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Eye shadow finishes. What’s best for you?

30 November, 2014 - 08:39pm by - First Lady | 25 Comments

images: via Pinterest

Article by BR Natalie

Eyeshadow.  It's just a powder right?  Dust it on in the shades you like and you're done. 

No!

Just like lipsticks, eyeshadows come in a whole range of finishes, so creating an immaculate eyelook isn't simply getting the shades and blend perfect - you need to choose the right finish for the job.  And so, with the help of our resident Beauty Therapist Zoe, we bring you the BR guide to eyeshadow finishes!

The four biggies:

Matte eyeshadows have no shine or shimmer.  They're generally the most pigmented shadows and what you see in the pot should be pretty much what you get on skin. 

Matte eyeshadows are perfect for creating eye defining looks and can be used for contouring when shadowing is needed.

They are brilliant for skin of all ages; but particularly for more mature ladies.  Matte finishes do not draw attention to fine lines or wrinkles and will crease less than other finishes.

 

Shimmer shades have a slight shine to them and generally a hint of sparkle thanks to glitter-esque type particles.

Shimmer shades will have a sheer coverage, pulling through your skin tone to the overall affect.  They can be used to highlight features such as the brow bone.

They shouldn't creep into fine lines if applied delicately but a good primer will prevent this from happening, especially on mature skin.

 

Satin finishes are the middle ground between matte and shimmer. 

They're not quite full coverage and not quite sheer.

They're easy to blend and will work on all ages.

 

 

 

 

Frost finishes are usually found in pastel colours. 

The sparkle is usually a white or silver shine and the coverage is full.

These should be avoided by those with fine lines or wrinkles as they'll easily sink in or magnify them.

 

 

 

Other finishes:

Lustre or Pearl finishes are full coverage like frosted shades, but have noticeable glitter particles. 

These will not work on mature skin.

 

 

 

 

Veluxe finishes are a creamy product with a matte texture. 

Easy to apply and blend and great for all skin types. 

 

 

 

 

 

Glitter finishes will be erm, glittery. 

Definitely a no-no for mature skin! 

Expect a lot of fall-out, you might prefer to apply your foundation or BB cream after applying glitter shadows.

 

 

 

 

So there's our guide to eyeshadow finishes - did you learn anything?  What is your go-to finish?  Are you tempted to try something new?

Get chatting below!


Comments

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29th January, 2015

I prefer matte or value as I have wrinkles eyelids (have you ever heard of such thing ) the matte sits nicely on my lids and I like the effect now and then I'll wear glitter but I tend to use matte for everyday use. I Loe matte to make the smoky eye and when choosing palletes I'm always checking how many matte to Shiney there are in it before purchasing just for the fact I get more use from matte shadow. My current is Revlon trio pack in dark matte brown. I call it brown but the name is most definitely something different. My other pallete I use in conjunction to this is my nude naked revealed natural matte colours

7th December, 2014

Love this article, I have all these different eyeshadow types and must say I don't have a favourite I love them all!! :) I usually wear matte day to day but quite often will blend a bit of sparkle in.. I currently using a veluxe and absolutely adore it (I didn't know that it was called that though! Lol learn something new everyday) :)

7th December, 2014

Yeah i actually thought shimmer and frost were the same thing haha, I usually go for matte, but shimmer for added glam on nights out.

6th December, 2014

No I won't be able to wear glittery shadows when I grow old. Good article. I'm a lustre, satin and glitter girl most of the time, but I do wear pretty much all of them.

6th December, 2014

Wow they say you learn something new everyday......well I just learned there are more eyeshadow finishes than I ever thought possible. My bank account will hate me now cause I want to try them all except maybe glitter. It's not for me

5th December, 2014

Definitely some good stuff here, I'm utterly hopeless with eyeshadow sometimes

5th December, 2014

Woah! There's soooo many different looks you can achieve and to think I only ever do a matte look....oh and back in the day I did two tone colours! Never again haha

5th December, 2014

Never heard of Veluxe before. Will definitely look at trying this out next time I am buying eyeshadow.

4th December, 2014

Great article Im like alot of the other girls... I though shadows were either matte or shimmer!

3rd December, 2014

BR my new go to before trying and buying anything Dumba$$ me just bought a shimmer palette ..... Well my baby girl scores again through mommies mistakes ...she dont mind studying for a makeup artist so always willing to take them of my hands - Well baby those days are numbered I hv BR Now to point me in the right direction TY BR

2nd December, 2014

I've always thought that there was only matte and shimmer. Gosh I learn loads from BR :-) I prefer shimmers and tend to use my mattes as a base colour.

2nd December, 2014

Great read. I have three shades that make up my everyday look, my base color is matte and the two other shades are either satin or shimmer. I used to wear really shiny shimmery, frosted and some glitter shades but found they didn't show as well behind my glasses and thanks to my Asian hooded lids they creases pretty bad real fast. I do however have an eyeliner with some glitter in it that I wear but don't have any other glittery stuff.

2nd December, 2014

Being of a mature age, the matte finishes are for me, and the veluxe sounds like it would suit me, too.

1st December, 2014

This is interesting - never knew there were so many classifications

1st December, 2014

I didn't realise there were so many different finishes, great article BR :)