What are your must-have eye brushes?

Hi Melissa and Anat:

I have a layer of skin that sits over my crease. You can see my eyelid, but the skin covers my actual crease. There are so many different types of hooded eyes and mine are also have slightly downturned as well so to address my key issues I do the following:

I use at least two ‘crease colours’.. the tend to be midtone and matte. I apply the lightest one first which covers a larger territory. Using the Chikuhodo Z10 pencil brush. It is quite soft, but also pointed so it allows me to direct the eyeshadow exactly where I want it. I place it right on top of that piece of skin and then I blend it upwards in a dome shape aimed not central, but slightly more towards the corner of my eyebrow. Look at Christine’s crease work, mine is similar in shape and it lifts the outside corner of the eyes. The only difference, I lay in a second crease colour which is darker, I apply it on top of the first one, this time with a stronger brush, the Hakuhodo and I concentrate the colour on that skin hood so further recede the area, but I do not extend it as far up.. so it ends up layered. Sometimes I will take a finer pencil brush such as the Zoeva 240 and create a cut crease right on that fold of skin in an even darker colour. Does this make sense? I blend everything out so it is seamless. Be careful and apply your colours in thin layers. Don’t attack the area with a really heavy loaded brush, you’ll end up with splotchy shadow that is impossible to blend. If you have a hard time blending shadows, start with a cream base with a MAC 217. It makes it easier to blend everything out.

Oh, key point: when I use my pencil brushes, I am always moving the brush in very small circles, not in straight lines. Do not pinch your brush with your fingers tightly, you will end up with too much pressure on your brush which gives you drawn lines which are impossible to blend..so use light super small circles.. it makes a huge difference.

I also layer colour under my lower lid in the same fashion so the upper matches the lower. I graduate this colour too. So whatever crease colours I have, I apply the lightest first, with a wider pencil brush MAC 219, then I apply the darker crease colour on top with a skinnier pencil brush (either the chikuhodo or the hakuhodo), then I apply my darkest colour along the lower lash line with the Zoeva. I extend this colour up from the outer corner of my lower lid to create a bit of a wing. This is the only way I can wear wings that look ‘normal’.. it also serves as a really good guideline. You never want shadow outside of this line… it will only drag your eye down. You can also make it in the shape of a vee and bring it in a bit into the crease. I do not cover much territory on my eye with really dark colours.

I then line my eyes with brighter shimmery eyesliner and this makes a huge difference on how wide-eyed I can look. I line the bottom directly on the waterline, the upper fully, but thinly. I tightline with black to make lashes look fuller, but not to reduce the amount of eyelid showing. Use a shimmery shadow on the mobile lid. Use satin or matte shadows (I prefer totally matte) for crease work. Curl your lashes!..also helps to open them up.

Crap, I think I wrote a novella here. But maybe there is something here that works for both of you! Have fun with your shadows 😀

I order directly from Zoeva website using paypal.