Eyes over 40 don’t have to be boring. Sure, the basics are pretty much my go-to’s but I like jazzing things up every once in a while, in this wear a mask and cover your face the world we’re living in right now.

If you got your Boxycharm last month, you received the Violet Voss Essentials 2 Palette. If we’re gonna keep it here, my initial reaction to it was “Here’s another palette I’ll hardly use”. I set it aside for a bit and one day while I was organizing my studio space, I grabbed it and opened it up. Using my eye chart practice pad, I tried out a few combinations. Turns out, there’s quite a bit I can do with this thing.

The pans of pigment are plentiful. No skimping here. The colors are a mixed bag of vibrant and neutral. You get a little bit of both worlds and they come together amazingly well. Despite the colors being so loud in their pans, getting the same amount of “pow” on your face does take a few layers. This is actually a good thing for me. Yes, you ultimately end up using a bit more makeup to get the right intensity, but that’s much better than having too much applied too quickly as it makes for a challenge to blend away the extra.

The palette colors Beige, Clay, Rose Gold, Chocolate Brown, Bronze, and Copper are my tried and true color family, but the Wild Orchid, Blue Violet, Aqua, Blue Sky are a nice addition. These colors blend together so seamlessly. It’ll be easy to incorporate blue (it’s oh so trendy right now) into your daily look if you’re stuck on how to keep up.

Here’s how I got this look. I started with an eyeshadow/eyelid primer. I used NYX eyeshadow primer, but you can use whichever one you have handy. You definitely should invest in one since it really gives the eye shadows you apply something to hold on to. It adds to the longevity of the colors and keeps them from sliding around on your face.

Once I blended out the eye-shadow primer, I moved in with my base shade of Beige. On me, this color blended in with the rest of my face which worked out perfectly.

Using a base shade on your lids before going in with more intense colors is important because it keeps your application smooth. Eyeshadow primer can be tacky (it’s supposed to be) and so what you put on top of it will grab hold. This can make it hard to blend. When you add a base color, you can easily add your more intense colors on top and they will blend to a flawless finish.

After blending (I blend everything and so should you), I go in with Wild Orchid. This color is so beautiful and it can really go with pretty much any other shade in the palette with no problem. I applied that over my lid right up to my crease. Since I have hooded eyes (my color disappears behind my lids if I look at you dead-on), I like to apply just a bit of color just above my crease on the bone. Once blended, it just looks like eyeshadow is supposed to look, visible. lol.

Next, I applied the Wild Orchid. Moving on to the blue-violet, I went over the top of the wild orchid just on my eyelid. This one I didn’t extend above my crease. The soft shimmer in this color is eveeryythaannggg lemme tell you.

Finally, I added the blue sky. This I applied as close to my inner corner as I could and patted it outwards ending just before the middle of my eyelid. I really wanted this color to be the accent that made the entire look and it sooo worked. Then…BLEND!

I polished it off with Anastasia waterproof eyeliner in “Jet”, Tarte Big Ego mascara, and Tartiest Pro Lashes in girl boss. The brows give a nod to the brand “Realher”. Creating a bit of a larger inner brow tapering off at the ends and filling in for healthy volume, this pencil is RIDIC!

Though on a daily basis, if I know I have to wear a mask, I’ll skip any makeup below the eyes, I did complete this look by doing my whole face. I used Cover FX Blurring Primer first. (Anything that blurs is a plus). Too Faced Born This Way Foundation, Ace Beaute Bronzer (via Boxycharm), Pur Minerals Midnight Masquerade Palette for my blush, Too Faced Lip Injection Glossy in “Angel Kisses” with Rimmel London Lip Liner in color 049- Natural. I know, it’s a lot, but the overall look was so worth it.

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