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Illamasqua Skin Sketching Technique

Illamasqua Skin Sketching Technique

Ever since the 1940s, when Greta Garbo picked up her black pencil and created the iconic illusion of depth on her eye socket line for the Hollywood cameras, make-up users across the world have searched for the tools and technique to create that show-stopping moment.

Modern lives are bound in an endless chain of time constraints, practicality, and tiny clutch bags, which conspire to make the luxury of make-up application before, during or even after work an endless challenge.

Therefore, the Illamasqua School of Make-Up Art, a hub of unbridled creativity, has developed a simple yet brilliant solution to tick all the boxes of time, practicality and space saving – the Skin Sketching Technique.

Skin Sketching enables you to define, contour and highlight your face all using Illamasqua Medium Pencils. Choose from the two categories of neutral or vibrant tones to create a wide range of looks, from subtle contouring to bright graffiti for your eyes!

The Secret of the Skin Sketching Technique: Neutrals

  1. Smudge Medium Pencil in ‘Vow’ (nude apricot) all over the eyelid to reduce redness and blemishes and create a soft nude base.
  2. Draw Medium Pencil in ‘Flinch’ (soft charcoal) along your upper socket line and under the eye for definition.
  3. Scrawl Medium Pencil in ‘Honour’ (rich brown) on the outer third of the eye and on your bottom waterline for sexy smokiness.
  4. Blend the three colours together with Blending Brush I.

25 Comments

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condesa Avatar

sorry to be a bummer , but I don’t like it very much. I think this smokey eye looks can be achieved with eyeshadows in a more subtle and luminous, less heavy way. the result was too dark and did not match the colouring , nor the eyes of the model.

Xtina Avatar

I agree, this video is a flop. It’s a very uninteresting look, and I don’t know why you’d want to execute it with pencils, which would cause a lot of pulling and tugging on the skin.

Karine Avatar

I like the idea and the results but I’d rather accomplish that with eyeshadows. I feel like it’s a bit harsh on the eyelid and eyeball to use a pencil to do your whole eye make up.

NeenaJ Avatar

Cool tutorial. I love the use of the light pencil just under the browbone for highlight. Also, I would be keen to try the dark pencil in the crease to get the perfect amount of depth, as it’s more precise than powder.

However with so much drag over the lid, I would not shade my entire eye with a pencil. Hello wrinkles!!

Bets Avatar

Hmm…I’m not sure I see how this is some new, groundbreaking technique. It’s a smoky eye done with pencils instead of shadows. Or did I miss something?

Sarah Avatar

I think this is a lovely look, especially the evening version. I could see the advantage to using pencils when contouring around the socket/ doing color beneath the lower lash line, so that you can control more precisely where the color goes.

Nina Avatar

All this harsh blending of the pencil marks would be too harmful to very gentle skin around your eyes. Can’t see any point in this new technique. Still prefer eyeshadows.

Vitória Avatar

I agree with most of you, just use a pencil brush and regular eyeshadows instead… it’ll be a lot gentler on your skin!

kate Avatar

I like the idea of this….I was thinking it would be more of a Garbo inspired look than how it turned out.

But, why go to the trouble of using the pencils when you have to blend SO much? You can get the same look much more easily with shadows. If it was the super defined Garbo look, I can see the need for pencils.

Mariella Avatar

As so many others have said, it’s a pretty look but nothing that couldn’t be achieved with traditional powder or cream shadows or a combination of both. I’m curious to know if these pencils are creaseproof…otherwise, all that palaver about our busy days and busy lives is just a lot of nonsense if the whole effect is going to turn into a creased mess long before my day full of “endless time constraints” is over.

Amanda Avatar

I agree, the pencils add unnecessary tugging. It was a really beautiful look though, and with just the pencils without the eyeshadow created a really natural and gorgeous look. I think i’ll stick to eyeshadow contouring techniques though, just without the dramatic-ness.

Christina Avatar

my GOD that was a lot of tugging on the skin. Poor thing looked 16 from far and 61 up close. Ok. So I exaggerate (slightly ;P). But no thanks…. this technique is a pass.

Gabi Avatar

The video quality is so poor that honestly I can’t tell whether that is a beautiful look or not.
As for the technique, I agree with the other comments, nothing new and it is a much better idea to do it with eyeshadows.
I can’t see that being done in 3 minutes or so as the video says, unless the pencils are as smooth as creamy eyeshadows.

Ruthless Avatar

I thought the smokey night look was awful and smeary looking, her eyebrows were completely undefined and overpowered by the look, making it all sort of shapeless

moushka26 Avatar

Alex Box is a good MUA but a poor historian. That pic of Garbo (1905-1990) dates from the early ‘thirties, not a decade later. Garbo’s career essentially ended in 1941 after a box office flop, “Two Faced Woman.”  Audiences rejected her in comedic roles, preferring her as a passionate heroine in films like “Susan Lenox,”  “Camille” and “Anna Karenina.” She retired to New York City where she spent the last forty years of her life in seclusion.
 
In this video, I find the model’s eyes so tiny and unappealing that it’s hard to judge the effectiveness of the technique. I agree it seems to require pulling and tugging on the eyelids that could be eliminated by using cream or powder shadows.

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