I’ve talked about this Elf Mad for Matte eyeshadow palette a good amount of times throughout my blog posts and have even given it as gifts because I know it’s something everyone will love. Today, I’m sharing with you a detailed tutorial of just one of my favorite ways to use this palette. The colors are all neutral, but vary from warm to cool-toned shades. It can be something that is incredibly easy to use for a quick, natural look or can also be used to create something more dramatic. The look in this tutorial is a mixture between those two extremes and something that I think is perfect for everyday.
Here’s a close up of the shadows to give you a better idea of the shades I’m working with. Unfortunately, they don’t have any names so I’ll just be using numbers to describe which colors I’m using in each step. In case you missed my full review of this palette, I have been really impressed with the quality Elf put into this and I think it’s definitely comparable to other high-end options. At only $10, I don’t think you can go wrong.
Before I did anything, I primed my eyelids with Milani's eyeshadow primer which is definitely my favorite eye primer I’ve found to date, especially for oily lids. With a fluffy eyeshadow brush, I carelessly swept the first shade over the entire area where I applied the primer in order to help the other shadows blend better. That step is typical of any look and pretty boring, so we’re jumping into the first “actual” step in the picture below. I used my Morphe MB23 brush to apply a mixture of the third and seventh shades to my crease and outer corner area for a slight definition and contrast between other colors I’ll be working with.
Taking a blending brush from Sephora’s Professional Collection, I buffed a combination of the fifth and sixth shades in the same area I put the previous colors until it was as dark as I wanted it to be. Using a blending brush to apply these colors makes the actual blending process much easier.
I took the darkest brown (shade 8) on an Ulta crease brush and applied it to the very outer corner to create more layers between the colors, keeping the darkest shades at the end to make the eye appear bigger. Then I took my favorite Sonia Kashuk blending brush with a mixture of the first two shades to easily blend everything together. Taking lighter shades to blend the colors helps to mute it just a little bit, so it’s still wearable for everyday.
I used a pencil brush (#105) from the BH Cosmetics Eye Essential Brush Set and lightly took shades five and six underneath the lash line to balance it all out so it didn’t look too top heavy. I don’t want it to be too dramatic along the lower lash line, just enough to show that it’s there.
There’s not really a shade that I’m crazy about in this palette to use for the entire rest of the lid, so I decided to go with one of my absolute favorites. I used the L’oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Iced Latte and initially applied it with my finger to get a faster, more pigmented application. Then I went in with another brush from that BH Cosmetics set (#103) and used it with a little bit more of that shadow to blend it out into the crease and a little under the lash line. If you don’t own this shadow, you need to get your hands on it asap. Every time I use it, I can’t stop staring at how pigmented, shiny, and perfect it is!
I’ve told you many times before that I absolutely cannot do my makeup without reaching for my holy grail Naked single eyeshadow from Ulta, so of course I reached for it to put on the inner corner of my eye to brighten everything up. I used it with a small smudge brush from the Sephora Collection.
Moving onto eyeliner, I decided to go for a black (which is rare for me) and used Ulta’s pencil gel eyeliner in Blackout halfway along both my upper and lower lash lines. These are really good eyeliners and definitely under-rated in the beauty community. On top of that, I used an angled eyeliner brush from Ecotools to apply the black eyeshadow from the palette. This gives it more staying power, creates a softer look compared to the harsh line of the pencil, and fills in the gap close to the lash line that the pencil can’t get.
Then it’s time to heat the lash curler and curl those lashes! Just heat the lash curler for a few seconds with your blow dryer and it’ll give you a better curl that will last longer, just like you curl your hair with a heated tool - same concept. For mascara, I used a combination of Covergirl’s Supersizer (which I don’t like) and L’oreal’s Telescopic Shocking Extensions (my favorite). You can read my previous tutorial for all the details on my usual mascara routine.
I really hope y’all enjoyed this! It’s still the same steps I always do, for the most part, but I wanted to show you how to put this palette in action because it’s definitely one of the best ones that the drugstore offers. If you want it a little lighter of a look, I would skip putting the darkest brown on the outer corner and use it as an eyeliner instead of the black. If you wanted to make it a little darker, just apply the shades more intensely, add more eyeliner along the upper lash line (but not both - we don’t want small raccoon eyes) and mix the black and brown together when placing it on the outer corner. If you recreate this look, please tag me in your pictures on social media so I can see! Links are at the bottom of the post!
Because this is such a neutral look, it can be combined with almost any lip color. In the pictures below, I paired it with the Nars Lip Pencil in Cruella and lovedddd it!!
Beautiful look! I need to get my hands on that palette!