Become a Master at Eyeshadow Formulating

Become a Master at Formulating Eyeshadow

When you master a formula, there's no better feeling. Eyeshadow is a super fun and colorful cosmetic formula that is great for beginners or for experts!

Choosing The Right Color

The most popular forms of eyeshadows are pressed or loose powders, pigmented gels, creams, and sticks. Ideally, eyeshadows should glide smoothly onto the skin without lumps or bumps, last all day, and provide high color coverage. A great place to start when crafting an eyeshadow is figuring out what colors you want to make and what sort of pigments that might entail. Usually, eyeshadows are made with inorganic colors such as iron oxides, ultramarines, and micas.

Micas are especially useful because they're available in a wide variety of shades, and provide a great shimmer effect. Organic colors can be used, however, a lot of them are not approved to be used around the eyes.

Next is finding the right emollient. They're used to wet and disperse the pigments and to hold the powder together, especially when making a pressed powder. Examples of emollients you can use are Dimethicone 500, Octyldodecanol, and more.

If you're someone who is just starting out, you might want to try one of our Signature Natural Eyeshadow Bases. With these bases, it's great because you don't need to worry about picking and measuring out all of the ingredients just to make the base of the eyeshadow – this takes all the guesswork out of it.

Eyeshadow Customization

All you really have to do to customize an eyeshadow base is add the colorants you would like to use! Just make sure you heat the eyeshadow base and add a high amount of colorants, so the color will show well. Do not microwave the base with the colors. Blend the mixture well and then pour it into an eyeshadow container.

Our eyeshadow bases create a creamier sort of texture, but if you want to make a pressed powder or loose powder, we have just the thing for that - our Signature Mineral Base. It also has all of the base ingredients to get you started, but you can create a loose powder or compacted powder with it.

So, whether you're a beginner or an expert, we have everything you need to master the creation of eyeshadow!

We'd love to see your work! Tag us on Instagram with your finished eyeshadow @makingcosmetics. Also, take a look at our eyeshadow formula book, along with other formula books as well.