What’s in Your Eyeshadow?

Posted by on Jul 16th, 2018 in Beauty | 0 comments

One of the best ways to bring out the beauty of your eyes is through the application of eyeshadow. With so many colors and techniques nowadays when it comes to makeup, it’s not possible to transform into anything you want as long as you have the right skills. Part of your makeup skills, however, should be the information on the history, ingredients, and different application techniques of the eyeshadow.

How it Started
The earliest recorded use of an eyeshadow was found in ancient Egypt, where figures were depicted using kohl on their eyelids. The kohl, which is still used today, were made from lead, ochre, copper, chrysocolla ore, antimony, malachite, ash, and almonds.

The Greeks later used other ingredients to create various colors such as blue and green, while the Romans used materials, usually from stones and minerals, that would shimmer. Eyeshadow from Babylon and India also used plants, flowers, herbs, bird droppings, flour, and crushed stones to create a variety of colors. However, it wasn’t until the 1920s when cosmetic companies began creating safe eyeshadow.

The Common Ingredients
Despite the availability of safer ingredients to create makeup, some people still have allergies or adverse reactions to some of the ingredients. Unfortunately, the only way to know if a product is good on your skin is through a trial-and-error process. If you have sensitive skin, however, you must read the ingredients on the label before you try anything. After all, the eyes are one of the most sensitive parts on your body and it can serve as an entry point for harmful chemicals.

Most eyeshadows today are made from basic ingredients such as, the base filler (talc, mica, or kaolin clay), binders (magnesium or zinc), pigment, preservatives (glycol and tocopherol), and others such as nylon, silica, boron nitride, dimethicone, and bismuth oxychloride. However, cream eyeshadow and powder eyeshadow ingredients also differ slightly. Most eyeshadows contain one of the following: shea butter, beeswax, jojoba oil, castor oil, and silicone.

Some of the toxic ingredients you need to avoid are the following: bismuth oxychloride, aluminum powder, coal tar, formaldehyde, parabens, Nano particles, thimerosal, and talc. Look instead for the following ingredients: mica, iron oxides, zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide. Fortunately, there are beauty products that sell makeup for sensitive skin and allergy-prone skin, so you need not give up makeup altogether.

Proper Use or Application
If you have a huge eyeshadow palette, you might be wondering how to use them best. Besides experimenting with different color combinations, there are basic rules that you always need to remember.

• Apply a darker shade of eyeshadow near or towards the outer corners of the eyes to give depth.
• Blend properly by blurring the border between the natural skin color and the eyeshadow.
• Apply light colors first over the whole eyelid.
• Then, blend intermediate colors beginning with the outer corners of the eyes. The inner corners should only have lighter colors.
• Lastly, apply darker colors near the lower and upper lash lines and the outer corners of the eyes.