I never thought I had dark enough features to pull off black eyeshadow, but then I learned a few simple tricks. You need to soften and enhance the black color in some way, which I achieved using 2 techniques.
1. In order for this look to last, you need to apply some sort of eyeshadow base for the black shadow to stick to. This helps the color be truly black (instead of a washed out gray) and stay in one place all night. I used an e.l.f. jumbo shadow stick in a dark brown since I didn’t have one in black (it worked fine as you’ll see below). You’ll also need to use eyeliner along your top lash line and blend the color all the way to your lashes and up towards your lid, which creates a seamless all out smokey look on the eyes. If you’re going to use black, you have to be committed! Haha
2.. I softened the black on my lids using a soft brown color in my crease and pulled the same color underneath my outer bottom lash line. I also highlighted my inner corner and inner bottom lash line. I used a white, champagne sparkly color and a jumbo eyeliner in white. The jumbo eyeliner pencil gave the shadow something to stick to so it stayed on all night! Lots of blending for this look is important since we are using black, soft brown, and white/champagne.
Since black eyeshadow is so dramatic, I kept all my other makeup fairly simple. The tips above were not a step-by-step instruction guide on how to achieve this eye look. A quick breakdown of what I did: Apply dark eyeshadow base, Apply eyeliner – blend well into lash line and up towards lid, Apply black shadow all over eyelid, Blend crease with a soft brown color, Apply eyeliner to lower lash line, Pull soft brown color from outer crease to outer lower lash line, Apply white eyeliner to inner lower lash line, and Finish with the white color in the inner corners of your eye. I did some final all-over blending and applied a little cream color to highlight under my brows with lots of mascara too! I used my beloved Lorac Pro Palette for this look.
allison kehoe 