Beauty tips: Make your eye makeup last longer
Updated: Mar. 08, 2011
Recently I was asked by a Best Health reader how to make eye makeup, especially eyeshadow, last longer. Here are
Recently I was asked by a Best Health reader how to make eye makeup, especially eyeshadow, last longer. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way from being on photo shoots and interviewing makeup artists, and having my own makeup done by makeup artists.
Moisturize your face including eyelids (on eyelids, you should be using something basic without active ingredients and of course, very little). Let it absorb. Apply a very thin layer of foundation on eyelids, blending well, then powder lightly with a neutral loose or pressed powder–your preference–blending and brushing away excess powder. Apply your base eyeshadow, the one that goes all over your lid, then pencil eyeliner. Then, apply another layer of eyeliner using a cake eyeliner applied with a dampened very thin brush. (Yes, this is quite a rigmarole–but if you’re looking for staying power, this works!). After that, I apply contouring eyeshadow, if I’m using it that day.
To really not watch your eye makeup melt by 5 p.m., consider an eyelid makeup primer. I swear by one to make my eyeshadow last. It goes on after I’ve applied a thin layer of foundation, but it’s best to follow instructions by each individual makeup company.
Primers have polymers and silicones to make makeup adhere longer. Primers for the face are plentiful these days. Eyelid primers, however, aren’t that common. At the drugstore, CoverFx, Gosh, Lancôme and Benefit all have offer them in their lines.
My personal go-to is Pandora’s Eyelid Primer, which starts out as a cream, then dries as it spreads to give a matte finish. I apply it from lash line up to eyebrows. It’s from a Canadian makeup collection sold on-line. pandorasmakeupbox.com.
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion is a wand applicator formula, available at Sephora and some Shoppers Drug Marts. (Sephora.ca, Shoppersdrugmart.ca).
