Goth eye makeup tips

Goth eye makeup tips, including how to apply eyeshadow, by Abracadaver

Goth eyeshadow

The most common form of eyeshadow is pressed powder. It’s easy to use and doesn’t make much of a mess, but you may still want to tap or blow excess shadow off of your blush before you apply it. You can also find eyeshadow in little pots of loose powder, which is kindof a pain in the ass to work with, but often worth it (especially in the case of mica-based shimmery powders. See my Glitter page for more info on the glory of mica). Dip your brush in the powder, then tap the excess off into the container lid. Repeat as desired, using the little bit you’ve got in the lid (you can dump any unused powder back into the container when you’re done).

There are also eyeshadow pencils and creme-to-powder eyeshadows, both of which I find to be an incredible bytch to get on evenly and a challenge to blend. If anyone has any tips on using them effectively, I’d love to hear them. Eyeshadow pencils do make lovely eyeliners and lipsticks, though.

Before you start putting on eyeshadow, pat a bunch of excess powder under your eyes. That way you can easily brush away all the little bits of unwanted eyeshadow that will fall on your face while you work. You might actually want to dab some powder under your eyes before you do your eyebrows if you’re lining them with powder.

This is where your creativity really kicks in. Possible eyeshadow motifs are endless, but here are a few basic ideas to start you off.

Goth makeup – cat eyes

Start off with a light background color, usually white, but silver, grey, yellow, pink, light green etc. are also good, depending on your mood. Using your contour brush (the one with the angled tip), apply a darker shade of eyeshadow along the crease, starting at the outer edge, and tapering/lightening toward the inner point. Sweep the color in a vaguely-triangular, upward-pointing pattern. Blend with larger eyeshadow brush. Repeat with a still darker shade in a smaller arc, so that the lighter shade will show up behind it.

You can repeat this step with as many shades as you like, extending in a gradually lightening triangle all the way to your brow bone, or you could make your entire eyelid from edge to browbone one color, with only black in the crease to define it. You can also try reverse cat-eyes, which is the same basic idea, except concentrating on the inner rather than outer corner of the eyes (gives you a rather silent-movie-heroine sort of look).

Goth makeup – raccoon eyes

Your basic goth look. Once again, try starting out by covering everything in white. Now color your eyelid from the lower edge to the crease with any color you choose (traditionally black, though I would reccomend a darkish grey instead.) Blend a bit into the white. You could also try adding a cat-eye type stripe of darker color along the crease.

Goth makeup – new wave stripes

Choose several complementary colors in graduated stages of darkness (when I do this, I usualy use yellow, mauve-ish lavendar, and red). Start at the inner corner with the lightest color, and apply it in a solid, vertical (yet angled slightly outward,) stripe from inner corner of eye to inner tip of eyebrow to approximately a third of the way horizontally down your eyelid. Repeat with the next lightest color, adding another vertical stripe next to the first. Repeat with the last color, ending with a vaguely circular bit that connects your outer eyebrow tip with the outer corner of your eye. Just think “80’s”. This is the one time that you probably don’t want to blend the edges together.

White/silver eyeshadow (especially shimmery white eyeshadow) really makes the eyes stand out when you apply it to the inner corner of your eye. Similarly, try brushing some along your browbone, just under the brow.