An Intro Guide to Creative Makeup
Written and Modeled by Jessica Brite, Columnist
Graphic Production by Dina Kuanysheva, Web Designer
Shifting away from the neutral tones and simple eyeliners of the 2010s, this decade is setting up to be all about fun and colorful looks. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a trending makeup look or a new technique and not knowing how to replicate it. The good news is that with the right products, a simple set of instructions, and a little bit of practice, you too can jump into the creative makeup space.
The Necessities
Just like any food recipe, you can’t whip up a good meal without the proper ingredients and equipment. In terms of makeup, the right brushes and products are essential to achieving a creative look. Although it may seem a bit off-putting that you have to spend money before you even know how to create these looks, it is a worthwhile investment.
1. The Right Brushes
While many makeup artists have kits overflowing with an abundance of brushes, most eyeshadow looks can be created with 3 simple brushes — a flat brush, a liner brush, and a blending brush. Flat brushes, such as packing and shading brushes, are necessary to deposit the eyeshadow onto the lid. Liner brushes are key to creating those fine lines and details that bring creative looks to life. Lastly, blending brushes are arguably the most important, because they help to seamlessly transition from one color to another. My holy trio of brushes are the Morphe E38 bent liner, Morphe M412 deluxe pointed blender, and Morphe M124 firm shadow. No matter what look I am doing, these three make any product glide on with ease.
2. Color
Most creative makeup looks are all about color. Here is where personal preference comes into play. You can use eyeshadow palettes, loose pigments, cream shadows, glitters, and so much more to incorporate color into your look. However, for beginners, eyeshadow palettes and glitters are the easiest to get comfortable and experimental with. A palette with a wide range of colors, such as the Morphe x James Charles palette, is perfect for beginners since all the possible color combinations allow for an endless number of looks. Glitters, like the NYX loose glitters and Colourpop pressed glitters, add a light-catching element that can elevate any eye look.
3. Liners
Mastering eyeliner is just as important as eyeshadow for creative looks. Whether they are graphic and bold or simple pops of color, mastering eyeliner is a great way to get your foot in the door. Half the battle is finding the right products. Regardless of what look you are trying to achieve, black, white, and colored liners are good items to have at your disposal. Black liners, like the Maybelline Master Precise, are the most important of the three because they are the handiest for everyday looks and generally the easiest to work with. Before I experimented with colored liners, I learned how to perfect the proper wing for my eye shape with a simple black liner. Some colorful liners that are affordable and easy to work with are the NYX Vivid Brights. One of my favorite hacks is to repurpose eyeshadow as liner by just dipping your liner brush into shadow and spritzing the brush with some setting spray.
Get the Look
Getting into creative makeup can be hard, especially when a lot of the looks on our Instagram feeds are by famous makeup artists or influencers who have had tons of practice and access to every product under the sun. However, there are four fairly simple looks that can be achieved with just a little bit of practice and effort.
1. Full-blown color
Although doing just a single wash of color across your whole lid can seem daunting, as long as it is blended out correctly it is quite a simple look to do. All you have to do is choose a color to your liking and pack it onto your entire lid using a packer brush. Next, take a clean blending brush and blend out the edges using windshield wiper motions. Lastly, smudge the same color on your lower lash line and add highlighter to your inner corner to make the look complete. If you are feeling bold, add a fun lash for volume and decorative gems around the outline of the shadow!
2. Graphic Liner
In the creative makeup space, liner is now much more than just a thin black line along the lash line. Now, with liners in just about every color imaginable and the smallest of detail brushes, it is a way for people to create graphic shapes around their eyes. One way to do a graphic liner is by incorporating negative space. To create this look, outline your eyelid with a colored liner and leave your lid blank. A second type is creating a fun-shaped wing, for example, an angel wing design.
3. Cut-crease
A cut-crease is one of my favorite looks because of how clean and put together it can look. To create this look, you first follow the same steps for creating a full lid color look. Once you have packed and blended the color, take a small packing brush with concealer and “cut your crease” with concealer. To keep the cut effect, pack on a light shimmer or matte shadow to set the concealer.
4. Simple Approach
If full eyeshadow looks are not your thing, no worries! Swapping out a simple winged eyeliner for color instead of a plain black is one easy way to incorporate color into your everyday makeup routine. You could also try using a colored shimmer, such as a pink shimmer or iridescent glitter, instead of a traditional highlighter in your inner corner.
Neutral colors and everyday makeup looks are often easy to get into, however, I highly recommend trying out and transitioning into the creative makeup space if you have even the slightest interest in it. Since I began incorporating color into my looks, I have gained self-confidence that stemmed from expressing myself through makeup. As cliche as it may seem, makeup has made me a lot more comfortable with myself and my style. So although it may be intimidating to ditch the neutrals and pack on color, I hope that this guide can steer you in the right direction.
