I keep talking about various eyeshadow shades and it occurred to me that most of my readers may not quite understand what I mean by highlighter shades, accent shades, contour shades and blender shades so am breaking it down right here.

HIGHLIGHTER SHADES

Highlighter shades are generally applied all over the eye area to begin with. This is usually the first step when applying eye makeup. Highlighter shades can also be applied in inner corners and brow area of the eyes. Here is an example of a highlighter shade:

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow for £17.50

ACCENT SHADES

Accent eye shadow shades are simply contrasting shades. For instance, if you have brown eyes, you can accent beautifully with green or blue eye shadows. You cannot accent with brown because you have brown eyes already, you need eye shadow colours to not blend with the colour of your eyes. The same rule applies for the blue-eyed, hazel-eyed and so on.

Here is an example of an accent shade for the brown-eyed girl:

MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow for £17

BLENDER SHADES

An eye shadow blender shade is used to blend all the eye colours together. This M&S Diego Dalla Palma Duo Eyeshadow for £18 is a good example of a blender shade:

CONTOUR SHADES

Contour eye shadows give eyes definition and the ‘pop-out’ look. This is usually the darkest shade in your eye shadow palette. Here is an example of a contour shade:

Moondust Eyeshadow for £14 by Urban Decay