Makeup Over 40

This is part 2 for eye shadow makeup for downturned corners.  If you haven’t read the steps for part 1 or the eye makeup supplies needed, check out those pages before continuing.  (It’s OK; I’ll wait for you.) 

Straightening the Outer Corners of Your Eyes

Now is where you will correct those corners.  Let me warn you; it might take you a few times to get this technique down.  (Either that or I am a slow learner.)  Just relax, slow down and practice however many times you need, until it becomes second nature to you.

You can see that my eyes at this point are looking better, but they still sag a bit.  Here’s where the magic comes in, and it’s called eye liner.

What you want to do is draw a very fine line from about the inner edge of your pupil, and then thicken the line gradually as it moves outward towards the outer corner. 

Take your time with this; it might be a bit trickey at first, but it’s super-easy once you get used to it.

Next, you want to line under your eye.  This time start a thin line from about the middle of your pupil and follow it up to the corner.  Then once you get to the corner, you want to flick it up just a bit.  So instead of going straight out, you want to gently turn it up.

Looking better already!  Now for the final step(s) you want to use an eyelash curler (optional) and mascara.  If you’ve never used an eyelash curler before, skip the curler for now.  I’m showing you what this looks like without the eyelash curler.

Give yourself a nice light coat of mascara.  You can use the standard wiggle at the base then brush up, or you can hold the wand at the base of your lashes then close your eye — like you’re blinking against the mascara wand.  Just be very careful when trying this for the first time; you don’t want mascara in your eye.

Let the mascara dry a moment, then go back with a second coat and concentrate on the outer corner, to lift those lashes up some.

As a final step, run the very tip of your mascara wand over the very tips of your lower lashes.

Ta-da!  The final look.

And lest you forget, here’s what I looked like when I started. 

(Yikes!  That’s scary!  But it also goes to show you what a little makeup can do for turning back the clock.  And trust me; I am not a professional makeup artist!)

Here Are The Supplies I Used

Now if you’re wondering what I used for supplies, here they are:

Primer:  Urban Decay Primer Potion

Eye Shadows:  These are all from Bare Escentuals (Bare Minerals) — colors are Smoke for the lid color, Winter White for the highlighter and Nurture for the liner.

Mascara:  Bare Minerals Flawless Definition in black

Brushes:  tapered shadow brush, soft focus shadow brush and liner brush.

If you don’t already have any eye shadow brushes, rather than buy them separately, why not get a set?  It’s usually a bit less expensive that way.  Here’s a Bare Escentuals brush set that is nice, as well as one that is less expensive but decent.

Obviously, you can use whatever products you have on hand, but I really do suggest that you invest in a nice set of eye makeup brushes; they make all the difference when it comes to both precision and a lovely, soft look.

And if you really want a great money-saving deal, get a Bare Escentuals Get Started Eye Kit. Actually, the colors I used are from the “fair” set, but the same general tones (highlight, lid and liner) come with each kit. For the price of a nice set of eye makeup brushes, you get the brushes and the makeup.

Eye shadow makeup for downturned corners; it’s actually easier than you may think.  You know that the downturns add years to your eyes, but there are ways of almost making them disappear.

Let’s get ready and straighten out those corners!

Supplies Needed

You can check the eye shadow makeup post for everything I will be using for this technique (and the list is pretty much the same for every set of tips I will show you, so get them together now).

Most important for this one, though, is that the eye liner you use should not be black.  Charcoal grey, dark brown, deep plum, navy, etc. are all fine, but black will be too harsh for this effect.

The Eye Shadow Makeup Look

This particular look is rather natural.  I suggest neutral tones, at least until you get the hang of this.

The point of this look is not to look like you are using makeup to correct your downturns; it’s to look naturally better.

The How-To for Eye Shadow Makeup for Downturned Corners

First, make sure your eyes are clean and primed with an eye shadow primer.  You can see in the photo that my eyes down’t have a severe sag, but it’s enough to add a year or two to my looks.  (The photo is me without anything on my eyes except primer.)

Start by gently dusting your lid from lash line to just below your brow bone with a medium neutral shade.  It should be a few shades darker than your natural skin tone.  Do this very lightly; you want a very sheer coverage at this point

Using the same color, add a line of heavier coverage to your crease area, going from the outer corner to the outer edge of your pupil.  You want the crease to be darker than the lid.

Using your blending brush, blend the crease color into your crease area, blending inward to the inner corner of your pupil.  Again, you don’t want to use a heavy hand with this, at least not until you’ve got the technique down pat.

With a smaller detail brush, add some of the highlight color to your browbone, just under the highest point of your eyebrow arch.  Blend down.

Still with the small detail brush, add a tiny bit of the highlight color to the inner corner of your eyes, and slightly up the lid.  This is to brighten your inner corners, which tend to be a little dark.

This is your basic neutral/natural look.  To continue with the correction, let’s move onto page 2 for eye shadow makeup for downturned corners.