
- Highlight and Blending Shade
POLYCHROMATIC LOOKS
Polychromatic looks is where you pair shades together based on light, medium and dark. It doesn’t matter if the shades are different colors as long as you follow the light, medium and dark rule.
This is reminiscent of a purple smokey eye where you place a dark purple over the lid and blend with a light pink in the crease and then go around the eye with an orange shade.
This is a fun tropical look. This is where you place the lightest color on the inner part of the eye and then move the the medium shade and finish with the darkest shade. Here I have a light yellow, medium green and a dark blue on the outer part of the eye.
Here I have used a blue, purple and a pink. The medium blue shade is on the outer part of the eye and the purple is used to darken the outer corner to add depth to the look. Use the lighter pink to blend the colors out.
EXAMPLES OF POLYCHROMATIC QUADS
I hope you all found this information helpful. Just remember, it doesn’t matter what colors you use as long as you follow the 3 basic rules. Use a neutral shade, mix your finishes and have a light, medium and dark color in your palette.