TUTORIAL! | Urban Decay Naked Basics

A good friend of mine recently asked me for help with eye makeup.  She's more of a liner gal and doesn't really use eye shadow.  While I'd love to sit down with her and walk her through the process, she lives in NYC and I live in Atlanta, and we won't be in the same city for a couple of months.  I thought this would be a good time to try my hand at a step by step tutorial for a classic look that will be flattering on anyone.  

For this look, you'll want to round up the following:

1. Eyeshadow Primer 

2. A satin or shimmery ivory shadow (like Urban Decay Venus)

3. A light beige matte shadow (like Urban Decay W.O.S.)

4. A taupe matte shadow (like Urban Decay Naked 2)

5. A medium brown matte shadow (like Urban Decay Faint)

6. Either a dark brown matte shadow (like Urban Decay Crave) or a dark brown eyeliner 

7. An eyelash curler 

8. Mascara

9. A fluffy blending brush

10. A regular ol' run o' the mill shadow brush

11. An eyeliner brush (unless you're going to use a pencil or liquid marker liner)

I'm going to use the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette (shades listed above) and L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara in Blackest Black.  

1. I always start by smoothing on primer to lock the shadow down until it's time to wash it off.  My favorites are Urban Decay Original Primer Potion and NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, but if you're looking for a drugstore option, I've heard great things about L'Oreal De-Crease Eye Shadow Base.  For this look, any non-shimmery primer will do!

2. Using a regular shadow brush, smooth a light beige matte shadow (W.O.S.) from the lash line to the brow bone.

3. Using the same regular shadow brush, apply the taupe matte shadow (Naked 2) from the lash line to the crease.

4. Behold!  You are kicking ass at this.

5. Using a fluffy blending brush, apply the medium brown matte shadow (Faint) to your crease.  The best method for me is to start at the outer corner and just move the fluffy brush back and forth until you can start to see an arc of the color you've applied.

6. Apply the shimmery ivory shadow (Venus) to your brow bone and blend it out completely with your fluffy blending brush.  This will truly meld together the crease color and the highlight color so neither are too jarring.

7. Apply your liner of choice to your upper lash line.  I'm game for any type of liner, but for me, powder is by and far the easiest application method.  I dipped a liner brush into a dark brown matte shadow (Crave) and drew it across my lash line.

8.  Using the shadow remaining on the liner brush, I lightly swiped it halfway across my bottom lash line.

9.  Curl your lashes and apply your mascara.  Step back and appreciate your beautiful and always-in-style neutral eyes!

Pardon my brows...I'm letting them grow out a bit!