Step One: Make sure you’ve already applied your base make-up, including under eye concealer & eyeshadow primer. Apply Rimmel’s 8hr Colour Mousse in no.001 (Snow Queen) all over your eyelid. It’s white with a blue-purple tone to it & so sparkly & shimmery.

Step Two: Line your upper & lower lashes with No7’s Metallic Eye Pencil in no.05 (Purple)

Step Three: Sweep a raspberry coloured eyeshadow over your lid, but don’t go up to the crease! I used no.58 from Make-Up For Ever— my fav eyeshadow, ever! Amazing vibrant colour & so pigmented! After you’ve done this, blow any excess colour off of the brush & blend it in slightly. Drag the brush underneath your eye & go over your lower lashline.

Step Four: Using a rich purple (I used no.92 by Make-Up For Ever), concentrate on the outer corner of your eyes & your eye socket, to gradually add some darker tones.

Step Five: Using a kohl eyeliner of your choice (or a black eyeshadow & short-bristled smudging brush, as I did) line your top lashes to give the look more depth.

Step Six: I love a bit of sparkle, so I added some Glam Crystals Glitter Eyeliner in no.11 (Shake It Up) by Collection 2000 to my outer, upper lashline & the inner, lower corner of my eye.

Step Seven: Add a big slick of mascara et voila!

If at the moment you’re just applying blusher or bronzer to the apples of your cheeks, then stop! There’s a technique to it, called contouring. It’s one of the oldest practices in the cosmetics industry. With a touch of powder, you can totally transform the shape of your face & it’s so easy to do.

Step One: Apply a darker colour (a shade or two darker than your own skintone) to the hollows of your cheeks, using a medium sized angled brush & a matte, non-sparkly powder. You can suck in your cheeks to define them if it helps, but roughly, you should be drawing a line from the top of your ear to the corner of your mouth. Remember less is more, so do’t over do it! Apply a little at a time, dusting any excess colour off your brush, before applying it to your face.

Step Two: Use a kabuki brush (or any large blusher / blending brush) to blend the colour & soften the lines so it looks more natural.

Step Three: As well as defining your cheeks, you can contour your nose & make your face appear even slimmer by contouring your forehead too! Just add a little of your chosen shade to either side of your nose & on your temples too, if you wish.

Step Four: Pull a big cheesy grin & apply your blushed of choice to the apples of your cheeks & again, blend in with a brush.

Step Five: Using a small blusher brush, apply a little highlighter to the tops of your cheeks. If you decided to contour your nose in step three, then you can brush a little highlighter along the centre of your nose, although if you’re prone to an oily, shiny t-zone, it’s probably best not to apply anything sparkly to this area! Blend with your brush again & you’re done!

I love bright & bold eye make-up, so this aqua look is perfect. A lot of people might think it’s hard to make blue work, but as long as you don’t apply it all over your eyelid, it’ll work brilliantly! It brings out the blue in blue eyes & works well with green eyes & will make hazel eyes pop, as well as being vibrant on the darkest of skin tones & standing out on the milkiest of people among us! In fact, I can’t think of a single person that this bright shade of aqua-blue wouldn’t work on, if applied properly– it might not seem obvious, but it’s a staple eye colour & can be something a bit different for when your obligatory slick of black or brown eyeliner has become a little stale & boring.

Music: “So Human” by Lady Sovereign

Step One: I’ve already applied my foundation & Urban Decay Primer Potion to my eyelids, so the next step is to line your lids with a neutral shade, to even out your skin tone. I’m using the lightest colour in this trio palette from Rimmel, No. 621, Orion & MAC 217 brush, but any biscuit-like shade will work. You might not find it necessary to do this if your skin is even already, in which case, you can skip this step– but for me, it evens out any discolouration.

Step Two: Using your preferred blue pencil eyeliner, line the top & lower lashes, but don’t go right to the inner corner of your eye, as we’ll be blending another colour in here later. As a general rule for this kind of look, I like to go about two-thirds in with the pencil on my upper lid & about a third in on the lower lashline. It’s best to press lightly & build the colour up, as you don’t want a harsh line where the eyeliner stops.

I’m using Sephora’s Flashy Liner Waterproof in 08 Flashy Blue & I recommend this range of eyeliners enough– they’re really smooth & easy to apply. I wish I had more of them!

Step Three: Pat (not sweep across!) your aqua eyeshadow on with a large shadow brush, after tapping off any excess. I’m using Sephora’s 25 brush & Electric Eel eyeshadow by MAC. Apply it around the outer corners of your eye (top & bottom) for a bright look. It doesn’t matter if this is a bit messy as you can clean your brush & then blend the colour afterwards.

Step Four: Using a gold colour, pat on a bit of dazzle to the inner corner of your eye. I used a shimmer dust from Sephora – No.03.

Step Five: For extra sparkle, apply gold liquid eyeliner (Collection 2000s Glam Crystals range is amazing!) to the inner corners of your eyes on the top & bottom lashes-- it should meet the ends of the blue eyeliner you applied in Step Two.

Step Six: Whether you want to complete this step, is completely up to you, but I feel like my eyes look a bit bare without a little bit of black eyeliner on (even with all the blue & gold!), so I’ve applied Rimmel’s Black Liquid eyeliner to the outer edges of my top lashes & a teensy bit of Inika’s black pencil eyeliner to the outer corner of my lower lashline/waterline. Try to keep the line narrow, so you don’t cover up the aqua-blue pencil eyeliner.

Step Seven: Apply your mascara (I’m using Extreme 2Step Volume from GOSH) to perfectly curled lashes, et voila!

I have loads of other tutorials planned (among all my other long-awaited posts!) including how to contour, creating eyeliner flicks & perfect red lips, but if you’d like to know something else, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or email me using the form in the sidebar.

Unfortunately, I had to work this evening (& actually, I hate Guinness, so I’m glad I didn’t have the opportunity to indulge!) & I don’t own any green clothing for some reason, so I decided to splash a little green on my eyes instead.

Here’s how it was done:

1 (After applying your foundation or whatever you desire, to the rest of your face) apply Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion to the entire eyelid, from the lash-line, but not quite all the way to your eyebrow— as long as the creases on your lid are covered, you should be fine. This will stop your eyeshadow from moving throughout the day. It will not budge!

2 Using MAC’s 217 brush, apply their Golden Olive pigment lightly all over your eyelid, blending towards the eyebrow, once you reach the crease. Don’t go all the way up to your ‘brow! You don’t want this to be a solid colour, but more of a shimmery base.
Tip: Start from your lash-line first & work your way upwards towards the ‘brow– this way, the colour will slowly ‘run-out’ & will help you blend it into your natural skintone, where there’s no pigment.

3 Dip the fine end of Urban Decays Eyeshadow Transforming potion into the pigment and apply it as eyeliner to the lash-line, to give a more defined look. Don’t make this too fine a line, as we’ll be applying more eyeliner near it later.
Tip: I find it easier to keep my eyes open when I’m applying liquid eyeliner, but it’s all about practice & whatever you’re comfortable with!

4 Grab Barry M’s Emerald Dazzle Dust (No. 72) & apply it to the outer corners of the eye with the transforming potion.

5 Using the brush you used before, dip it in the Dazzle Dust and gently blot it on the outer corners of the eye, above the eyeliner that you’ve just applied. This should help blend the eyeliners, Dazzle Dust & pigment into one nice colour & tie them together, rather than seeing harsh lines. If you need to blend some more, just keep gently brushing over your lid.

6 Apply your normal black liquid eyeliner, with a little kick on the outer lid, if you’re feeling sassy! Make sure that it’s a fine line to simply outline your eyes— you don’t want to go over the colours that you’ve just applied!

7 If you’re feeling glitzy, grab Collection 2000’s Glam Crystals glitter eyeliner in emerald & apply it above the kick you made on the outer corner of the eye with the black eyeliner.

8 Curl your lashes & apply your mascara!
Tip: For perfect lashes, open your eyes wide & get as close to the lash-line with your curlers, as you can. Hold for 30 seconds & apply mascara straight away, right from the roots & wiggle the brush from side-to-side slightly as you go, to prevent clogging.

Et Voila!