eye makeup tutorial

My best friend from growing up, Richelle, is excellent at applying makeup, so when I was recently home in San Diego, I asked her to give me an eye makeup tutorial. This is a day look that will take about 6 minutes to complete.

We used three greenish eyeshadow colors from a Stila color wheel, but you can use any three shadows of a similar color family. Richelle loves these duos and their trio sets would also be fabulous to use. If you want to only use two colors, just skip step 2 below.

Step 1: Apply an eyeshadow primer all over your lid. Any primer will do, but Richelle recommends this one from Too Faced.

Too Faced, Shadow Insurance

Step 2: Using an all over shadow brush, apply a light base color on your entire lid. This should be a very light, neutral color.

Step 3: Using the next lightest color, apply it all over your lid. You can use the same brush as in Step 2.

Step 4: Using a contour or crease brush, dip into the darkest eye shadow color and tap against your hand to get rid of any excess powder. Apply the powder making small circles with the brush in the crease of your eye and on the outside corners of your eyes. (The small circles are the key. I often just swipe the shadow but the circles do make a difference.)

Step 5: Apply eyeliner to the top lid. We used this brown pencil liner, but Richelle also likes this liner, which is available in drugstores and is cheaper. You could also use a liquid liner here.

Step 6: Lining the bottom lid is optional and sometimes it can be too much for me for daytime. If want liner on the bottom, pull the bottom lid out a little bit to put the color on the inside of the lid.

Step 7: Apply mascara. Any mascara will do. Richelle swears by a first coat of Revlon's Grow Luscious and then a swipe of any other mascara.

Step 8: Feel fabulous as you step out with this natural, but striking eye makeup!

A huge thank you to my dear and gorgeous pal, Richelle, for showing me the way.

And she has one final tip, which is the one I struggle the most with: keep your fingers out of your eyes throughout the day. Don't ruin the work you did!