Cut Crease for Hooded Eyes

I'll admit, I found eyeshadow to be intimidating ever since I've started playing around with makeup. It wasn't until Jaclyn Hill announced her eyeshadow palette collab with Morphe last spring, did I get excited about eyeshadow again. I bought the palette, along with her Morphe favorites brush set and I was determined to learn how to do good eye looks. I watch countless tutorials, read articles and even practiced with friends. I did get more comfortable with my blending ability, but my eye makeup never looked like the makeup gurus I see all over social media. It wasn't until I starting taking eye look photos of my own, did I realize the problem. I have hooded eyes, with tons of landscape above my brow bone. Whenever I wore eyeshadow, it'd look nice, but you could barely see it with my eyes open. Whenever I felt adventurous and added color above my brow bone, I looked like Mimi from the Drew Carey Show. My eyeshadow was either very subtle or very bold, with no in between.

 I learned to fake a larger lid using eyeshadow, which unintentionally made my eyes look bigger. My go-to eye look right now is the cut crease. The biggest issue with a cut crease on hooded eyes is the lid color will touch the top of the crease color, virtually erasing the cut crease altogether. I've found a way to make a cut crease look good on me while lasting all day. I'm using the Jaclyn Hill palette to demonstrate how I achieve a cut crease. I'm also using the duo chrome top coat by Natasha Denona for the first time - I've been excited to try out. Alright, let's get started!

I start off by priming my eyelids and cleaning up my brows using a flat concealer brush. I blend the concealer down to the primer. I bake my under eyes with translucent powder. Not only does this help set your undereye makeup, but it makes to sweep away eyeshadow fall out.

With a fluffy blending brush, I run Pooter all over my lid. This helps the other colors blend more easily. I then take Creamscicle and concentrate it above the brow bone, sweeping back and forth. I am now starting to create a higher eyelid focal point. I find it easiest to apply eyeshadow with my eyes open. That way I can tell how to create that faux arch.

I go in with Buns using a large pointed blender brush and really concentrate that in the outer corner. I'm keeping this tight on my brow bone, where I'm creating the arch. Again, I'm keeping my eyes open to make sure you can see the brown poking out.

I go in with Enchanted on a pencil definer brush. A little goes a long way, so make sure to shake off the access. You can always go in with more if needed. I'm sticking to the outer corner to really define that crease. I slowly bring the color all the way to the inner corner being careful not to add color to my lid. If your line seems harsh, you can always go back in with the big fluffy brush you first used and sweep back and forth to blend even farther.

Now it's time to create that cut crease. I use the same flat concealer brush I used to clean up my eyebrows to create the cut crease. I add concealer onto the brush and work it onto my eyelid. You can really tell by this angle I have gone above my natural crease. I like to angle my desk mirror up so I'm looking down at myself. This really helps me see where I'm applying the concealer while keeping my eyes open.

Time to add the cut crease color! This has always been my favorite part because you can really see the eye look come together. This was my first time using this duo chrome topper. I was very interested to see if the different shades of copper and green flecks would appear with this eye look. I used a detailed crease brush to pack this on the eyelid.

I use the same brush I used to apply Enchanted, without any added color, and sweep the top of my cut crease. This will bring back that definition that was covered up by the concealer. I also use the same fluffy brush I used to apply my transition shade to clean up any harsh lines.

Sweep away the setting powder underneath your eyes. It's time to apply eyeshadow to the lower lash line. This is what really ties everything together. I start by taking Creamscicle and sweep that all over the lower lash line. I then go over with Buns, making sure to avoid the inner corner. I connect Enchanted from the lower lash line to the eyelid. For this eye look, I don't like to add eyeliner, because it will take away the little lid space I have exposed. Instead, I have Enchanted connected at the outer corner, giving the illusion that my eyes are bigger. I did add black liner to my waterline on the top, and the duo chrome to the waterline at the bottom. I highlighted my inner corner using Beam, added mascara and the look is complete. 

I do wanna note, that the duo chrome topper is supposed to go on top of another shadow, to give it more dimension, but I liked what it did to just my eyelid. I know it's hard to come across in photos but the different shades of copper and green really shined through when I moved around. It doesn't look like a super precise cut crease because of this, so if you're recreating this look, go in with a base color first. Meeks or Queen from the Jaclyn Hill Palette would be perfect for this look! If you give this look a go, please use #roxytries so I can see what you've done with it.