I’m not really the most adventurous when it comes to beauty tips and tricks I see online; you know the whole ‘baking’ thing and the contouring that looks like your nose is a willy before you blend it in? I love watching the process, but I’m not too fussed about trying it out myself. The same went when I first saw the sticky tape trick when you take either surgical tape or a post-it label – something that isn’t too sticky – adhere it to your outer corners and use it as an eyeshadow guide. It looked tricky and faffy and I can’t even do an eyeliner flick that’s symmetrical let alone trying to line up two pieces of tape to identical angles.
HOWEVER. I’ve learnt never to say never with these things and after clearing out what is affectionately known as our ‘S**t Cupboard’ and sorting though our first aid kid I came across a roll of never-used (thankfully!) surgical tape. With YouTube tutorials playing in my head I took it up to my vanity, lined everything up, stuck ’em down, piled on some eyeshadow and peeled away. Left behind was some pretty badass eyeshadow work despite the fact that I really hadn’t done anything fancy. The line it creates is crisp and precise and though it looks pretty cool left that way, I blend it out a little just to soften things slightly. This might seem to some like it defeats the point, but I can never work out how far to bring eyeshadow down and out and this takes all of that guess work out for you. Here are a few other things I’ve picked up:
You’re never going to get them perfect. If anything aim for the angle to be more horizontal than it is vertical to really get that cat eye thing going on.
Stick the tape onto the back of your hand first to get most of the grip off. This way you don’t rip off your makeup when you remove it and you can apply your makeup in whatever order you fancy.
Apply your base and/or concealer with a BeautyBlender. That way, when you remove the tape you’ve got a base toucher-upper all ready to go incase some of your complexion work does get pulled off.
Taking them off is the most fun you’ve ever had when applying makeup. FACT.
Now it’s not something that I plan on doing everyday, but if a stronger eyeshadow that usual comes into play then out the surgical tape will come. Baking next? Erm, I think we’ll have to see on that one…
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