Our eyes can tell many stories – They are one of the first areas we notice upon meeting someone, but they can show age very quickly, especially when tired.
We need light, light and more light to make them look fresh and alive.
Image via pinterest
Creating a fresh eye look is easier than you think and you don’t need 10 products to make it work either. It’s all about creating light, but you always need to correct before you add light, otherwise you may look worse – no thanks!
There are pictures of these perfect looking celebrities everywhere with almost white under eye areas, fresh, light, and as though they have slept for days. The secret is a great concealer and highlighter, used together – the double conceal works every time.
Seeing these so fresh end results, you may be inclined to go out and purchase a light shade concealer thinking, this looks like what those celebs, or in most cases their makeup artist, has used… wrong!
The Plan of Attack
Going lighter than your skin colour on an area such as the under eye area, which can (how about all the time) have dark circles, usually showing a blue undertone, will make the area look grey, which is worse.
The light pigment you have just applied thinking it will make you look fresh unfortunately just hasn’t got enough pigment to counteract the blue tone and instead has not been able to cover the concern because of its light nature and turned the area grey. Sound familiar? I see it happen all too often.
The trick is that we must always correct before we add light.
A concealer used for the eyes, mainly on the dark circle or inner eye that also could have redness if we are a little fluey, needs to have a little deep yellow if we have a fair skin and more orange if we have an olive skin.
This means the yellow-to-orange pigment may not look like the right shade in its packaging, but on an area throwing some blue tone like a dark circle, it is the perfect balancer to correct and hide these dark shadows we all hate because the depth of pigment is correct – deep enough to correct an already dark, shadowy area.
Only then, once corrected, can you add light.
You can just correct and leave it that, but the area now corrected can sometimes because of the colour of pigment used, look a little flat and when having the right product it literally takes less than a minute to add some light, over the areas we have just concealed, so why not look even fresher right?
Light should be added right in the tear duct area of the inner eye and blended through the dark circle – it just lifts the freshly concealed area and reflects light away from the once dull and dark area = winning!
A very celebrity technique to always-bright eyes – the double concealer.
The Tools
Seeing the eye area is so delicate and thin skinned, you would sometimes think to go a very lightweight, fluid style concealer. That may be the case when you are 15, but once we start showing signs of ageing and have expression lines, that area moves and creases more; and therefore a lightweight product over the top has less hold factor and grip, moving into the expression line area.
I always think about how long will a makeup look I apply last? Hopefully all day or into the night and it can when applied correctly!
Using a cream style concealer that isn’t too dry is perfect for the under eye area. It has enough hold to stay put, is less likely to move into crease lines like a fluid/light texture can – another reason why I never use foundation around the eye area, less grip – and is usually easy to layer without separating, allowing for maximum coverage when needed.
This cream concealer, in a deep yellow/orange shade has really one purpose, to correct and hide away blue or red tones around the eye, therefore use sparingly and concentrate on those areas – there is no need to apply the same thickness from the inner to outer eye, meaning, avoid expression lines if you can as there are no dark circles there and less to cover.
When adding light over this cream concealer, you can simply just use a lighter shade of your chosen concealer. Never go more than 2 shades lighter, as you don’t want it over powering the correcting you have just applied. Adding light is there to brighten and add freshness, not actually look white on our faces, yes-even celebrities have been known to get that bit wrong!
There are a lot of actual highlighter pens available now, just like the cult YSL Touche Eclat (RRP $59) – one of my favorite ways to add light to the face.
I often use this on all highlight points of the face, (chin, centre of the nose, above cheekbones, cupids bow of lip, eyebrow arch). It is amazing to brighten up a tired or fluey looking eye also, but as mentioned above, you must always correct an area before you add light to it to avoid looking grey and for maximum celebrity result.
The Technique
Application of any concealer or highlight can be used with a brush or fingers, but my advice is always the fingertips – they add warmth to help melt the product into skin for maximum bond and lasting hold.
A brush, just like for lipstick, can sometimes make a product painted on, just sitting on top of the skin, making it easier to wear or come away and lose bond. Instead, a dabbing application with the fingertip is best as when concealing or using a highlight product, they are normally on small, concentrated areas, so dabbing can gain more coverage with a layering effect,
Always avoid, as much as possible, any crease lines. I like to dab coverage where needed, then use no product on a crease lines, but a light sweep to give colour continuity through the area.
Other Tips…
Another great trick for fluey or tired eyes is using a creamy white eyeliner pencil on the inner, lower lash line – the inner rim/waterline of the eye. This area often shows redness; so using a pencil in this shade really brightens.
MB PRO TIP – Often a white can look a little obvious, even scary in some cases, so try a cream or vanilla shade for a more neutralising look than a stark white pencil.
Makeup Store in Vanilla is my choice…
Lastly, if your eyes are feeling tired, or fluey, sometimes the worst thing you can do is apply too much makeup to try and cover the concern, it just won’t sit right.
But, it’s a great idea to pull focus – wear a bold lip, or frame your brows and add mascara. Pulling focus will draw the person’s eye away from your concern area and this works for many concerns on the face, not just tired eyes.
So when you next wake up tired, or have to go out after a long day at work, double conceal my friend by adding light after concealer, and fresh is all people will see.
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