Frosted and very colorful eyeshadows are not very economical. A product that you can only wear at night is not very cost-effective, especially since you can buy neutral matte shadows instead that look great and are always appropriate day or night (yes, I know they are currently fashionable for daytime, but you can only get away with this if you are very young and don’t have a job). Yet, it is difficult to resist buying the bright or frosted shadows, they look so beautiful in the package. And they’re all over the fashion magazines now. The problem is they can look better in the package than on your eyes. Frost and/or bright or pastel colors tend to draw attention to your eyelids instead of your eyes. All the reflected light from frost can visually distort the shape of the eye. If you are over 30, definitely consider avoiding frosted eyeshadows because they can emphasize any lines or wrinkling on the skin, and neutral mattes will look much more sophisticated on you. Frost makes the skin look like it has tiny wrinkles all over it. Neutral, matte eyeshadows are the most flattering on everyone, will make your eyes stand out, and look great day or night. Choose colors such as browns, grays, wines, ivory, and beige.
If you are very young, absolutely love frost or bright or pastel colors, and go out a lot at night – go for it! It can look really cute on young women (just don’t wear it to work!). Or if you just want to do a frosted look for a special evening,
here’show to do the best frosted look – and with only one product. You don’t need to spend much on this item either. A $2 eyeshadow will work great. Contouring using a light and a darker frosted shade can be overkill, as well as covering the entire eye area with frost. All that reflected shine is too overwhelming. Pick a light frosted color for the lid (or just the center of the lid) and under the brow, and use a matte to countour the crease. Or choose a darker frosted color to put all over the eyelid and into the crease and blend just a little onto the browbone, with a matte shadow highlighting under the brow. You can also apply a light shadow as a wash covering the entire eyelid up to the eyebrow. Neutral colored frosts like browns, beige, and rosy beige, look the best. Mahogany and rust are also very pretty. Don’t worry, it won’t look boring. It will catch the light plenty and already look like you are wearing two shades.
I think it is most versatile to get one inexpensive light colored frosted eyeshadow such as gold, silver, pink, peach, or champagne. You can layer it over other matte shadows to make them frosted (apply lightly with a brush), and you can also use the light frosted eyeshadow to highlight your cheekbones or the bottom center of your lips. The light frosted color included in most blush duos also works well. Wet ‘n’ Wild also makes a frosted highlighting powder meant to be used anywhere on the face, and you get much more product for your money than with an eyeshadow. It also looks better to have the highlight color a frost and your contour color a matte. Dark frosted eyeshadows just don’t look as good as light colors. Darker colors work to make an area recede, but frost counteracts the effect.
If you have a light frosted lipstick, you can use it instead to highlight under the browbone and on the center of the eyelid. Apply it lightly and carefully after you have applied any powdered eyeshadows so you do not disturb them. You may want to use a brush. Be forewarned that lipstick does not work as well on the eye area as powders do.You can also apply the lipstick to the top of your cheekbones and the center of your bottom lip. One light colored frosted creme eyeshadow can be a very versatile product because it will also work well on your cheekbones and over your lipstick as a highlight. Creme shadow is more difficult to apply to the eye area and blend, but it gives a more natural sheer shine. Frosted powder eyeshadows can sometimes look rather “thick.”
Adjusting eyeshadow colors. As with blush colors, you can mix your own eyeshadow shades. The advantage with eyeshadows is that you can also layer different colors directly on the skin. It is difficult to layer blush colors without it looking thick and heavy, or too colorful.You must apply your eyeshadows with a brush to do this. If your eyeshadow is too dark or bright: put beige eyeshadow, medium brown eyeshadow, or face powder over it. You can also apply a medium brown first, and then lightly apply a colored shadow. You can soften a blue and make it more wearable by applying grey over it. Another option is to dip your eyeshadow brush in face powder before you pick up the color from the pan to dilute it. If you want the color to go on even lighter, dip the brush in the color pan first, and then in the face powder. If you have already applied your shadow and it is too much, you can tone it down by buffing some off with a cotton ball or a makeup sponge. You can always just obliterate what you’ve done with a darker brown, gray or wine if you really hate it and don’t want to start over.
If you really hate an eyeshadow you own and never use because it is too dark or too bright, you may want to mash it up and mix it with some baby powder, face powder, or some medium brown shadow or blush, just as I described doing with blushes. There are small containers at the drugstore that can work well for this purpose. Try looking for travel size containers. These are also great in case you break an eyeshadow. You can just dump the whole mess inside and use it as a loose powder eyeshadow.You can also experiment and mix up new eyeshadow shades without destroying your eyeshadows. For a single use, scrape a little powder off the pans with a toothpick onto a piece of wax paper or foil. Mix and apply with either a brush or sponge-tip applicator. You can make colors darker by adding a bit of black eyeshadow or dark brown.
I have found that if you mix frosted eyeshadow with matte, you get a teeny bit of glitter just to dress up a little but it’s not overpowering. – Wendi
I found that after I had mixed a few nice shades of eyeshadow, a one week pill case is good for storing them. The pill cases come in all different sizes. I bought the seven-day case with compartments that are about an inch high and wide. The one I bought has a lock on it that you have to press before the lids will open. This is probably a good idea for eyeshadow storage especially if you want to carry it in your purse. - Wendi
If an eyeshadow is too red, pink or rosy and makes you look sick, try using it as a blush. Or mix a little with some lipgloss or Vaseline for lip color. Lip balm can also work. See the Blush or Lipstick sections for tips on how to adjust the color if it goes on too bright or dark.
Any blush that is too brown for your cheeks can be used as eyeshadow. If you are thinking of purchasing a medium brown eyeshadow, consider buying an inexpensive brown blush instead. You get a lot more product for your money.
If your eyeshadow gets a hardened coating over it: take a toothpick or a cosmetic spatula and scratch off the top layer to uncover fresh powder underneath.
Getting to that last bit of your powder eyeshadow. When you have almost used up your eyeshadow pan, it can be difficult to get at that little bit left around the edges without smashing up the bristles of your eyeshadow brush. Before you apply your shadow, use a toothpick to get into those corners and scrape some powder loose. If it breaks up and gets too messy, you can just scrape out what is left, mash it all up, and dump it into a little container and use it up as a loose powder eyeshadow.
You don’t need to buy a special eyeshadow primer or base. Your regular foundation or any liquid concealer (the ones in the tube) will work great. If it is not a matte formula, dust some powder over it. If you have oily skin or your eyeshadow tends to crease, prime your eyelids instead with face powder, baby powder, or a light colored eyeshadow.
You don’t have to cover every part of your eyelid with an eyeshadow. For a very natural look, you can skip highlighter (your lightest shade) and just use face powder instead. This works best if you use your foundation as an eyeshadow base. You can also just leave it as is. The foundation alone gives a nice, subtle, sheen. If you don’t wear any foundation and don’t prime your lids, it can look very natural and pretty to just use some light or medium brown eyeshadow and maybe liner, and skip highlighter altogether. Many light eyeshadows have too much pink, peach, yellow, or white in them anyway to look natural. The best looking colors blend into your skin and are barely noticeable, so why not save some money and skip it?