Excuse the non-fleeky eyebrows





Prep & Prime. You can choose to apply an eyeshadow primer all over the lid, which can help intensify the pigment in the eyeshadows and make the look last longer. I'm not wearing any in the pictures above.





1) Powder Base. Apply Venus (or similar white matte) all over the lid up to the brow bone. I used a finger, but you can use a brush, too. Spread it onto your inner corner and the first third of the under eye area as well to brighten those areas up.





2) Contour. Take a flat shader brush and dip it into Faint (or similar warm brown matte) and apply it in a carat > shape fashion on the outer-v of your eyelid. You will want to position it so that the arc is in line with the contour of your eye - which is basically where you can feel a depression in your eye socket. Take a blending blush and blend the pigment inwards and stop when the pigment reaches about halfway across your socket.





3) Intensify Outer V. Take a flat shader brush and dip it into Crave (or similar dark brown/black matte) and apply it on the outer corner of your mobile eyelid. You can bring the color up just slightly past your double eyelid.





4) BLEND FORREST BLEND. Take a blending brush and blend the black eyeshadow inwards and upwards to soften the edges and create a gradient effect.





5) Eyeliner. Apply a cat eye eyeliner.





6) Eyelashes. Curl your eyelashes and apply mascara. You can also opt for false eyelashes to make this look even more glamorous and pulled together.

















EYESHADOW BLENDING TIPS THAT WILL INSTANTLY ADD POLISH TO ANY EYE LOOK





These are the top tips and tricks that made everything "click" for me.

Always lay down a skin tone colored eyeshadow all over the lid, especially if you used an eyeshadow primer. Doing so will make blending a lot easier, as it will prevent darker eyeshadows from getting "stuck" on the primer.

When blending, loosen up your grip on your brush, and use extremely light pressure while employing a circular buffing motion. Too much pressure will press the pigment into your eyelid instead of dispersing it.

Blend in layers. Make sure to blend after laying down each color.

To create a gradient effect, deposit color at the point you want to be darkest. Then pull the color to the surrounding areas using a light dragging motion and blend.

Want more intense pigment? Use a patting motion rather than a sweeping one, when applying the colors.

The darker the color, the smaller the brush! For more precision.





SHOP THE POST





The Neutrogena palette is a drugstore dupe for the Naked Basics palette.





If you're wondering why I decided to call this tutorial the "It girl", it's because it is inspired by Claire Marshall . If that doesn't trigger an "aha" moment for you, I'll keep going. She's a former makeup artist turned beauty content creator who is best known for her. She manages to stand out from the crowd with her trendsetting style and slickly edited videos.She's also always wearing this bold, blown out cat eye look that manages to be both fierce and soft at the same time, probably due to her ninja blending skills. My quick and easy version takes her signature look and pares it down to 6 steps, and 3 neutral eyeshadows to make for a look you could feel comfortable wearing both day and night.I'll be using three shades from the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette:Venus - a soft, off-white demi-matteFaint - a warm, dusty brown matteCrave - a deep, dark brown/black matteLet me know if you try it! If you have any constructive criticism, I'd love to know as well!xx Joan