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With dozens of different eye makeup brushes available, you can achieve nearly any look with a minimum of effort. Selecting all the right tools for the job can be tricky, though, and using the wrong ones can leave you looking more garish than glam. Whether you're going for a sexy, smoky look or a subtle dab of daytime glow, a basic range of makeup brushes can get you there. You can play your peepers up or play them down, but smooth, professional looking makeup application will keep you looking sleek and gorgeous 24/7.
1.
Use an angled brush to apply liquid eyeliner for a smooth, flawless look. Use a thin line for smaller eyes and a thicker application for bigger ones. If you have wide set eyes, keep the liner slightly thicker on the inner corners. The opposite is true for close set eyes, which look better with thicker eyeliner on the outer corners.
2.
Use a different angled brush to add a light sweep of powder under the eye. This is not as harsh as full on eyeliner, but will still bring out your eyes. Use a medium toned color for a fresh daytime look, or a deep hued blue, green, purple or black for nighttime eyes.
Avoid using eyeliner beneath you're eyes unless you're headed out for a night on the town. Heavy liner beneath the eyes is a serious culprit in causing the dreaded raccoon eyes.
3.
Apply shadows with an eye shadow fluff brush. The tip should be rounded and soft with a bit of an angle for more control on application. You can use any color that makes you feel fabulous when selecting your eye shadow. In general, blue brings out brown eyes, green makes hazel peepers pop, brown highlights blue eyes and green eyes look stunning with plum. Whatever color you choose, select a hue that's just a bit darker than your skin tone for the lid.
4.
Make the contour along the crease slightly darker than your lid. Add a tough of a very light hue to highlight along the brow bone and inner corner of the eye. Just this small dab of a highlighting shade will really make your eyes jump out.
If you're playing up other parts of your face, you can skip all other steps and only apply this one touch of highlighting eye makeup. The younger set can use a shimmering, sparkling shadow while more mature ladies will get the same effect with more sophistication by opting for a shadow with a pearl finish.
5.
Blend the various shades of shadow with a slightly larger fluff brush. A quick sweep over each lid will blend the edges of your application without running it all together too much. This finishing step is crucial -- without it your various shadow colors can end up looking like a paint by number with too-defined edges.
