In her latest Beauty Smartie video tutorial, Maria Gomez walks through all the steps to create a cut crease eye makeup look, which is basically like contour for your eyes. And believe me, the end result is absolutely stunning! But unlike other eyeshadow looks, this one is super soft and wearable, perfect if you're going to school or just chilling with your squad.
All you'll need is an eyeshadow primer, a palette with warm, neutral colors, a shimmery eyeshadow, liquid eyeliner, mascara, and three brushes, including a crease brush, a flat shader brush, and a pointed detail brush. Watch the tutorial above and you'll be certain to master a stunning neutral cut crease.
"But what about a dramatic cut crease?" Alright, we hear you. With prom around the corner or that big graduation party coming up, you might want to go for a cut crease that's a little more glam. So we asked one of our favorite makeup artists and YouTube stars, Cydnee Black, just how to nail that smokey, dramatic cut crease. Here are her step-by-step instructions:
How To Apply Cut Crease Eyeshadow
1. Start your eyes with a bare face. This ensures that any fall out from the eye look doesn't mess up your foundation.
2. Apply eyeshadow primer to your lids. When creating a dramatic eye, start with a primer to ensure your makeup stays put. Cydnee is using Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Soft Ochre ($22, nordstrom.com) as a base for her eyeshadow.
Then, take a flesh tone eyeshadow color, like Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Pan in Mocha ($6, makeupgeek.com), to trace out the cut crease before you define with a darker shade. Find where your actual crease is by pressing the brush into the hollow of your eyelid and lightly run the color against your eye socket line.
3. Take a black eyeshadow shade, like Makeup For Ever Celestial Earth Black Shadow ($25 for the Nudes palette, sephora.com), and lightly trace over the shadow you've just applied. Use a light hand — you can always add more of the black! Starting at the outer corner of your eye and moving in, apply the black shadow along your crease, creating a wing-like shape at the outer corner.
4. Take a clean, fluffy blending brush, like the Sedona Lace Small Round Dome ($17, sedonalace.com), to blend the upper edge of your cut crease line towards the eyebrow. Blend in circular motions upward. You want the lower line to remain sharp. The key to getting this look right is to blend everything out. You can always go back in with more black shadow.
5. Use a bronze or gold eyeshadow over your lid, like Ofra Eyeshadow in Bliss ($15, ofracosmetics.com), being careful not to blend into the black eyeshadow at your crease. You want the black to be more prominent at the crease than the gold.
6. Take a glitter primer that's made for holding glitter, such as Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glue ($20, sephora.com), and swipe it over the bronze shadow — but not over the black shadow. Let the glitter primer get tacky for about 90 seconds before adding glitter.
Using the same brush you used for the eyeshadow and glitter primer, press the brush into a loose glitter, like Nyx No. 8 Glitter ($6, ulta.com), and lightly tap on your lid.
Pro Tip: Go in with a makeup wipe ($6, amazon.com) to remove excess glitter or shadow that has fallen onto your skin before starting your foundation.
7. Use a marker tip eyeliner, such as the Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner ($22, sephora.com), to create a winged eye. First, lightly run the liner against your lash line. Next, take the tip of the liner from the corner of your eye and extend upward to your brow. Finally, connect the line back down to your lid. Do light strokes and take your time!
8. With dramatic eyes, Cydnee likes a neutral lip. Combine Anastasia Beverly Hills Gloss in Undressed ($16, sephora.com) with MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Bittersweet ($21, nordstrom.com). Start by applying the lip liner around the perimeter of your lips and then blend with the lip gloss for a neutral, ombre lip.
Just take a moment to admire that beautiful smokey cut crease artistry:
SO GOOD.
Victoria Rodriguez is a fellow at Seventeen.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!
