yes. I love shadow too. But, don't wear a lot--just a little and can still get a nice effect.

You're artistic. You can do this. Think of yourself as a water colorist painter with your skin as a canvas.

You can do your first look just on the eye lids up to gently cover the socket.

I'm sure you can do it. For starters, what you can do is buy some purple--a muted down purple. Make sure it's the matt color. Dont buy glittery. You have soft coloring in your skin so you don't need a garish purple.

Blend some makeup on your eye socket. Just enough to soften your skin tones and form a clean canvas. The makeup will be like a primer.

Get a fine paint brush. Yes a fine "paint" brush. Dip the tip into water and then the wet tip in the shadow. Paint the shadow just on the eyelid to cover it. That's it for a beginer. Take your index finger and gently rub it back and forth just to get a soft hint of color.

Think of your skin as a painter thinks of their canvas. Blend, Blend and blend. Step back. See what effect you have. Keep it soft. Cover the socket or just do the lids next to the eye. But make sure to blend so it doesn't look like a line. You can do this. Think positive.

Then don't judge until you've put on your soft nude lip or lipgloss.
what you are doing is water coloring your eye lids. This little bit of lavender will contrast with your brown eyes and look beautiful.

Have fun. I would buy a cheaper drugstore brand of different colors and experiment. That's how you begin and then gradually as you get use to seeing yourself with color, you can then go for more bolder looks and study more professional looks on You tube.

Hey Sandra,

Thanks for the tips...are you a make-up artist? I gotta watch youtube...

Not now.

But in my heyday(about 25 years old) I went to a modeling school(yeah I fell for that one...) and entered a contest in NY with Wilhemina Models for "old" people(smile) and won a makeup competition.

Shortly after that did some Mary Kay consulting. Most of the Mary Kay line eye makeups were water based and one could achieve some softer looks by actually painting the makeup on and blending.


I'm no longer a makeup artist. But to this day I use a softer approach.

Makeup artists as you probably know are as varied as designers. Some of them prefer the deeper striking looks and others prefer the softer looks.

The key is to find the intensity that works for you. Solange in your first picture has a softer eye shadow look but with more mascara.

Once you think about what you want to emphasize on your face you'll execute your plan.

The problem is that when you start out with makeup you usually need to buy a lot of items to find the intensity and colors that look best on you. One way you can reduce costs is to buy what's called "dupes". Many You tubers do "dupes" videos. These makeup looks would for example mimic looks like Bobbi Brown or MAC.

Bobbi Brown looks may be one you would like because she caters to a softer look. If you stress to the makeup artist you want a "soft" look you'll have more success.And during each step of the makeup ask them to let you look in the mirror. Comment tell them to take off more each step.


One of the things I do is to use little makeup if any for casual days and just use concealer for my dark circles. I also emphasize the color of my brown eyes(that was the idea initially for eye makeup, but overtime the theatre of makeup took over. That's ok for those who like it. But it is not for me. I get that drag queen look also...smile)

I also use some gloss and some nude lipstick. A key with lipstick: when you find just the right color you often can wear it by itself and it makes your skin look good. Get the lips right and the eyes will fall into place. Sometimes its better to put on the lip makeup first because then you can tell how strong to make the eyes.

I'll look for some video recommendations and post them in this thread for you.

You can do this without looking like a drag queen.

Here are some Vloggers who specialize in makeup. They are models for technique and style. Then, adapt the look for your own face and style. For instance tone down your colors, use less mascara, use a different or cheaper makeup. Experiment. Search You Tube for subjects like "brown eye looks", "lavender eye makeup".
Here's a cross section of artists:

Bobbi Brown How To 10 Step to Beauty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOOvV3vPS7Y

Tips from Make-up Artist Bobbi Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po-Vc1T_sZg&feature=relmfu

Enkore Makeup
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=EnKoreMakeup

Colouredbeautiful.com
http://colouredbeautiful.com/

Scandalousbeauty
http://www.youtube.com/user/scandalousbeauty

Kandee Makeup Artist
http://www.youtube.com/user/kandeejohnson#g/u

Michelle Phan
http://www.youtube.com/user/MichellePhan

DulceCandy87
http://www.youtube.com/user/DulceCandy87

i wore mascara for a short time in my teen yrs. at the suggestion of someone who claimed it'd make my "lovely elelashes even lovier!" figured i'd try it out, since at the time i was transitioning from tom boy to young woman.

hmmm..i rub my eyes too much, so that didn't work. other than that, i'm clueless about make-up but enjoy the artistic-ness that goes into it.

solange!! :-) her music makes me happy.

Solange is so beautiful! LOVE the natural hair she's currently been rocking. Makeup is fierce. We need to take care of that little eyeshadow problem, D! ASAP! LOL. I just did a friend's makeup tonight, and she did mine. We're such pageant queens, teehee.

Diva Style...I wish i lived in D.C...I would love to have a make-up lesson...maybe we can do it over Skype...