Why Eyeshadow Helps Us Look Our Best!

I’m excited to share with you today, research on how eyeshadow can help us look our best. Then I will share six different great eye shadow looks for those of us with mature skin who are in our 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond. And, I will demonstrate these looks in today’s video.

A great deal of research has been done over the years on the topic of what makes us attractive to other people. And, a great deal of research has also been done on whether makeup helps us look more attractive, how it helps and, what makeup helps the most. I’ve talked about some of this research in previous videos and if you’re interested in learning more, here are links to two of these videos:

The Most Important Factors

Research reveals that one of the most important factors in helping us look our best is the size of our facial features and how symmetrical our features are. Wearing eyeshadow absolutely helps us increase the size of our eyes and it can also help our eyes look more symmetrical. By using eyeshadow color above our eyes and under our eyes, we extend the footprint of our eyes quite dramatically. And, as far as symmetry goes, if one of our eyes is smaller than the other, or the size of our eyelids is not the same, we can use makeup and color theory to make our eyes look more symmetrical.

To demonstrate this research, I want to share with you today six different eyeshadow looks that can really look gorgeous on those of us who are over 50. First, we’ll look at a basic—but really beautiful and sophisticated, monochromatic eyeshadow look. Then we’ll “amp” up that look in two different ways. Next, we’ll look at an analogous color look (that will also show a different placement of color called a “halo” look), followed by a complementary color look.

The Monochromatic Look

First, let’s focus on the monochromatic look. Monochromatic colors are all the colors of a single hue or color. They’re derived from a single base hue and are extended by using shades, tints, and tones of that same color. Tints are created by adding white to the base color and tones are created by adding a darker color, grey or black. Some examples of monochromatic palettes are two palettes from the brand Colourpop. One called “Going Coconuts” which is all about shades of brown, and the other is “Blue Moon” which has a variety of gorgeous blue shades.

Another interesting monochromatic eyeshadow palette is from Kevyn Aucoin called “Magnify” which contains monochromatic greys with one lighter shade. And there are some wonderful mostly monochromatic eyeshadow palettes as well. Including one from Lorac, “Lux Diamond Palette” and another from Tarte called “Love, Trust and Fairy Dust.”  There’s also an eyeshadow palette by Violet Voss called “Sweet Violet” which has mostly gorgeous shades of purple.

Go Bolder!

The first monochromatic look is a basic, but beautiful and sophisticated monochromatic look using Clinique’s “Teddy Bear” palette. The next eyeshadow look that can be beautiful and add a little more interest to this monochromatic look, combines warm colors with the cool colors already applied.

To create this look I add some orange, which is obviously a warm color, to the cool tone brown look already created with the Clinique “Teddy Bear” palette. Then, to “amp up” this look, and for our third look, I add the darkest brown color in Clinique’s “Teddy Bear” palette to the outer area of the eye. This can be a lovely special event or evening look.

For the fourth look, I take the last “amped up deeper brown look” and add some sparkle to it with a light shimmer shadow on the center of the eyelids. To do this, I use the color “Coco Crush” and “Palm Reader” from the Colourpop “Going Coconuts” eyeshadow palette. First I apply the sparkle with a brush, then I use my finger to make it even more intense.

Using Analogous Colors

The next look features analogous colors—which are colors next to each other on the color wheel. Analogous colors always harmonize with each other beautifully. Some of these combinations might be blue and green, purple and blue, and yellow and orange. The palette I use is a fairly new eyeshadow palette which is a wonderful example of a beautifully laid out color arrangement of both analogous colors and monochromatic colors—which really makes it easy to figure out what colors will work together.

This palette is a collaboration between the brand Elf and a YouTuber by the name of J. Kissa and is called “To the Rescue” because each color in the palette is named after a rescue dog. In this palette, monochromatic colors are arranged in vertical rows and analogous colors are arranged horizontally—so although it’s a fairly large palette, it’s easy to figure out a large number of different eyeshadow combinations very easily because colors that work together are arranged either vertically (in a monochromatic layout) or horizontally (in an analogous layout).

The Final Look

For the final look, I create a complementary color look. This is where we use colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel to create a gorgeous look. Using colors that are complementary to our eye color always make our eyes stand out the most.  In this final look, complementary colors of orange and blue are used. The orange color is used in the middle of the crease toward the outer part of the eye and the blue is used on the outer corner of the eye.

I hope these different looks will give you some inspiration to have some fun and try out a few new looks of your own.

Be sure to check out Elise’sYouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 50+. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Elise Marquam-Jahns is a professional, working makeup-artist who is passionate about helping women 50+ get their glow back.  In addition to her work as a makeup artist for a major cosmetics line, she founded Boomer and Beyond Beauty and recently launched her “Boomer and Beyond Beauty with Elise” YouTube channel for women 50+.  Elise is also an author and speaker and hosts Normandale Community College’s monthly Learning Well Edge Talk Radio show where she interviews experts in the field of health and wellness. 

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