Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes

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One eyeshadow eye makeup for older hooded eyes? Yes, please. This look couldn’t be faster or easier and will get you out the door looking amazing in less than five minutes.

Plus, it uses a cream eyeshadow so you don’t have to worry about being really precise and it dries to a powdery finish that’s going to stay put until you decide it’s time to take it off.

This is an answer post to my previous post, How to Update Your Eye Makeup for Hooded Eyes.

I got a lot of good feedback on that post and some of the best feedback came from my real life friends who said things like, “You lost me at the third eyeshadow!” and “Who has time to do that every morning!”

(For what it’s worth, the eye makeup look I shared in that post uses only three eyeshadows and takes maybe ten minutes, if that, but you just can’t please some people.)

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Over 50? If your eyes have become droopy and starting sagging as you’ve aged, we’ve got the answer! Here’s a complete tutorial on how to do your eye makeup for older, hooded eyes. This tutorial includes tips on blending and…

Well, maybe this will make everybody happy! I know it’s become my go-to look for the days I want to get up and out the door. It uses just one eyeshadow. It takes less than five minutes.

And it uses a cream eyeshadow so you don’t have to be precise at all when you put it on because you’re going to smudge it out later.

It’s the perfect quick and easy, beginner-friendly eye shadow look and it disguises and enhances older, droopy hooded eyes as effectively as more complicated looks.

What Cream Eyeshadow Should You Use?

Cream eyeshadows come in a variety of formats:

They can come in a tube that looks like lip gloss with a doe foot applicator.

They can look like a crayon that you just draw the shadow on with.

And they can come in a pot that you apply with a brush or your finger.

Any of these types of cream eyeshadows can work just fine for this look as long as the shadow meets these conditions:

  • It blends easily without causing you to tug at your eye (not good for your eye!)
  • It doesn’t dry right away but gives you a bit of time to blend it out (otherwise you’ve got a blob of eyeshadow in one spot on your eye and cream eyeshadow is there until you remove it once it dries.)
  • It’s fairly dark because you’re going to use it as a dark color in the outer corner of your eye and then blend it out to almost a transparent color in the inner corner so you need a color that’s dark enough to be noticeable when blended out.
  • In my opinion, glittery, shimmery or metallic colors don’t work well with this look but you might disagree and if you do, put up a photo on your favorite social media platform and tag me because I bet you look amazing and I’d love to see your look.

I’m using Revlon’s ColorStay Creme Eyeshadow in Espresso for this tutorial because it blends easily, gives me a good bit of time to work with, and is a fairly dark brown.

The Laura Mercier Caviar Stick shadows (and the CoverGirl TruNaked Queenship Shadow Sticks which are a great drugstore equivalent to the Caviar Sticks) work well too and have a better color selection than the Revlon shadows but you have to work faster before they start to dry and become hard to blend.

I use them for this look a good bit, but I just didn’t want to put myself under added pressure to be really fast while filming a video. I love the colors that both lines offer.

I don’t love the cream eyeshadows like the Stila shadows and the Armani Beauty Eye Tint Liquid Eyeshadow for this look because they are almost “too” blendable and I tend to smear them everywhere but I love these shadows as lid colors paired with regular powder shadows.

As always, pick the one that you like best. Or be like me, try them all and switch things up according to your mood.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes

Here’s an in-depth YouTube video covering my easy one eyeshadow eye makeup for older hooded eyes routine.

Cover the Eye Area with Eyeshadow Primer or Concealer

Oh, did you think “easy one eyeshadow look” meant we weren’t going to need eyeshadow primer? How wrong you are!

This look needs primer or concealer even more than a regular eye makeup look because the primer creates a smooth, consistent color on your eyelids and brightens your lids so they stand out more against the droopy hood of your brow.

I need to cover a lifetime of sun exposure sins on my eyelids so I pat on Tarte Shape Tape Concealer in 12S Fair. It’s a pretty thick concealer so it covers the veins, freckles, mottled skin of my lids. (I know, eww.) And it brightens my lids nicely so they stand out.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 6

Line Your Bottom Lash Line with the Eyeshadow

Using a flat synthetic eyeshadow brush, line your bottom lash line with the eyeshadow.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 7

When you get to the outer corner of your lashes, continue the line up onto your lid, angling it toward the end of your eyebrows. This is going to be our marker for where our eyeshadow is going to end when we place it on our eyelids.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 8

Place the Eyeshadow on Your Eyelid in a V-Shape in the Outer Corner

Use the line you drew up from your lashes as the outer corner of the V and bring the top of the V onto the brow bone just above your crease.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 9

Blend the Shadow Just Enough to Blur the Edges

Using a soft, synthetic blending brush, blend the eyeshadow just enough to blur the edges while still keeping the shadow on the outer corner of your eye.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 10

Using a Larger Brush, Blend the Shadow Over the Rest of the Lid

Using a larger blending brush, blend out the shadow from the corner of the lid to the crease and to the rest of the lid. This is the step that will make it seem as if you’re wearing multiple eyeshadow colors as the eyeshadow will lighten as it goes up toward the brow bone and in toward the inner corner of the eye.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 11
he blended eyeshadow looks like a lighter color as it goes toward the inner corner of the eye

For Added Drama, Reapply More Shadow in the Outer Third of the Eye

This step is optional, but if you want to give this look some extra oomph, reapply the eyeshadow in the outer third of the eye and blend with the smaller blending brush just enough to soften the edges.

You want to keep the outer third dark so there’s no need to do any further blending.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 12

Line the Upper Lash Line to Make Your Lashes Look Thicker

This step is also optional, but if you would like to add the illusion of thicker lashes take a few extra seconds and use the brush to draw a thin line of shadow along the upper lash line.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 13

Curl Lashes and Apply Mascara

That’s it! If you read this whole post, it took you longer to read this post than it will to apply your shadow. All that’s left to to do now is curl your lashes and apply mascara.

The folks at City Beauty were kind enough recently to send me a tube of their new mascara, Beyond Mascara, and I have to say I’m honestly impressed.

I only recommend products if I truly love them but this mascara takes my thin, barely there lashes and turns them into lush, full lashes without clumping so I couldn’t love it more.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 14

The Completed Look

Here’s the finished look. Not bad for one eyeshadow and five minutes.

Easy One Eyeshadow Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes 15

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Easy Eye Makeup for Older Hooded Eyes

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