Bold Makeup Looks to Wear with Your Mask

It’s been nine months since masks became a regular staple in our lives, so much so that we’ve all learned how to accessorize them with our outfits and find our favorite mask styles and materials. The pandemic has changed virtually everything about our everyday lives, even the smaller, more trivial things like how we do our makeup (and let’s be real–– there was a stretch when none of us were probably wearing any makeup at all). Now that we’ve learned how to live with these changes, many of us are adapting our lifestyles to fit with them instead of fighting against them.

Some days we miss putting on a red lip or getting ready with a full face of makeup, but mask-wearing has given us an opportunity to play up another part of our faces: our eyes! Whether we’re just heading out to run some socially distanced errands or going for a really bold, dramatic look at home (why not?!), we’ve been paying special attention to our eyes these days. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite eye looks we’ve been putting together across this past year, and a step-by-step guide for achieving each one.

Create Your Canvas

So maybe you’re not doing a full face of makeup, but you still want the exposed upper half of your face to look on point, including your skin. Start with a freshly cleansed face and add a lightweight moisturizer all over and blend it well into skin. You definitely want everything to absorb before putting on a mask and starting your day. We like SkinCeuticals’ Daily Moisturizer because it’s filled with tons of skin-loving ingredients but it doesn’t feel heavy or sticky. SPF is still important even if you’re wearing a mask, but we opt for tinted moisturizer with SPF to keep things light. Our favorite is Saie Beauty’s Slip Tint. It feels weightless and silky and has clean SPF35 to keep skin protected from the sun. Mascne is real, and if our skin is feeling particularly moody, we’ll only apply tinted moisturizer, foundation, concealer or any other product that’s heavier than moisturizer on the upper half of our faces only.

Blur and cover any imperfections on your face with Smashbox’s Studio Skin Flawless Concealer, and be sure to add a thin layer onto your eyelids and blend it in really well. Wait until your eye makeup is finished before adding concealer to avoid any powder or pigment that might gather under the eye. After your eyes are complete, add a bit of yellow-undertonedeye cream like this one from Olehenriksen, then follow up with concealer.

Get Your Brow Game Right

Is it just us, or do brows feel even more big, bold, and noticeable right now while we’re all masked up? Taking care of and playing up our brows has been a fun way to feel put together this past year. If your brows aren’t already micro bladed (more on that here) then going over them with a brow butter and pencil is key for achieving full, feathery brows. We’re big fans of the OG brow brand, Anastasia of Beverly Hills, and we look to her products any time we’re grooming our brows. We start with the Brow Wiz pencil to fill in any gaps and create the illusion of more brow hairs and then go back in with DIPBROW Gel to create full, feathery brows.

Once you’ve created your base, your skin and eyes should be prepped and ready for any number of looks. Here are some of our favorites.

Dew Eyes

Dewy, glowy skin that looks lit-from-within has been a big trend across both the skincare and makeup worlds for the last few years. It’s become so popular that it’s sparked the phrase “Glass Skin” a term that the k-beauty community came up with to describe that poreless, flawless look that comes with super moisturized and dewy skin. We get its popularity; something about a dewy glow just looks so healthy and so good, plus, it’s not an incredibly hard look to achieve.

To get a dewy-eyed look, apply a thin layer of a taupe-based shadow across your lids. The Fenty Beauty Snap Shadow is usually what we use. We’ll do the soft taupe color and blend just a touch of the glittery one. Next we’ll take an eye pencil of a similar taupe shade like Makeup Forever’s pencil in “Boundless Bisque” and line it on the lower lid for more dynamic definition. For the dewy finish, we have two favorites we switch between. First is Tower 28’s SuperDew Shimmer-Free highlight balm. It leaves a perfect, glossy shine without the glitter. Our other go-to is Gucci’s All Over Face & Lip Gloss, which glides on easily and leaves a transparent veil over lids. Et voila. Dewy eyes are done.

A Big Night In

So what if we’re all staying home?! If you’re a makeup lover, then you get that it’s still a blast to create bold, eye-catching looks. When we’re feeling like going big, we look to palettes of bright hues and some shimmer to make a statement. You can pull the technique off with any shade, so feel free to get creative and use a pigment that suits your skin tone best! Using Huda Beauty’s Obsessions eyeshadow palette, we start this look by applying the darkest tones on the outer corners and creases of our eyes. Then we go in with one of the shimmery shades across the entire lid if we’re feeling it. We’ll also pull the shadow under the lower lash line for a unique addition to this look. Finish with a few coats of Too Faced Better than Sex Volumizing Mascara.

Holiday Eyes from Home

The holidays are going to look completely different this year, but we’re still dreaming about playing up our eyes for New Year’s Eve, even if we’re staying home with family. New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to grab for shimmery gold and silver hues. If you’re going for gold, we use Pat McGrath’s EYEdols shadow in Enraptured. If we want a sleek champagne eye, we like Tom Ford’s Cream Color for Eyes in Golden Champagne (don’t worry, it looks more pearly than gold). Start by using one of these hues on the inner part of the lid and brow bone, blending outward and stopping about halfway. Then take a faded blushy hue and blend onto the rest of the lid until you reach the outer part of your lid and upper brow bone. Add some white eyeliner on the bottom lower half of your lids, a little more glitter with Hour Glass Scattered Light Glitter Eye Shadow,  and a whole lot of mascara (Too Faced is great here), and you’ll be ready to party!

Hope You Enjoyed the Read!