The Best New Way to Wear Sparkly Eye Makeup for Weddings and Holiday Parties
When I got a glimpse of the neutral-yet-twinkling eyeshadow that Leighton Meester wore at the Life Partners premiere the other day, I just had to know exactly what it was. Luckily, it turns out that the makeup artist behind the look was Kayleen McAdams—we happen to obsessively follow each other on Pinterest—and she obliged me and shared all the details behind the look. It would be just be gorgeous to wear for a wedding—whether you’re the bride, in the wedding party, or attending as a guest. It’s also pretty much perfection for holiday party season.
Picture it with or without the statement red lip; with a more muted lipstick, the effect becomes subtle yet still very festive and special. Here’s a close-up of the eyeshadow action.
“I wanted to give her makeup a ’70s disco feel, so I chose pinks and purples on the eye to complement the fluorescent red lip,” McAdams shares. “The key to making this feel modern is to blend the shadows and soften any harsh lines. Even if you think it’s blended enough, blend it just a little bit longer.” The other trick: subtle pink shadow, and contouring powder on the lids. Here’s the how-to:
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Apply purple eyeliner all along the upper and lower lash lines. Then use a flat shadow brush to blend this up toward the crease. Here, McAdams used CK One Color Double Ended Eyeliner in Poison.
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Buff a shimmery pink shadow (the more shimmer the better!) onto the center of the lid and the inner corner of the eye. The exact shade used here: L’Oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eyeshadow in Always Pearly Pink.
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To contour the eye, use a dark brown shade (she used the dark nude from the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow contouring palette) in the crease and along the bottom lash line. “This is where the blending needs to happen, to make all the colors combine seamlessly,” McAdams says.
As for those lashes: no falsies here! McAdams skipped those red-carpet staples and just applied three coats of black volumizing mascara instead—CoverGirl LashBlast Volume in Very Black, to be precise (my fave!).
If you’re digging the lips, too, here are the deets: McAdams used CK One Color Pure Color Lipstick in Bite Me and Lipstick Queen Lip Liner in Red. “I like to apply the lipstick first, applying it straight from the tube and pressing the lips together to distribute the color to the edges,” she notes. “To finish the look I applied the lip liner along the outside, cheating the outer edge a little to make the lips look full. Applying the liner last keeps the lipstick in place all night.”
What do you think of this wedding makeup idea/holiday makeup inspiration on Leighton Meester? Would you copy this eyeshadow sometime soon?
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