Thanksgiving Eyeshadow Tutorial

November 20, 2017

Thanksgiving Eyeshadow Tutorial

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and if you’re a true makeup addict like me, one of the most important things you need to plan ahead for (aside from the delicious food) is some festive makeup. Taking a natural glam approach is always nice, especially if you plan on being out all night hitting the early Black Friday sales. But if you pass out like a baby after eating all that turkey, then there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun for a few hours and adding a little extra to the eyes.

To start this tutorial, I’m using a potted eye base from Be A Bombshell Cosmetics in the shade Submissive. This actually looks a lot darker in the pot than it does after it’s blended out on the eyes. If you prefer eye primers like this, I highly recommend checking this one out or some of the other colors they have. I’ve had this specific product open for an embarrassingly long time and it is still just as good as the day I opened it. It will not dry out! Unlike the Maybelline Color Tattoos...

For this tutorial, I’m using one of my favorite Wet n Wild palettes that I’ve ever owned. It, unfortunately, was part of a limited edition collection a few years ago (hence the white packaging) and I sooo wish they would make it permanent. It’s called Sun-set To See and all three shades in it are completely matte. Even though mattes are rare within their line, this palette has the same amazing quality, as with most all Wet n Wild eyeshadows. I’m taking the brown crease shade and placing that very gently in the crease and outer corner with a Morphe MB23 brush. For this step, I just want to lay down a tiny amount of color to make it easier to blend in the following steps.

Then I’m taking that same shade on a Sephora Professionals blending brush and placing it in the same area, but focusing most of the color on the outer half of the eyelid. This palette does feature a more warm-toned brown and an orange, which are very popular shades right now so it shouldn’t be difficult to find similar colors to use even though the one I’m using isn’t available anymore. Orange isn’t a color I use too often on myself, so this trio will last me probably forever.

Speaking of that bright orange shade, I’m taking that on the same Sephora Professionals blending brush and placing that in my crease. I layered it slightly over the edge of the brown, but blended it up enough to where it can also be seen on its own. If you love bright colors like this then feel free to pack on the color as much as you’d like. I tend to keep things pretty neutral and didn’t get too crazy with it. For this step and the previous step, make sure to go back with an empty loose bristled blending brush to blend everything even more for a more perfected finished look.

You could take the matte cream shade in the palette instead of bringing in another shadow and that would look beautiful too, but I wanted to give you a second option to glam it up a little bit more. I’m bringing in my favorite L’oreal Infallible single eyeshadow in the shade Iced Latte. I’ve used this shade for so many important events in my life and it never disappoints. It’s one of the brightest, most long-wearing eyeshadows I’ve ever owned. This is one of those that makes you gasp with excitement every time you apply it because it’s just that stunning. However, these can be a little difficult to work with if you’re not used to it. I packed it on with my finger first and then blended it out with a Morphe M153 shader brush.

To tie everything together, I took a little bit of that brown shade and applied it underneath my lower lashes. Again, if you’re super into color or just really love the orange shades you could totally combine the two for this step also. But of course I just went in with the brown and tried not to make it too intense with a BH Cosmetics #105 pencil brush.

For the final highlight, I’m taking the matte cream shade at the top of the palette and placing that right on the inner corner of my eye with a Sephora Professionals smudge brush. I love mixing finishes between my inner corner and eyelid. The matte cream contrasts the extreme sparkle of Iced Latte perfectly to really brighten the eyes and make them appear bigger.

Then I went in with my favorite Lancome Drama Liqui-Pencil in the shade Noir Intense and applied that halfway along both my upper and lower lashes. To set that in place and create a softer, slightly more smokey effect, I added a matte black eyeshadow on top of that with an Ecotools angled eyeliner brush. With the eyeshadow, I took it all the way to the inner corner on the upper lid staying as close to the lashline as possible and halfway on the lower lashline. This technique will prevent it from being too liner heavy and creating a raccoon effect.

The only thing left is to curl the lashes with a heated lash curler and add as many coats of mascara as possible. I used my favorite combination at the moment: two coats of Lancome’s Monsieur Big and one coat of their Definicils mascara. This is for Thanksgiving, though, and you could totally add some falsies if you wanted. I chose to just stick with mascara because I don’t need that added weight on my lashes making me more tired on a full stomach. Does anyone else get sleepy after eating or is it just me?

Here’s a close-up of the final look:

And a quick, more condensed guide recapping every step for easy reference:

I’ve done this look a few times now and I absolutely love the way it turns out. It took me such a long time to play around with such a bright shade like the orange that’s in this palette, but the brown really helps bring everything together. The colors layer so easily over that eye base and it really does help the shadow to stay in place all day. For only $8, I definitely want to look into getting more colors!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, please feel free to share it using one of the buttons below. If you re-create this look or get inspired to create something similar, don’t forget to tag me on any of my social media. I’d love to see what you come up with! Do you like to glam up or down for Thanksgiving? Let me know in the comments!

~Mani Monday~

Oh my goodness, I could just kick myself for never having tried Essence nail polishes before. I recently bought two shades when I was at Ulta and I could not believe what I was seeing when I was painting my nails. I’ve been painting my own nails since I was 8 years old and I have never come across a nail polish that I’ve been able to get away with just one coat. Ever! This stuff is amazing! I did end up going with two coats just to see what would happen, and I honestly would kinda prefer only one. It’s supposed to be a gel-type of formula, so it’s more thick in consistency and I feel like two coats might make it peel off faster. The shade I’m wearing is called Perfect Match, which looks almost identical to my favorite Sinful Colors shade called Soulmate. Between the price ($1.99), the opacity, and the brush it has, I am in total shock. Do yourself a favor when you’re hitting the Ulta sales this weekend (I know you will be) and pick up a few of these polishes.