I was conscious that I haven’t blogged a step-by-step eyeshadow tutorial for a while now. When I was expressing my love for MAC’s Sketch eyeshadow in my July Favourites blog post I had a lightbulb moment: I should do an eyeshadow tutorial featuring my beloved Sketch! Sorted.
What’s so special about Sketch, you might ask? Firstly it’s a beautiful plum/burgundy shade which suits all eye colours. On blue eyes it makes baby blues ‘pop’; Sketch compliments brown eyes nicely and as for green eyed gals, it makes green eyes look, well, intensely green. It’s just gorgeous. I also find Sketch really versatile: You can wear it on it’s own, all over the eyelid blended out really well, or you an pair it with purples/golds/pinks/browns. It really is a gem of an eyeshadow!
This tutorial is a look I wear often for both night and day. It’s slightly glam but not too OTT (says the girl who favours a full-face…!) You can tweak the look by wearing eyeliner on the waterline (or not), or you can crank it up by using more Sketch (i.e. repeat Step 3 several times) to get a bolder effect. I’ve used mostly Inglot eyeshadows for this look, but you can use any brand of eyeshadows that are similar (and I’ve mentioned below some good duplicates, or dupes to help you out, I’m good like that…).
Products used
Eyeshadows – Top photo: Front row left to right:
* Inglot 357 – This is a medium matt brown shade, you could use a matt bronzer too.
* Inglot 402 – This is essentially a medium taupe/brown frost shade) which is a near exact dupe of MAC Satin Taupe. Loreal Infallible Bronzed Taupe is also very similar.
* Mac Sketch
* Inglot 30 – A pale frosty champagne colour with slight golden undertones, I think MAC Nylon would be similar to this.
* Inglot 328 – This is a matt skin toned colour, almost exactly the same shade as my skin tone. MAC Brule or MAC Vanilla are similar.
You also need a dark brown or black eyeliner (I used both) and mascara. An eyelash curler is optional (I swear by Shu Uemura brand of eyelash curler) Not pictured: Art Deco Eyeshadow Base (which is an eyelid primer).
Before you get started, if you are a bit of a newbie to eyeshadows, you might like to read this blog post which explains eyeshadow placement in detail.
Step 1
Prime your eyelids (not shown, it’s invisible so there was no point!). I love Art Deco’s Eyeshadow Base.
Using a fluffy brush apply the matt medium brown eyeshadow shade through your crease (in a rainbow shape). This acts as a transition colour and makes all the colours much easier to blend out later. As I have hooded eyelids I bring this colour up quite high (otherwise you can’t bloody see it…).
Blend this colour really well, you don’t want to see any harsh lines you shouldn’t be able to see where the colour stops or starts.
Step 2
Using a flat stiff brush pat Inglot (the frosty taupe) all over your eyelid stopping at your eye’s natural crease (Ladies with hooded lids: Bring this colour up just above your crease). Get your fluffy brush that you used in Step 1 and gently blend where the taupe colour meets the matt brown transition colour.
Tip: Clean your brushes off on an old bit of towel so they are ready to be used again in the next steps!
Step 3
Using the tip of your flat stiff brush apply MAC Sketch quite precisely to the outer v corner of your eye (in a triangle shape).
Then using a small clean fluffy brush, gently blend out Sketch by moving the brush in small circular motions (you don’t want to move the colour, just blend it). I love ELF’s cheap-as-chips eye blending brush for this step – $10 from Kmart!).
Apply more Sketch and blend it out again if you want a more intense effect. I repeated this step once (for evening wear I’ll repeat this two or three times).
When you are done with blending Sketch it should look something like this.
Step 4
Using a smudging brush, apply the taupe eyeshadow all the way along your lower lash line, taking care to press the eyeshadow close to your lashes. Clean off the brush then apply sketch to the outer quarter of your lower lash line (this will ‘connect’ Sketch from the bottom lashline to the top lashline).
Then get your fluffy brush that you used in Step 1 and run it over the eyeshadow you just applied to soften it slightly.
Apply dark brown (or black) eyeliner to your upper lashline and smudge it softly with your finger.
Step 5
Not pictured (as the colours don’t show up in my photos): I also applied a brow highlight (Inglot 328) and an inner corner highlight (Inglot 30).
Curl your eyelashes (optional) but blimey, check out the middle photo below – see how my eyes now look open? See ya later hooded eyelids!
Apply some of your favourite mascara (I LOVE Maybelline’s The Falsies mascara, the waterproof one). Remember: If you curl your eyelashes, you need to use a waterproof mascara to hold the curl in place!
Step 6 (Optional!!)
This step is optional! I like doing a technique called ‘tightlining’ which is applying a waterproof jet black eyeliner to my upper waterline and also into the roots of my eyelashes. This is a great tip for those with hooded eyelids, often eyeliner ‘disappears’ on hooded lids, but this way, by applying eyeliner from underneath, you end up with a subtle eyeliner effect which also makes your eyelashes look really full and thick. I swear by Urban Decay’s 24/7 eyeliner in the colour Perversion for this step. This eyeliner DOES.NOT.BUDGE!
I also applied a brown eyeliner (MAC Coffee) to my lower waterline for a bit of extra drama. You can use black eyeliner for this step. I prefer brown, I find it gives a softer look (black looks quite harsh and aging on my lower waterline).
And you are done! Oh and I applied some lippy: A mix of Maybelline’s Make Me Pink and Shiseido’s RS745 (gorg plummy wine shade). This is my favourite lip combo at the moment.
I just love the combo! Have you got MAC Sketch? How do you like to wear it?
