Different Uses for Black Eyeshadow

When panning palettes with black shadows in them, I always seem to end up being left with the black ones and no other shades at the end. I never really reach for darker shades and I tend to just neglect them most of the time. If you're anything like me, you might need a reminder to why black eyeshadow is actually great. It is not just a palette filler as the consensus seems to be sometimes. Black shadows have a purpose and they could actually potentially save you money and make your life a lot easier.

So how could you use up a black eyeshadow without having to rock a black smokey eye every day for two months? Well, keep reading and you'll find out!

Deepen your outer V or crease

This is most likely the most obvious answer. If you don't know what to do with black eyeshadow, putting it in your outer V and/or the crease will give your look a lot more depth. It's not rocket science to do and when you blend it properly, you won't have to apply five different shades just to make that transition.

Just do a better job at blending than me!

Eyeliner

If you want to give your lashes some definition without putting sharp liner on, black eyeshadow does wonders. Just apply a small amount along your lashes and they'll look a lot fuller.

Set and blend out eyeliner

If you still want to use liquid liner, you can still use black eyeshadow to compliment it. Try using the black shade to set the liner for a matter finish or use it at the edges to blend it out a bit for less sharp lines.

Make a shade darker

This is the real winner. A lot of us seem to think we need every imaginable shade in our eyeshadow collection and that just isn't true. What we need is to learn how to blend and layer. Having a good black eyeshadow in your collection could potentially save you a great deal of money. Putting a thin layer of black eyeshadow on a vibrant shade darkens it and makes it a bit more muted. It is an amazing trick we should learn how to use more often. I challenge you to look through your collection this week and see what colours you can transform simply by layering a black over it. You might be surprised!

The same shade, but the one to the right has been covered by a thin layer of black.

Bad makeup science

If all else fails and you still have a billion black eyeshadows from various palettes laying around, I suggest you turn to bad makeup science. if you have dark brows you can try using black eyeshadow together with your brow products (maybe mix something that's too light and press it into a pan for convenience?), if you have dark hair you can use it as dry shampoo close to your roots, and if you are ultra fair like me, you can mix it with a clear nail polish to make your own shade. The sky is the limit so let your imagination run wild!