The easiest party eye look ever

For when you want to up the ante, but don’t have the patience for a complicated tutorial

Editor / December 18 2019

‘Tis the season to get a little more frivolous with your makeup. Whether it’s using bolder, brighter colours or more sparkly finishes, there’s something about the Christmas/New Year’s/summer season that just makes a girl want to break out of her beauty comfort zone. 

The urge is strong, and we’re here to help. 

But we know that sometimes there’s a gap between the desire to achieve a party look and the skills/patience to actually accomplish it. Which is why we put together one of the easiest eye makeup tutorials you’ll likely ever come across.

The toolkit

First up, you’ll need an eyeshadow primer to ensure longer wear. We used the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Amplifying Eyeshadow Primer. Then, you’ll need some eyeshadows. A palette with a variety of colours and finishes is your best bet – we love that the Huda Beauty Mercury in Retrograde Eyeshadow Palette has a really diverse colour range, so you can use the basis of this tutorial a million times over and end up with a different look depending on the combination of shades you choose. Just for the fun of it, we have brought in some extra glitter (Hourglass Scattered Light Glitter Eyeshadow in Foil). You’ll also need some liquid liner (we’ve got Maybelline Tattoo Studio Liquid Ink Eyeliner), a volumising mascara (we’re using L’Oréal Paris Voluminous Mascara), and of course some eyeshadow brushes. We’re using a fluffy eyeshadow brush and an angled liner brush from the ZOEVA Eye See Brush Set.

party eye tool kit

1

Prime your lids

While many eyeshadows are formulated to offer long-wear, Australian summers are hot, and there’s no telling what can happen on a sweltering day. So, to ensure your party eye goes the distance, apply an eyeshadow primer to clean, dry lids and give it a minute or two to dry before going on to your next step.

party eyes prep eyes

2

Choose your base shade

Start your look with a matte eyeshadow – whatever colour your heart desires! We went for the shade ‘Karma’ from the palette as it works well with the gold glitter coming up soon.

eyeshadow palette party eye

3

Apply to your entire lid

Using your soft fluffy brush, apply your matte shade in gentle ‘windscreen wiper’ motions along the crease of your lids. Make sure to cover the entire area.

apply eyeshadow

4

Pick your glitter shade

Here comes the fun bit - the sparkle! Find a glitter shade that’ll compliment your base shade. In this case, we picked gold to pair with the rose matte base. If you had picked a lilac shade from the palette as your base, you could try the matching lilac glitter, or even the shimmering white.

glitter eyeshadow

5

Apply to your entire lid

Glitter shadows can be tricky to apply with a brush – sometimes synthetic bristles won’t pick up and deposit the sparkle like you'd want it to. The easiest solution? Use your finger to lightly dab it across your lid. This way you get as much sparkle as you choose (and you can keep layering for the desired effect).

apply glitter shadow

6

Define your upper lash line

Switching from eyeshadow for a second, use a liquid liner to add definition and drama to your upper lash line. Start from the inner corner and make your way to the outer corner (you can break this up into small mini strokes if one long stroke is too hard). Finish your line off with a gentle flick upwards to lift your eyes.

line lids

7

Pick a shade to highlight

Going back to your eyeshadow palette, pick a light shimmer shade to add extra pop to your eye look. We used ‘Galaxy’ from the palette.

pick highlight shade

8

Highlight the inner corners

Using the angled liner brush, add your highlight to the inner corner of your eye, then use the length of the tip of your brush to line your bottom lash line with the same shade.

highlight eyes

9

Finish by adding volume

Finish off your eye look with a mascara that’ll add length, curl and most importantly, volume.

mascara

The final look

And there you go! A shimmery eye look that can be used all party season long – and we guarantee you won’t break a sweat trying to recreate it!

final look

Don’t forget to remove you party eye (and the rest of your party makeup!) before you get into bed! And if you’ve yet to find a makeup remover that’ll do a sufficient job, we’ve got 11 makeup removers that have rave reviews right here

Which colours would you use to recreate this party eye look? Let us know in the comments section below!

Main and inset image credit: Sevak Babakhani
Hair & makeup credit: Lei Tai

Carli was BEAUTYcrew’s Editor from launch in 2016 until May 2020. You can find her words right here on BEAUTYcrew, and previously on beautyheaven.