Create stunning eyes with no more than eye liner and a brush:

Tiffany D shows off some fabulous tricks with eye liner. Have you ever learnt how to ‘tightline’? Tiffany will show you how in this informative video tutorial. Use Coastal Scents Gel Liners and a Sigma Small Angle Brush to create the look.

Our most popular shades of Coastal Scents Gel Liners are Stella (charcoal black) and Truffle (dark brown). These colours are great when aiming for a simple look, or to make a vibrant look more dramatic. But try out our more vivid shades such as Tuquoise, Envious and Deep Plum!

Handy Hints: Eyeliner Howto… is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

My response is often a very unqualified “which ever is your personal preference”.

Given this doesn’t really give the customer a lot to go on, I normally follow up with the benefits and additional uses of each brush. Then the customer can normally make a more informed decision. Personally, I swap and change between which of these brushes is my favourite for applying eye liner. I might love one for a few months, and then start using the other again. It really is personal preference….

The Sigma E05 (old name Sigma SS209 as per image):

This is your traditional eye liner brush. With very fine, firm bristles that form a pointed tip. This brush is great for precise application of makeup, which makes it perfect for applying eye liner.

Advantages:

• Great for applying gel eyeliner to the upper eye lid close to the lash line, or along the water line
• Good for getting in the hard to reach places such as the inner eye corner
• You can get very close to the lash line
• You don’t often have issues of having applied too much product
• Can also be used to fill in eye brows
• Can also be used as a lip brush

Disadvantages

• Not so good for applying eye shadows as eye liners. The brush does not allow you to pick up enough product and the application is quite slow
• If you are looking for a thicker application (especially to you eye brows) this is probably not the brush to use

The Sigma E65 (old name Sigma SS266 as per image)

This brush is your more new age eye liner brush. With fine, firm bristles that are flattened and cut off at an angle.  This brush is great for applying makeup along an edge, or for creating straight lines.

Advantages:

• Better when needing a thicker application of eye liner
• More stable application along an edge (e.g. close to the lash line)
• Better for applying makeup to fill out thicker eye brows that need a bigger coverage

Disadvantages:

• Less precise application e.g. to the inner corner of the eye
• Needs to be cleaned regularly. Lack of cleaning creates build up which thickens the brush too much for eye liner application.

Hopefully this has given you some more information to think about when making your decision between these two brushes. If you need any more help, or if you have any alternative uses for these brushes, let me know. I’ll update this blog with any further information I obtain in the future!

Handy Hint – Multiple-Use Eye Liner Brushes is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

Take a piece of scotch tape (approximately 6-7cm)

After applying your foundation, apply the tape to the edge of your eye. The tape should continue on the same plane as your outer, lower water line and angle up towards your temple.

Check out MissChievou’s Kim Kardashian makeup tutorial in the video below. This is a perfect example of scotch tape being used for this purpose:

Handy Hint – Use Scotch Tape to Shape your Eye Shadow is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

Achieve these tricks by using the following EyeSpice products:

• To create a black line on the upper lid close to the lash line (thick towards the outer corner) – use Coastal Scents Gel Liner in True Black or Stellar
• For navy liner applied to the lashes and waterline – use Coastal Scents Gel Liner in Indigo Blue
• For white cream eyeshadow in your tear duct area – use Heavenly Naturals Chubby Cream Eye Shadow in White
• For shimmery highlight colours to dust on to the inner corner of your eye – use any of the OCC Loose Colour Concentrates highlight shades and apply with a Sigma SS224 Tapered Blending Brush
• To apply a dark crease colour to your outer lid – use the Sigma SS224 Tapered Blending Brush

EyeSpice also has the following tip: Apply white eyeliner to the lower water line. This makes the whites of your eyes look bigger – use  Coastal Scents Gel Liner in Silk White

Handy Hint – Make Your Eyes Look Bigger & Brighter! is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

This tutorial shows you how you can enhance your green eyes. To make your green eyes pop, you dress them with colours that contrast with green. These are always colours that lie on the opposite side if the colour wheel from green. Have a read of our recent tutorial introducing the colour wheel. This tutorial will give you a bit of background on colour theory, and how this can be applied to your make up application.

Although the colours in this tutorial work especially well with green eyes, they can in fact be used with any eye colour. The theory is around choosing colours which compliment other colours. You may be wearing green clothing, and want an eye shadow to contrast with this colour. Either way, colour theory works the same. Below are some suggestions of colours to contrast with your green eyes (or your green clothing). Enjoy!

Try these shades (hover over the image to identify brand and shade. Click on the image to visit the product page):

Base Colour:
Outer Half Lid:		Crease Colour:
Crease Colour (also pull down under lower lid):		Lower Lid Colour:

Also try:

Upper Lash Line/ Lower Water Line	Inner Corner Highlight	Inner Corner Highlight	Upper Lash Line/ Lower Water Line

Note: This tutorial would look great with Coastal Scents Gel Liner in Envious along the water line. Envious will be hitting shelves during September. Keep an eye out for when it arrives. We will let you know immediately on Facebook!

Handy Hint – Eye Shadow for Green Eyes! is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

Although the colours in this tutorial work especially well with brown eyes, they can in fact be used with any eye colour. The theory is around choosing colours which compliment other colours. You may be wearing brown, red or orange clothing, and want an eye shadow to contrast with these colours. Either way, colour theory works the same. Below are some suggestions of colours to contrast with your brown eyes (or brown/red/orange clothing). Enjoy!

Try these shades (hover over the image to identify brand and shade. Click on the image to visit the product page):

Base Colour:
Crease Colour:		Outer Half Lid:
Lower Lid Colour:		Crease Colour (also pull down under lower lid):

Also try:

Upper Lash Line/ Lower Water Line	Inner Corner Highlight	Inner Corner Highlight	Upper Lash Line/ Lower Water Line

Handy Hint – Eye Shadow for Brown Eyes! is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

Although the colours in this tutorial work especially well with blue eyes, they can in fact be used with any eye colour. The theory is around choosing colours which compliment other colours. You may wearing blue or violet clothing, and want an eye shadow to contrast with these colours. Either way, colour theory works the same. Below are some suggestions of colours to contrast with your blue eyes (or blue/violet clothing). Enjoy!

Try these shades (hover over the image to identify brand and shade. Click on the image to visit the product page):

Base Colour:
Outer Half Lid:
Crease Colour (also pull this colour down under the lower lid):

Also try:

Upper Lash Line/Lower Water Line		Inner Corner Highlight

Handy Hint – Eye Shadow for Blue Eyes! is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

If you have access to a colour printer, we suggest you print a colour wheel out so you can keep it in your make up kit. It’s useful when trying to choose colours which compliment or contrast with your clothing, as well as your eyes.

Basic colour theory

First, lets cover off the basics of colour theory in a nutshell:
- Primary colours are colours which can’t be created from other colours. These are yellow, red and blue
- Secondary colours are created when you mix two primary colours together. These are orange, violet and green
- Tertiary colours are created when you mix a primary colour with the secondary colour next to it on the colour wheel. These are yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue green and yellow-green.

On the colour wheel above, you have lighter and darker variations of each colour. This is called the tint (adding white) and shade (adding black).

Complimentary colours are those on the opposite side of the colour wheel. For example, green and red, blue and orange, yellow and violet. When these colours are placed next to each other, together they intensify both colours.

How this applies to make up application

The important thing to remember is that you really can wear any eye shadow colours you want. The point of applying colour theory, is to make your eye colour stand out. At the end of the day, we want our eyes to be the focus, not necessarily our eye shadow. You will know that sometimes when you wear a certain colour, people mention how it brings out the colour in your eyes. This is because you are wearing a colour which compliments them (or, a complimentary colour). This is called colour theory and it’s used to enhance colours. In this example we are applying it to our eyes, and we are using our eye make up as our tool.

So, if you have blue eyes and wear colours in the orange, gold, brown family, they will make your eyes look more blue. If you have blue eyes, and you wear blue eye shadow, it is not wrong, it simply won’t have the ‘popping’ effect that you would get if you used a complimentary colour. Similar colours to your eye colour will make your eyes fade out. If you have green eyes, your complimentary colour is red, so tints and shades of red (including pinks and burgandys) will make your green eyes stand out. There are a number of different shades of brown eyes. Those with warm browns, generally have complimentary colours of greens and blues. Have a play around with these colours to see which works best for you. Dark brown/almost black eyes, work well with pretty much every colour – lucky you! Hazel eyes can be fun as they are generally made up of flecks of brown, gold and green.  Wearing red toned eye shadows will make the green stand out. Wearing purple toned eye shadows will make the gold stand out, wearing blue toned eye shadows will make the brown stand out. Again, have a play around with these colours to see which looks you prefer.

True complimentary colours should be used as a guide only. In fact, you can choose any colours in the opposite half of the colour wheel, the intensity just won’t be as strong as with the true complimentary colour. Play with tints and shades of complimentary colours, to find which ones work the best with your eyes. But remember to choose appropriately for the occasion. Whether you are aiming for a wearable look, or something a bit more dramatic, we have some suggestions below.

After you have selected the complimentary colour you want to use, select colours that sit next to this colour on the colour wheel (up and down, or side to side). These will provide you with good colour matches for blending (lighter colours in the inner corner of your eye, blending to darker colours in the outer corner). For a bit more of a dramatic look, try selecting colours two positions away from your complimentary colour (side to side) on the colour wheel. Or try adding one of these colours as eye liner on your upper lid, close to the lash line. For example, for brown eyes try shades of light green blending to darker green in the outer corners. Add a line of light blue or light violet to the upper lash line.

Clothing

To add even more complexity, consider your clothing colour in your colour selections. Try to keep eye colour and clothing in the same colour family (for example, for brown eyes try different tints and shades of green for your clothing and eye shadow). If you are really trying to make a statement with your eye shadow, you could intentially choose to wear clothing in the same colour as your eyes, to compliment your eye shadow instead. The simple option is to wear black! But it’s always nice to team black with a splash of colour. This will work well if you match this splash of colour to your eye shadow colour.

Blue, brown and green eye tutorials

For more information, and to get some ideas on how to create eye shadow looks which compliment your eye colours, have a look at our upcoming blogs specific to blue, brown and green eyes.

Handy Hint – Makeup Colour Wheels is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

What you will need:
- An eye brow pencil or eye liner pencil in a colour slightly darker than your natural eye brow colour
- Heavenly Naturals Mineral Eye Brow Tint in a colour similar to your natural eye brow colour
- Apply your eye brow tint with a Sigma SS266 Small Angle Brush

Handy Hint – PERFECT Brows is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz

• To lighten your brow bone making your eyes appear bigger.
• To diffuse and soften the edges of your eye shadow out into your natural skin colour.
• As an eraser or blur tool, to hide mistakes.

Your choice of highlight colour and texture is completely up to you, but here are some simple guidelines:

• When going for a skin-toned colour, choose a colour that matches your natural skin colour, or a bit lighter.
• In the evenings you may want to try pearl or iridescent highlight colours. These are white based, but may have a slight pink, apricot or golden hue. Select a hue that matches your skin tone. If you have yellow undertones, pick a highlight with a golden hue such as OCC Loose Colour Concentrates in Lustre. If you have pink undertones, pick a highlight with a pink hue such as OCC Loose Colour Concentrates in Platonic. If you have warm undertones, pick a highlight with an apricot hue such as OCC Loose Colour Concentrates in Titania. Alternatively you could select a pearl eye shadow with a silver hue such as FaceFront Paint Me Perfect in Sea Salt. For a straight white highlight, try FaceFront Paint Me Perfect in Snow Cone.
• If you have any texture on your brow area, choose a matte eye shadow with minimal shimmer. The shimmer can sometimes draw the eye to imperfections.

The following products can be used as highlight shades:

• Mineral foundation powder such as Heavenly Naturals Pure Mineral Foundation, in a colour that matches your skin tone or one a shade lighter. These will generally be matte textures.
• A purpose-made highlight eye shadow such as FaceFront Paint Me Perfect in Skinny Dipper. This has a very slight shimmer to it, which gives your eyes a natural lift. Alternatively select a pearl eye shadow highlight such as the range of OCC Loose Colour Concentrate highlight shades.
• A white cream eye shadow such as Heavenly Naturals Chubby Cream Eye Shadow in White.

When applying highlight, use the following brush types:

• For a powder highlight, apply with a loose, soft brush such as the Sigma SS275 Medium Angled Shading Brush.
• When using a cream eye shadow, apply roughly to the brow area, then blend into your skin and the edges of your eye shadow with a concealer brush such as a Sigma SS194 Concealer Brush

It is difficult to explain the true concept of brow highlighting, and there are not a lot of videos available on this. The best way to see the benefits, is to try it out. And practise until you get it right.

Start with application of your eye shadow primer. Follow your usual makeup routine, applying your base colour and a crease colour to add attractive shadow to your eyes. You may notice the edges are not even, and that there is a distinct line between your eye shadow and your skin:

Using the appropriate brush, apply your highlight colour directly under the eyebrow in a sweeping motion. Make sure you blend this well into the edges of your eye shadow. You will notice immediately that the harsh lines are blended out, creating a clean gradient between you eye shadow and your skin.

The highlight colour can also be pulled down under your eyelid to soften harsh lines on your lower lid, or to clean up any mistakes.

Tips and Tricks:

• Look to extend the highlight application into the inner corner of the eye to open up the eye and give a more youthful and fresh appearance. This is particularly effective with pearl highlight shadows.
• When you first start out applying highlight, play around a bit until you get it just right.
• For more on highlighting and contouring of the whole face, check out our Coastal Scents Contour and Blush Palettes, and this great xSparkage video showing you how to use it!

Handy Hint – Brow Highlight is a post from: EyeSpice.co.nz