Basic Eyeshadow Blending Tutorial & Tips

I have been meaning to do this post for a long long time! I did do one last year in September (!!!), but I did not like the photos & the lighting & my brows looked so untidy....let's just say I wasted a few hours & a pictorial.

When I say "What is blending?" I can't help saying it like Channel [V] VJ ~ Lola Kutty:

"Whaaht ees theese blanding?", with a hand gesture to go with it.

The reason I'm doing this tut is because I feel silly writing in my tutorials: "Blend well/ blend the edges" I always imagine someone reading my blog thinking- "Yes woman, blend, but howww???" I would be thinking the same if I didn't already know. Like in cooking, you can't just say "Cut the tomatoes julienne" without explaining how to do it. I don't really know what 'julienne' means, I learned the word from Monica Gellar. You remember her job interview with the creepy perv? "Are they, uh,  firm?..... I like it dirty" - about tomatoes & lettuce.

The main aim of eye shadow blending: To blur out the prominent edges so you don't really know where the color begins and ends. In most cases, the goal is to make it look like a gradient. Blended eyeshadows look more natural, especially when bold colors are used- a vibrant blue eyeshadow looks less trampy when blended well. With good blending, you can make 10 colors look like 3-4 colors.

I use only 2 blending techniques: 

Blending Technique 1: Windshield Wiper Motion- Place your blending brush on the line, and starting from outer corner of your lid, move the blending brush in a windshield wiper motion. Left-right-left-right......moving with the curve of your eyeshadow. This won't be hard to do if you have a deep defined crease. Most times, this technique is not enough, so you do the next technique in-between or after, whichever way you are comfortable with.....

Blending Technique 2: Swirling Circular Motion- In this, you make little circular swirls quickly. Start from outer corner and work your way inwards. This blending technique works well especially if you're applying one color on inner half of lid & another on the outer half, and you want to blur the prominent line in the middle where the two colors meet.

Below I'll show you how I blend a single brown eyeshadow. I only used one blending brush & a beige eyeshadow:

Tips:

• Shake off excess color on the brush before placing it on your lids.
• It's better to start blending from the outer part of your eye, coz that's where you want the eyeshadow darkest most times. Of course you can go back & forth once you're into it.

• Use a light hand when blending, try not to press too much. Do it as though your shading an apple with a red color pencil on a piece of paper (the harder you press the color pencil, the more uneven/untidy it would look) If you're a makeup artist, pressing hard is a bad idea, especially if your client wears contact lenses. 

• Blend only that outer line/edge, try not to touch the rest of your lid.
• Say you're using other colors, like green & pink - Use green on lid & pink as blending color, or vice versa.
• I'd say hold your blending brush at a 45° angle.

Eyeshadows for blending:

Something close to your skin tone & in a matte finish. Here I used Urban Decay Naked from Naked Palette.

Other options: MAC Wedge, Brule, Malt, Omega. I'm sure there are a few from Inglot too, but can't remember the numbers right now.

Blending Brushes:

Something soft & fluffy, but one no bigger than your middle finger for the crease. Here I'm using the crease blender from Too Faced Brush Kit 

Other options: Sigma E25, Sigma E45, MAC 217, Coastal Scents Synthetic Crease Brush, Urban Decay Naked 2 Crease Brush and many more.

To sum it up-  One Blending Brush, One Beige Eyeshadow, 2 Techniques, Practice, Practice....and you're on your way to Pro-ville.

Hope you liked this basic blending tutorial. Now I can do more tutorials & link "blending" to this =)

♥ Cynthia Z *.*