The Best Shadows For Oily Lids & Making Them Stay All Day
Before I really understood my skin and what my skin type was I could never understand why my eyeshadow would never stay around. And even when I got into beauty and started to understand the whole skin thing a little bit more I never ever thought that your eyelids could be oily, but weirdly my lids are probably one of the oiliest parts of my face. And as a serious lover of the champagne glittery eye, it goes without saying that I like my eyeshadow to stick around and not become a creased mess. It's been one of my biggest beauty missions to figure out how to work around oily lids and still get my shadow to stay put and look perfected all day long.
BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR BASE
It wasn't until I started to watch YouTube videos that I realised it wasn't the norm to put foundation on your eyelids. Personally, it's something I've always done because I struggle with prominent veins and discolouration on mine so it seemed almost obvious to want to add a veil of coverage on them. However, I've learnt that getting a little too zealous with your base application around the eyes can wreak havoc with shadows. And making sure if you do apply foundation to your eye area that it's a thin layer and that you powder the area is so important to maintain your eye looks.
PRIME
After being a convert to primers for my base makeup I never thought about them for eyes. And really it is just another step in our probably already very lengthy beauty routines but a primer really can help. There are a few on the market and they're typically more high end although Maybelline does have an option that one of my awesome readers heralded as a dupe for my beloved Too Faced Shadow Insurance. Which is my favourite product for really helping my shadows adhere to the lid as well as helping to create a smooth base for them to go on top of. I love the champagne shade that the TF product deposits on the eye too as it evens everything out beautifully.
BRUSHES
Something that probably never helped my eyeshadow application as a teen was using those terrible cheap plastic foam applicators to apply my shadow. I shudder at the thought of doing that now. I'm such a big believer in brushes for anything beauty related as I find that for me it makes light work of applying product beautifully and you don't have to deal with the mess of getting everything all over your hands either. You don't have to spend a huge amount of cash on brushes to get ones that are good quality. Zoeva creates such beautiful, well designed and outstanding quality brushes that work with all shadows wonderfully.
THE SHADOWS
TOO FACED: Without a doubt over the past couple of years Too Faced is a brand that has really stood out to me. It all began with the Better Than Sex mascara and Shadow Insurance and then I fell in love with their shadows. I can't deny their slightly gaudy and incredibly feminine packaging sucks me in but the quality of their shadows is absolutely outstanding. They are buttery soft and highly pigmented but they're not so soft that they just fall out once applied onto the lid and lose all of their shimmer. Even though they're so soft to apply and wear on the lid they still stick around, especially their matte shadows really stand the test of time. The palettes from Too Faced are incredible for the money if you find one where you will use the majority of the shades.
MAC: It's almost obvious to mention MAC in a post like this as they're so well known for their not only vast colour range but incredible quality when it comes to shadows. I've always loved their Lustre formulation of shadows, they're shimmery and add definition to the eye without being too much. They last well, are easy to apply and blend like a dream and one of the best things about MAC shadows is that you can either buy them alone or create your own custom palette.
CLARINS: It's not so much Clarins as a brand when it comes to shadows but it's one of their products in particular. I spoke a lot about the ombre iridescent shadows last year and even though I think £19 is steep for one item I can't deny how good these shadows are. They're a formulated to go onto the lid slightly wet and then dry down and really adhere to the eye. If you're someone who just wants one shadow they can wear every day that will work no matter what then I'd really suggest the Clarins Ombre Iridescent shadows.
KIKO: A brand that's a total dark horse in the beauty world is Kiko. They produce great quality products that are incredibly affordable so could easily be dismissed as being cheap crap. I love their mineral shadows, they're a loose powder which sounds like a faff to apply but don't be fooled as they're incredible. They're so soft on the skin which when it comes to matte shadows isn't typically the norm. All you need is a good brush to keep this on the lid all day.
NATURAL COLLECTION: One of my first true beauty loves were the Natural Collection eyeshadows. As a teenager, I didn't have a lot of money to be spending on makeup so Natural Collection was always a brand that I gravitated towards. They still sell the same pretty bone coloured shades that I bought as a teen and they're perfect for an everyday shadow. For £2 you'd expect the product to be absolute trash but they're pretty awesome, they're so smooth in their formulation as well as feeling and looking great on the lid.
CHARLOTTE TILBURY: I'm not all that experienced when it comes to shadows from Charlotte Tilbury but her shadow sticks are absolutely superb and they're something I reach for without a second thought when it comes to needing something long lasting but beautiful. The shadows sticks are incredibly easy to use, seriously anyone can apply these to perfection as all you need to do is scribble them on the lid and blend out with your finger and you're done. I, of course, adore the shade Champagne Diamonds as it's a buttery champagne shade with plenty of shimmer and glitter. But those shiny particles aren't too thick or uncomfortable to wear at all.
