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What eyeshadow colors do you wear now that you didn't when you first started wearing makeup?
BROWN! Ha, ha, ha. When I started wearing makeup, I was all about brights!
— Christine
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Blurples and navy – I have hazel eyes and have always steered clear from blues, but I’ve found a way to make these work. I’m still drawing the line on pastel blue frost, though!
Anything vibrant and saturated! I started with soft and neutral colors. My first eyeshadow was a gift from my aunt, it was a pink and gray duo from Clarins. I used it for years!
Reds and oranges of every imaginable hue! Not so much as a whole eye look, but to bring out and compliment other shades. Such as a rusty orange with a deep, rich aubergine does wonders for my teal-green eyes. A true red can soften up a deep smokey eye and add something interesting and less mainstream. A deeper red or burgundy gets along beautifully with various shades, especially a deep brown eye look.
Hi Nance: I couldn’t respond to you on Christine’s foundation matches posting..guess we ran, like a fine pair of sheets I might add, at maximum threat count. Giggle. In any event, your description of your skintones sounds so incredibly beautiful. You’re like a palette of desert colours. You should live in Arizona 😀
errr thread too ..doh
Weirdly, I already DO! But I’m dying to get back to a more temperate climate with actual seasons. My father’s roots are in southeastern Texas, northeastern Mexico and into Louisiana, so he looks more Plains NA than say AZ Apache, Hopi or other SW Nations. I suppose that plus having an Irish grandmother is why I’m not all that dark. But try finding foundation over the years has been a huge pain!
Yes, we sure did run a 800 thread count on there!!! *giggle* ?
Black! When I started I used only neutrals (early 2000, color wasn’t trendy) but I alway find there was no way my small hooded eyes could pull off black eyeshadow. Now that I know some little secrets of application, I use also black!
I have got hooded eyes too, just wondering how you go about applying black eyeshadow, or any eyeshadow really? Iv got my own ways (and it works most of the time) but it’s always helpful to hear other people’s ways 🙂
I have prominent eyebrow bones and the flesh there hoods my eye. So I’m a rare case of deep set eyes with hooded eyes. I had once a makeup artist argue that my face was just impossible. So I manage to put eyeshadow. I don’t extend it too much towards the outer corner(because of my browbone) but if you have just normal hooded eyes, in my opinion you have the best shape possible to create amazing eyeshadow looks! Just ignore your natural crease! That’s all I do.
I am the complete opposite. I now wear any and every color, plus metallics, duochromes…anything I can get my hands on, I will wear.
I used to just wear browns, taupes, beiges, whites, and sometimes a little black. I was stepping out of my “comfort zone” wearing any plums! I’m glad I have branched out and embraced all the colors!
Reds and coppers. I used to be scared they would make me look tired/sick.
*Pink- I’ve always avoided pink eyeshadow for fear of looking like I have pink eye. But I got Totally Fletch in a Tarte holiday palette and was so surprised by how good hot pink looked on my lids. But it’s Natasha’s Golden Rose that really did it for me. The light rosy pink with gold shimmer is so stunning, paired with a matching blush and slightly darker lipstick.
*Warmer colors – for decades, I thought I could only wear cool shadow colors because I was cool toned, but I’ve found that warm colors can look so flattering. I love my Lorac Unzipped palette, and I just added the Unzipped Gold one too.
haha well better question is what I don’t wear anymore. Remember MAC Vellum? I knew it was the least flattering tone on the planet for my NC25 skin but still wore it lid to brow bone (it was white with a blue shift) with Gris in the crease. *duck and cover* Ditto for the cool-toned lavender MAC shade from the 90s of which the name escapes me. Those were my go-tos in my late teens and college years. Stopped wearing eye shadow for a while until recently, or if I did wear any I am completely drawing a blank of what.
Today, purple is still my favorite on my eyes but I’ve gone a bit more wearable. Laura Mercier African Violet is my fave. I just can’t get into the warm browns that are so popular right now. My hair and eyes are really brown (like really brown) so more brown on my face is total browntown. The Chocolate Bar palettes and Naked original scare me to death. Purples and peachy pinks for me!
Lol, brown is still my least favorite color, especially if warm. I just use it in the crease, but I still would never do an entire brown look. 😀
I think it has to do with the fact that I have brown eyes and dark blonde hair (so dark it looks brown if I don’t stand right in the sun)….. it would just be too much brown for my taste with the eye shadow as well.
For some reason I wore shimmery white a lot???
Thought it brought out the green in my eyes (it didn’t).
Greens: It used to be drilled into us never to match our eye color. I deeply regret following that rule for so long, because green shadows actually enhance the same tones in my hazel/olive green eyes.
Me too — for eyes, I used to be with brights, and now I use a wide range of neutrals much more. On the flip side, I used to be about more neutral lips and now I go a bit brighter and bolder.
Most colors. I change my eye makeup daily and rarely use the same palette twice in a row. I usually do not go too loud, but the shades and overall feel of the makeup changes. Today, I would be able to make probably every color work. Even reds, which I would not suspect to ever wear.
All of them, lol 🙂 Seriously, I only wore black for like a whole year when I first got into make-up.
Blues, teals and greens. I used to be all about grey and cool brown shadow. But the biggest change for me is finish rather than colour – I used to run from frost and sheen like the plague. Now, it’s my favourite type of eyeshadow.
I’m the opposite. Until a few years ago all I wore were shades of brown or muted plums. Now I’m all about the bright colours, and with my dark brown eyes, anything goes.
When I was growing up, I wanted blue or green eyes, but now, I really appreciate my brown eyes. I can wear all kinds of shadow colors ( green, purple, blues, pinks, reds, etc), and the colors don’t clash with the brown eyes, but really make them pop 🙂
Deep Burgundy, Reds to Red Violets. They are amongst my personal favs and I’m completely cashing in on their increased availability. Nothing makes my green hazels stand out more.
Yes, yes, yes!!! Me, too!
Brights and Jewel tones, more into color on the lids than when I first started out.
I would have to say pinks. I was afraid it would look like I was crying. lol
And yes some pink/berry tones can look like that still in photos when I apply them to the lower lash line… but I don’t care as much . lol
Red! Never, ever occurred to me until just a few years ago. I make it very subtle on my mobile lid, but it really makes my green eyes pop!
I don’t know about colors, but matte shadows are a relatively new venture for me. When I was allowed to wear makeup on a daily basis, it was all about the super light pink and purple frost finishes. Then shimmers and glitters (which I still wear regularly). Matte shadows just seemed so boring until I learned how to incorporate them well.
I thought they were boring, too. And, I rarely found any that were pigmented enough. Now, they’re a mainstay.
I now wear brights. I first brought the Coastal Scents bright Creative Me 1 palette but couldn’t get the guts to use it because the colors were so dark and I wasn’t used to wearing it so my sister who is darker than I wears more brighter eye shadow so I gave it to her then last year I brought the UD Electric Palette and took a while to use it but I did. I still only use it very minimally and I never do a full on BOLD multiple bright color eye because I’m just too dark and where I work, eh it’s not the best esp if in a meeting. BUT now I do bold and have discovered how much a bomb teal eye or pink under eye is fierce!!
Definitely browns and neutrals. My younger self would wonder, why would you ever wear BROWN (bore!) when blues, purples, and greens are big, bold and bright. And the brighter the better!
Taupe. Back in the 90’s good Taupe didn’t exist in the drugstore and I was poor.
Any kind of transition color. What transition? hahaha. sigh.
LOL been there: hooded eyes, didn’t care and didn’t have a clue how to work it.
Greens, pewters/antique golds, taupes, browns. I used to only wear light, shimmery pinks, peaches, and purples. I will say though blues, orangey bronzes, and true yellow golds have never been appealing to me!
It was the 80s… The real question is, what color I *wouldn’t* wear, LOL!
My “style” hasn’t changed much, either. I never wore “color” above the crease, and used pressed powder in place of a “transition” shade, as that concept just didn’t exist… I’m also still partial to a white brow highlight, too, only I go for pearl rather than frost.
All of them. I was never much into eye makeup when I first started wearing makeup, and in the rare instance that I used eyeshadow, it was something neutral or understated. I wear just about any color now….including brights, including blue, and including glitter/sparkle.
Always hated brown until Monarch, thanks, C. Still don’t favor it or neutrals that much. But as an old broad, have to be pretty careful about the line between shimmer and subtle metals and Mr. Frostees. Thank god for eyeglasses. Now I frequently do cooler taupes or mauves with Bango colored liner. And still love colored mascara, no matter what anyone says. It’s such a small amount of color.
I pretty sure I wear what I normally have always worn. Maybe more reds than before?
Oranges! I was so scared of warm tones when I started out. It was only in my senior year of high school that I even started to branch out. I remember a Valentine’s dance where my eyeshadow was entirely made of a baked marble blush, pink halo eye with an orange center. Yeah…I wear oranges more now but I also wear them in moderation lol!
I used to wear all over the lip a copper color, than I’ve learned that for my hooded eyes I should dark out the crease but I still stick to nude colors, it is what I love for myself
Colors much closer to my skin tone. I used to wear dark browns that made my deep-set eyes look skeletal.
Reds, oranges and pinks, now I use all colors, I am addicted to eye-shadow and have a huge collection and experiment a lot.
When I was young, I was fairly conservative, wearing either pink with gradient greys od browns from light beige for medium brown. I am no longer conservative. I will wear virtually anything at least on a trial basis. It will wash off, right?!?
I have expanded to taupe, greens, blues and purples. I also love a smokey eye which I was AFRAID to wear. I only wore gold, brown and bronze when I was younger. Still haven’t tried red or pink…
Many years ago I would not have used a green eye shadow. Now, not only do I love green, it is my favorite color of eye shadow. I don’t have very many and wish that I could find a few really terrific ones. I have to say that the opposite is true also. I use to use a lot of blue eye shadows and now would never use them except an occasional navy liner.
Kat Von D came out with 4 new mini palettes and one of them has greens. I believe it’s called ‘Sage”. Blends beautifully and pigmented.
If you want recs, I have an entire drawer full of good quality green shadows, from DS to HE brands. My fave color is olive green, but I have other greens too.
Hot pinks and surprisingly black! Hot pink can bring out the green in my hazel eyes, which is what drives most of my eye color choices. I also had to use black correctly on my uber fair skin and hooded eyes so it doesn’t look a mess. I still tend toward tailed and deep plums, but I definitely branch out more.
When Bare Minerals first came on the scene I bought a ton of colors and they sat in my makeup case. These days I stick with cool tones and neutrals with colored pencils. I have yet to venture out into the warm tones. I would have to pair them with corals which don’t look good on me.
For years it was either neutrals or soft pinks. Now I’m all about the color especially green! I totally rocked Colourpop’s Belladonna today. Loved it!
I’m having trouble thinking of anything I wear NOW that I didn’t used to! Probably greens, especially bright and light greens. I LOVE green now, but I used to wear mostly purples, blues, and some random other brights.
I remember back when your blog was a baby Christine!! And you always posted bright eye shadow looks!! Ahaahaha.
For me, It’s Plum, and Olive green!! I have dark brown eyes, so these colours really bring out the brown and the warm cinnamony tones!! I now wear green eye shadow twice a week!! 🙂
Blues & darks like black & gray were not on my radar when I first started wearing make up. Now I am more adventuresome in using brights.
There are still plenty of colors I shy away from, but recently discovered that I love the way orange looks with my eye color (blue-grey) even though I detest the color orange in just about everything else. I’m on my second pan of Makeup Geek’s Chickadee in less than a year. I’m actually getting into warmer colors in general that I never would have dreamed of wearing (firmly believing I should only stick to cool tones) and have been really into copper, rose gold, burgundy/marsala, gold, and warmer pinky oranges.
I wear dark eye shadow now – and never did when I originally started wearing makeup back in the stone age.
Brown!! Lol, didn’t want to stay natural in the beginning!
I guess I have to agree with you, Christine. Brown. And neutrals.
I did a long mental list of colours I’ve used, thinking back to way back when I think I used greys a lot but I also used bright colours and I still do. I guess I’ve just added neutrals and browns. I’m not even sure there were many neutals available when I started, but maybe I just liked the brights, silver and grey and have forgotten other colours. Age, you know!
Purple. And rosy shades but I think the main one is purple, specifically deep almost black purples
Reds, rusts and oranges – namely the ones in the Viseart palettes. As a newbie to eyeshadow (newbie as in been wearing for 5 years) these are colors I would never have considered would work for me. I use them to complement the browns and other neutral colors and weirdly, they work.
I distinctly recall applying eyeshadow two years ago and my sister was visiting and she said after I was done, “you know, when you first started with that weird orange color I thought, that is not going to work, but now that you’re done, it does. Hm. It’s nice.”
🙂
Everything! I never wore eyeshadow regularly until recently. I have found that I’m very fond of red though.
I was away when this question was asked, so better late than never!
The eye shadow shades that I wear now that I didn’t wear before are neutrals, greens (especially olive shades) and teal.
I used to wear a lot of greys and navy as they co-ordinated with my work outfits. But since I have discovered this blog and purchased my Naked palettes and LOTS of others, I have totally been into my neutrals and green shades.