I walked into the makeup store in search of a few things I was out of. I saw one of the employees who had flawless makeup, so I asked her for some eyeshadow blending tips. “Here, sit down and I’ll blend this out for you and show you how I did it.” Nice! She went on to tell me she was a regional makeup artist and trainer for one of the major prestige makeup companies, and I was so excited to be getting some pointers from her! Until I saw my face. Since my eyes were closed, I didn’t realize she had pulled out a popular eye shadow palette from a major brand and put brown shadow all over my eyes.
It had been about two years since I gave up browns, and I couldn’t believe how bad it looked. I looked like I’d been punched, or hadn’t slept in a week. Suddenly I was in a huge hurry and couldn’t get home fast enough to wash it off my face.
This is the aftermath. Yikes. Not a good look for me, and this was a professional makeup job. For years I wore brown eye makeup because it’s supposed to be the best for blue eyes. My eyes do look bluer in this picture, but can you see that everything else on my face looks worse?
I remember when I found out brown wasn’t the best for my cool skin tone, I felt lost. What’s a girl to do when she can’t do the brown neutrals that are so beautiful and so popular? Well, I gave up eye makeup for about two years. I wore mascara and some basic liner, but I ditched eyeshadow altogether. Wearing bold eyeshadow colors is really intimidating. Also, with browns you can be a little sloppy and get away with it, but navy and black require precision that I don’t have. If I can’t wear brown, what can I wear? Blue? Like a Barbie? Like the 80s? I can’t. I love my bold clothing and lips, but I can’t go all Mimi Bobeck from the Drew Carey Show.
Photo credit here .
A few months ago I decided I was ready to work on my makeup game. I watched tons, and I mean TONS of makeup tutorials. Two of my favorites makeup Youtubers are Sona Gasparian and Dominique Sachse. I wish I could copy their looks exactly, but I can’t. I went through my eye shadow collection looking for similar colors in cool tones to try to recreate some looks, and I was still striking out. I finally came up with an everyday look I love without any brown eyeshadow. I’ve used many of the things I learned from Sona’s and Dominique’s tutorials as inspiration for the look I did today.
When I shared this look on Facebook and Instagram, so many of you asked for a video tutorial. I don’t feel qualified to tell anyone how to do makeup, but I made it because you asked. I hope you enjoy! Below I’ve listed all the items I used.
These are the pictures I shared on social media that everyone liked.
And this is the same look with a heavier hand with the navy in the crease. I forgot to take the after pictures until bedtime, so…I look a little worn down from the day.
French Navy always sharp eyeliner
Are you looking for an eye makeup look without brown? What do you think of this one?
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