As we age, the delicate eyelid skin is especially susceptible to wrinkles and crepiness, making it challenging to apply eye shadow flawlessly. Hollywood and New York City makeup experts offer their best eye makeup tips and secrets for gorgeous eyes at any age.
Celebrity makeup artist Bruce Grayson's philosophy is if you start with good skin, it creates a "canvas" for the next part of your beauty routine – the makeup – allowing you to be less made up and more "you." He says, "Help your eyes sparkle with a hydrating and brightening eye treatment. Apply Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller to reduce eye puffiness and diminish the look of fine lines and wrinkles or Olay Total Effects Line & Dark Circle Minimizing Brush for sheer tinted coverage to help even skin tone."
Dex Phillip, founder and artist of DEX New York Cosmetics, a line of modern mineral makeup, explains how to apply eye shadow flawlessly and says his best secret is, first and foremost, opt for neutral tone colors with a matte finish.
DEX Eye Makeup Tips
Phillip explains, "If you have an identifiable crease, first use deep neutral tones in the crease for dimension. Then, use bright neutral tones on the lid to lift the eye up and open - you know, the bright-eyed, bushy tale look, so youthful! If don't have an identifiable crease, which we call a hooded lid, use a deep neutral tone on the lid first and a bright neutral tone in the crease second."
"The key here for a hooded lid is to create a gradient blend effect to lift the eye up so it doesn't appear droopy. Ultimately, stay away from shimmer and use the correct makeup brushes for a flawless blend of colors."
Phillip says the "correct brushes" include a fluffy crease brush for blending color in the crease and a flat eye shadow brush for applying (not brushing) color to the lid. "Do not use the brushes that comes with the eye shadow palette - a big no-no if you want a flawless application."
Last but not least, If you want natural and youthful shaped eyes, stay away from cream and pencil eyeliners and opt for a dark brown or black matte shadow to line the top lash line of your eyes. "Overall, think matte and neutral tones and you won't go wrong. Matte finishes blur all aging flaws and neutral tones even out as well as bring life back to the skin on your eyes."
Unlike typical mineral makeup products that use either too-shimmery Mica or dehydrating bismuth oxychloride as the base for their powder formulations, DEX products contain natural ingredients formulated to maximize skin's regenerative properties, "acting as a wrinkle reducing agent with collagen-production stimulating abilities." DEX formulators went even further, blending the complex with 24k colloidal gold "to allow efficient penetration into the skin and aid in the products' ability to stay on the skin without drying its surface as some ingredients do.
