One of the most sought after and tricky looks to pull off with eye shadow is the cut crease. This dramatic look adds definition and professional polish to your look.
A cut crease is simply a very precise band of color in the crease of your eyelid that defines the eye by “cutting” it in half with a contrasting shade and no blending. The idea of a cut crease is to create a sharp contrast between the two parts of your eye.
Cutting your crease creates beautiful, elegant eye looks and appears extremely complicated. But there is a simple hack that can make your life so much easier and turn your cut crease drama into a thing of the past.
First, shape and fill your brows. Cutting your crease is such a defined look that brows need to be neat.
Next, using a fluffy brush, sweep a pale nude or ivory shade across your whole eyelid. This sets the eye as a base ready to apply color and smooths the surface.
Moving on to the shadow application:
Using a fluffy crease brush, select a shade slightly darker than your base shade, but in the color of your chosen crease. Apply the shade directly into the crease of your eye from inner corner all the way to your outer V. Use windscreen wiper like motions holding your brush with a light hand. Gripping the brush too intensely will result in a heavy color deposit. Hold the brush lightly and stick to sweeping back and forth strokes for a defused, airbrushed look.
Then, select another matte transition shade — one shade darker than the previous. Try to stick to matte shades as applying shine to the crease defeats the aim. Apply this darker shade in the same way, windscreen wiper strokes, only this time start slightly further in than the corner of the eye.
The idea is to build layers of transitional colour for a perfect blend and depth in the crease.
Now, keep going with you color build.
Choose a deep matte shade to add additional definition to the look. Apply this in the same strokes directly to the crease from about halfway along the eye. Sweep the colour up above the crease to the outer V. At this point, don’t worry too much about colour on your lid. Our super hack is about to deal with this.
Next, select a very flat brush and dispense a little concealer on to the back of your hand. Load the brush with concealer and starting at the inner corner of the eye carefully cover the entire lid with concealer to the crease. As you approach the crease use the edge of the brush to “cut” into your wash of colour, carving out your crease perfectly. The concealer does the heavy lifting for you.
Once you reach the outer edge of your eye you can wing the concealer out like you would with liquid liner.
Make sure both eyes are equal in terms of coverage and crease height. Once you’re satisfied with this, gently pat your finger across your lid to set the concealer in place. Now you should have a colored upper lid with a defined end to the color wash and a nude lid.
Looks a little funky right? Not for long!
Now, onto the fun and trickery…
Choose the main color of your look. Here is where you get to be creative. You can select a pale shimmery shade to contrast with your crease for an elegant look, a bright pop of color or a neon for a dramatic effect or a glitter for something a little special. Using a standard shadow brush gently press the colour over the concealer on your lid. This should provide a perfect base to showcase your contrast.
Pro Tip: If you’re using a glittery pigment, spray your brush with a little fixing spray before picking up the color. This will make the glitter sparkle to the max.
Now you should have a perfect divided contrast between your transitional blend on the upper eye and your color on the lid. You can further define your crease by applying a line of glitter liner to the divide.
To finish your look, apply your favorite eyeliner carefully — you don’t want to make a liner error and mess up your work. Wing your liner out to follow your cut crease for added definition. Use a black pencil to line up under your wet line to make sure no white bits show through your lashes.
Apply your lashes and blend with a coat of mascara, not forgetting your lower lashes. Admire your MUA style look!
Check out our hacks for perfect strip lashes right here.
This is such an effortless way to achieve this complex look. Remember to be patient, and practice makes perfect.
Soon you’ll be rocking awesome MUA-level cut crease cam eyes.
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Katy Seymour is a super-sex-positive writer in the U.K. who believes kink is life. Email her at katy@ynotcam.com.
Image via Hannah Chapman.
