When I do a makeover, I give the client 3 different eye shadow colors to be worn at the same time.  How do I choose these colors and how do I apply them?  Let me tell you.

The first color I choose is the highlight color.  It's the lightest color of all.  It's based on your personal skin tone color.

The second color is the midtone color.  I base this on your casual neutral (hair-related) color or, if your eyes are brown, on your personal neutral (eye-related).

The last color is the accent color.  If you have blue or green eyes, it can be based on this.  Or it can be based on your dark neutrals or dramatic colors.  This color can be quite bright or bold.  But it will be applied and blended so that you won't look like you stepped out of the 60's with bright blue eye shadow (remember those days?).

So, how to apply these three colors. 

First, I apply an primer to the eye area from lashes to eyebrow.  This helps to smooth the skin surface and to help the shadows last longer.

Next, I apply an powder base.  This powder works for almost all skin tones.  I apply this powder, because it's easier to blend powder eye shadow on a base of powder rather than on a base of cream.

Now we start the fun part--applying the eye shadow colors.  What I'm going to tell you is for a standard eye shape.  This works for most people.  There are other ways to apply shadow for other eye shapes, such as hooded eyes or close set eyes.

The highlight color is applied on the brow bone and on the lid from lashes to crease.

The midtone color goes in the crease.  I like to bring it up above the crease a little bit so that you can see a little of this color when your eye is open.

The final color is the accent.  This is applied in a small region along the upper lash line and a quarter of the way into the crease.

The key to all this is to take a brush and blend, blend, blend.  Move the brush back and forth, up and down, so the colors are softened and any lines between the colors are softened.

If you want a more dramatic look, the highlight color can be applied under the lower lashes from the inside corner of the eye almost to the outer corner.  The accent color can be applied from the outer corner about 1/4 to 1/3 in towards the center.  Again, blend, blend, blend.  I don't usually apply shadow under the eye on older clients.  I find the shadow ends up in the fine lines that appear under the eye with age.  This just accents the lines.