Wednesday, December 8, 2010

READER QUERY: Makeup suggestions for hooded eyes

Hey guys... Sharmi has a query...

I am stuck again with makeup ideas. I have to attend a marriage reception. I decided to wear a salwar in maroon and green bronze brocade. I don't have much eye shadows. I am thinking to wear a golden brown base shadow. Now as my eyes are hooded, I always mess up during blending. When ever I apply a different color in my outer crease it looks so scattered. I am confused where to start the base, midtone and hightlight colors ? What should be the ideal shape after applying and mixing different eye color.

Again is it a better idea to wear kohl in the waterline and the midtone color in the lash line? Its getting so confusing.

REPLY
Hey Sharmi... I'll reply to you in parts...
1. Since you are planning to wear a suit in maroon green and bronze brocade, either a golden/bronze smokey look (like u said) or a golden-green smokey look would look best... A few ideas are as follows:

2. If you have hooded eyes then I would suggest you use a lighter shade in the inner 1/2 of your eye and a darker/contour shade in the outer 1/2 of your eye in an "upsweep" movement i.e. upward towards the eyebrows. Use of highlighter is a must! The highlighter is applied to the brow bone i.e. on the bone that is right below your eye brows and above your eye socket. See Image1
Image1

If you plan to go for a single shade of shadow then you could make it smokey by applying a darker shade of say brown or black on the outer corner and BLEND! Blending is a must... See Image2
Image2

If you aren't confident about blending or using more than one color, practice practice and practice... if u r running out of time to practice, then it is better to stick to one single shadow and apply it to only the lid i.e. from the lashline to the crease. Also, you could use a subtle color around the crease but this is optional. Use a bright color for this purpose like Emerald Green... See Image3 and Image4
Image3: Bright pink on the lid and Purple around the crease

Image4: Bronze on the lid and golden above the crease
3. The ideal shape of the eye is dependent on how you want to finally look. I for example always prefer to go for an "upsweeped" look. this makes my eyes look longer and enhances the almond shape. I honestly do believe that it is a very flattering shape :P

4. Always remember, avoid wearing kohl in your waterline w/o lining your upper lash line. Only kohl in the lower waterline makes one's eyes look tired!
Waterlining with kohl must always be accompanied with a liquid lining of the upper lash line.
Since you have mentioned that you have hooded eyes, I would suggest you to apply a liquid liner on your upper lash line in a way that it is thin in the inner region of the eye and starts thickening as you line the outer region of the eye. See Image1