“When you’re putting on your makeup it’s like you’re an artist, but instead of painting a canvas, you’re painting your face.” —Cher, in “Burlesque”
I recently acquired Urban Decay’s Electric Palette. I LOVE it, and so of course I wanted to share some practical looks and advice with you lovelies! I’m just like you: I use standard tools to do my makeup, I don’t wear fake lashes, contouring and highlighting still freaks me out, and I don’t have an enormous budget. Thus, I hope this article will be incredibly helpful for you. Yes, YOU.
Looking on Instagram and YouTube, there are a lot of really dramatic looks with bright colors, which is fantastic… if you go to a club every night. But, if you’re like me and you have to look professional, most of those tutorials aren’t applicable to your daily life—even if you’re being a tad more adventurous than your standard neutral look. There’s no point in buying those brightly colored makeups if you’re only going to wear them every once in a while, so let’s figure out a way to put them to good use.
I used to be really afraid of bright colors because I just didn’t think I could pull them off. But, once you figure out a couple key tricks, no one is stopping you but yourself. Now let’s start with some pointers:
- Balance is key: Wear bright colors on your eyes, but then keep it toned down on your lips. Bright colors on both your eyes and lips will only get you admitted to clown school.
- Use primer: If I could say this a million times, I would. Colors show up better, and your makeup will stay put and not get that weird creased and greasy look. I use Urban Decay’s matte primer, Eden.
- Wet your brushes: Dampen your brushes with contact solution before you dip into the powder to deposit increased color on your lids.
- Blend: Blending makes your eyeshadow look smoother because you don’t want any really harsh lines.
- Don’t be afraid: The wonderful thing about makeup is that if you mess up or you don’t like it then you can just take it off.
Below are swatches of the colors I’ll be using—over primer, of course!
1. Simple and fun. This is a very versatile look that you can do with any colors, and is compatible with any outfit!
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2. Professionally purple. Make sure to clean up any shadow that’s fallen below your eye, or else you’ll look like you have a black eye. Not attractive. Again, use any colors that you want.
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3. Live outside the lines. You can use basic concepts like wetting your brush, the cat eye, and blending to be really creative. The look depicted below can be used for a fun night out, so whip out that eyeshadow palette, and put on your dancing shoes!
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In addition to the looks above, below are a couple videos depicting some more fun looks.
What’s your key to successfully using bright makeup colors? Share them with us @litdarling!
Stay tuned for next week’s Bright Makeup Looks, part 2!
