Over-blending…
The struggle is real!
I’m so not kidding either. If someone hands me a fluffy brush like the MAC 217, I will swipe, buff and swirl until the cows come home.
With some eye looks, it works in my favor, like for blown-out super blended smokey eyes with subtle gradients where all of the shadows smoothly transition into each other.
In looks like that, you almost can’t blend enough, ya know?
But then there are those other times… Those times when over-blending isn’t so cool, and while you think you’re doin’ your thang, and blending those subtle transitions between the colors, the eyeshadows all merge together into a muddy mess.
It happens a lot sometimes with certain palettes and eyeshadows.
It happened to me recently with Estee Lauder’s Bronze Goddess the Nudes Eyeshadow Palette, a $60 limited edition summer palette available now with the Bronze Goddess collection at Estee Lauder counters.
Bedecked in tortoiseshell attire, it houses five nude matte eyeshadows in bone, beige, tan, brown and dark brown; and three metallics in white gold, bronze and plum.
First things first — these shades all being together in the same palette makes total sense to me, but figuring out the best way to work with the palette does not.
That’s because the nude mattes are all pretty close together in terms of color. There isn’t a ton of variation among the shades (lots o’ brown), and they’re kind of semi-sheer, so, like, when I pop them on my lids and start moving my brush around, they merge together into a blend of brown.
Same thing with the metallics… They appear quite dark in swatches but apply semi-sheer on the lids.
And, they also blend together a little too freely.
It’s not a big deal if I’m just going to be wearing one or two of these colors, but anything more than that can look muddy.
When I’m working with products I tend to over-blend, I like to trade out the big fluffy domed and tapered blending brushes I usually like to use for thinner, more precise domed brushes — any kind brush with a smaller pointy brush head works great.
These days I’m diggin’ the NARS #44 Precision Contour Brush ($28) and Sigma Beauty E34 Domed Utility Eye Brush ($12).
After applying the shadow on my lid with a flat eyeshadow brush, I take that pointed crease or pencil brush, and place it at the edge of the shadow. Then I start blending in tight, small circles.
Because the smaller brush heads cover less area, they limit how far and wide you can push the shadows around on your lids, making it easier to be more precise with them.
I just have to remember to go slowly…lest I STILL over-blend.
If you’ve ever had trubs over-blending your eyeshadows, give this trick a try. 🙂
It’s you-oooo-oooh!
Do you have Cafe de Flore in your Netflix queue yet?
Well, if ya don’t, do it! — so we can talk about the soundtrack (and other stuff, too).
One of the main songs in the movie is the one by Sigur Ros called Svefn-g-englar.
I have no idea what they’re saying, and it’s kind of long and rambling at nearly 10 minutes, but I freaking LOVE THIS SONG!
There’s something so lush and ethereal about it… When I listen to it, my heart swells with love.
Aww, so cheesy!
But totally true. 🙂
It’s you-oooh
Alright, friend. Onward to the hump!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Icequeen81 says
May 6th, 2014 at 7:26 pmtoo bad I don’t EL but the pallet is gorgeous
Tiffany says
May 6th, 2014 at 8:32 pmYou may have overblended, but this look is still super gorge! 🙂
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Divya says
May 6th, 2014 at 8:36 pmSuch a let down! I was so wishing it to be great!
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Sylirael says
May 6th, 2014 at 8:46 pmHehe, I do all my blending with my pinky fingers, so it’s hard to go over the top, LOL! Usually I’m a better test of how easy something is to blend at all 😉
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Fancie says
May 6th, 2014 at 9:08 pmThe packaging is gorgeous! The shadows sound like they might be too soft though. I do wish they added a bit more variety to the palette though. Especially since everything is so sheer. The first 3 shades look a lot alike
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Lulle says
May 6th, 2014 at 9:47 pmOverblending is so frustrating when it happens! I hate when eyeshadows turn muddy 🙁
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Judith says
May 6th, 2014 at 10:26 pmI’m a bit disappointed by this palette. The first time I saw it I had the same reaction. The colors are just too close to each other and with the same undertone as well!
We all have blending brushes we can make one color lighter or darker!
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Sunny says
May 7th, 2014 at 12:08 amMy God who cares about the palette? Defiant Coral looks SO DAMN HAWT on you!!!
I think the concept of this palette is interesting, but I really only use matte browns in the outer third and crease. That means more than half of the palette will be severely under-used. Sorry to hear about the overblending problem. IT’S REAL.
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Robyn says
May 7th, 2014 at 7:34 amI have a tendency to do the same thing. I overblend and my eye looks turn out muddy. Especially annoying when I am trying to put together an eye look for a review or tutorial. Can’t really show people how the colours look if there all blended together. Haha.
I started using a small domed precision brush as well and it true – it works.
Amanda says
May 7th, 2014 at 8:03 amOn the topic of EL Bronze Goddess: The perfume is insanely delicious. Not a hint of sunscreen — just lush, tropical, beachy goodness in a bottle 🙂
Erin says
May 7th, 2014 at 8:55 amI think semi sheer metallics will be great for older eyes!
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Danielle says
May 7th, 2014 at 10:18 amLove this palette! I am a big over-blender haha. One of my pet peeves is the harsh, eye shadow line, so I think I spend more time blending my eye shadow than on the rest of my makeup.
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Poo@beautyandmakeupmatters says
May 7th, 2014 at 6:09 pmOn its wn the palette looks so prettyy but sadly the shades werent upto the mark..
BTW I am love with your lip color here, whats the name of this beauty?
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