Anatomy of a Long-Wear Eye Look

Summers in the south mean two things: mosquitoes and extreme heat. If you're looking for a solution to your mosquito problem, I'm sorry...you're in the wrong place. I actually can't even help you with the extreme heat problem either but I have found that strategically layering my eye products can give me a long-wearing, practically sweat-proof, eye look to wear during the extreme heat. This is how I do it...

Though I'm listing the specific products I used in this tutorial for those of you that are curious, these products can my substituted with ANY of your favorite products. Really...your favorite eye primer, concealer, shadows, liners...anything at all.

The key is how the products are layered...not the specific products used.

Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Eyeshadow Primer
Cover Girl Flamed Out Shadow Pencil in #335
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Junkie

Wet n Wild Mega Liner Liquid Eyeliner in #861 Black
Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express Mascara in black
Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Mineral Face Powder in Translucent Light
MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot 

NYX Eyeshadow in #114 Oro
NYX Eyeshadow in #145 Smokey Mountain

Products Needed:

1. Eye Shadow Primer
2. Flesh-Toned Eye Shadow Base (a concealer can also be used for this step)
3. Flesh-Toned Powder (I used my everyday face powder for this step)
4. Cream Eye Shadow
5. Powder Eye Shadow
6. Long-Wear Liquid Eye Liner
7. Long-Wear Pencil Eye Liner
8. Mascara (waterproof formula optional)

The Tutorial...

First, I started with clean and moisturized skin. Yep, this is my eyelid in all its veiny, discolored glory.



Apply an eye primer

Blend the eye primer on the entire eye lid, up to the brow bone, and along the lower lash line 

Apply a neutral eye base to the entire eye area

This cancels out any redness or discoloration

Apply a flesh-toned powder to the eye lid to set the base. I usually just use my face powder for this step. I now have a "blank canvas" to work with

Next, I apply a cream shadow to my entire eye lid. Any cream shadow will work for this step. I like applying a cream shadow to make my powder shadows more intense and vibrant

I blend out any harsh edges with my finger. This step doesn't have to be perfect, we're going to top this with powder shadows anyway

Roughly blended cream shadow

Apply your powder eye shadow as you normally would

Apply a long-wearing liquid eye liner to your upper lash line

Apply a long-wearing pencil eye liner to the lower lash line. For this look, I added a fun pop of color by using a turquoise pencil eye liner

I curl my lashes and apply two coats of mascara to my upper and lower lashes. If you're going to be in particularly hot weather, use a waterproof mascara on the upper lashes and skip mascara on the lower lashes all together.

Finished Long-Wearing Look

After 16 hours...





Bam! Told 'ya it was long-wearing!