Cut Crease

      Hey guys! What did you all do this weekend? Let me just tell you... I was crazy productive all weekend. I got so much stuff done! Things that needed to be done that I had been putting off, chores around the house both inside and out, blog stuff, cleaning, organizing. The list goes on. This never happens all in one weekend, that's why I'm going on and on about it, hahaha. I just feel accomplished!

       Anyway, on to the tutorial. Today's post involves a technique that I have alllllllways wanted to do, but I've never tried it. So, I decided what better time than now? First try at a difficult technique - a cut crease - on camera... we'll just see how this goes. The end result came out pretty well, but I definitely need practice. Cut creases can be subtle, or they can be intense. I tried to do something in between. As I said, I need to practice on this technique big time, but I'll show you all the basic steps. At least how I know them, haha. As always, all tips will be in the captions below each picture. Enjoy!

Let's start with a clean face.

I primed my face using my usual L'Oreal Miracle Blur combined with Benefit's the POREfessional.

I used the NARS Sheer Glow foundation in the color "Fiji."

In love with this foundation!

Next, I primed the eyes using the Lorac Behind the Scenes eye primer.

First for the eyes, I used "air" from the Stila In the Know palette. I'm obsessed with this palette. I don't think I've used anything else since I got it! Anyway, I applied that color from lash line to brow bone.

Next I took "desert" and blended that into the crease as my transition shade.

Like so.

Now for the cut-crease. I used "smoke" and a small angled brush to create this look.

Okay, to start out your cut crease, you want to draw a line a little above your actual crease. If you draw this line in your actual crease, you won't be able to see it unless your eyes are closed. We want to be able to see this line.

You can see I flicked the line out on the end. I wish I had taken a picture of this up close from the side. I took this line all the way out to the end of my brow.

Once you get the outside edge of the line done, start drawing from the inside corner of your eye and connect it to the first line we drew. Go with the natural shape of your eye. This line will be rounded in the middle, not just a straight line across your eyeball.

Here is a look at the line with my eye completely open.

And here's what you should have so far.

Next you want to lightly blend this line out. You don't want it to be perfectly blended out. You still want to have a defined line, but blend out the harshness of it. Does that make sense?

Like so.

Now I'm going back in to that dark gray shadow and going over the line again to darken it up.

This is blurry, but you can see how dark I made the line.

And here it is with my eye open again. I hope I'm not boring you all with all the tiny details of this, but I know I would want it broken down like this to really see how everything should look.

Now we go to the other eye. This is the tricky part because you want both eyes to match. So again, start out drawing the outside corner of your line. Then go to the inner corner.

Blend lightly.

Then darken it up.

Here's both eyes with the cut crease done.

To line my eyes, I went in with the Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner in Blackest Black.

I went with a winged liner, but instead of curving it up, I went more straight out. I didn't want the liner and the cut crease line to touch. I wanted two separate lines. You can see that I took the black liner a little ways onto the lower lash line. That part will be important later.

Here's the finished liner on this eye.

And the finished liner on the other eye. Now that I see this up close, it's bothering me that it looks choppy...

Moving away from the eyes, I went in with the MAC Pro Longwear concealer in "NC25."

I applied it under the eyes, around the nose and on the chin.

Concealer is blended out.

To set that concealer, I used the MAC Prep + Prime Translucent Setting powder.

To set the rest of the face I used the Rimmel London Stay Matte powder.

I used Benefit Hoola bronzer to warm up the face and contour.

For blush I used a cool toned pink -Milani Baked Blush in "Delizioso Pink."

Bronzer and blush done!

Going back to the Stila palette, I went with the color "Smoke" to line my lower lash line.

I connected the gray line to that little bit of black I took down to the bottom lid, and continued with the shadow almost all the way to the inner corner. Instead of going all the way into the inner corner, I curved the end of the line downward. To do this, use the natural shape of your inner corner/tear duct and take that line down parallel to that corner. I really hope that makes sense. I don't feel like I'm explaining it well.

Here's what that line should look like.

At this point of me filming this, I wasn't happy with how the top liner looked. I wanted to extend the top line down into that tear duct area.

Like I said, I took that line down into the tear duct and made a really sharp point, Like so.

This is what happened when I started on the other side... fail! This happened not once, but twice, haha. No big deal. I just wiped it away and started again.

Here's how the liner looked when finished.

For brows, I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in "Medium  Ash."

Brows are done. A little thicker than I would've liked, but we'll go with it!

For mascara, I used a thin coat of the Jordana Best Lash Extreme volumizing mascara.

Then I applied these Ardell Curvy 411 lashes.

And for lips, I went with a cool toned pink. This is Maybelline Vivid lipstick in "860 Pink Pop."

       So there you have it! A cut crease tutorial. I love this look! Sorry for so many pictures of the final look! I just really loved how it turned out! I definitely need more practice on this technique. I'm no where even close to perfect. But for a first try, I'm pretty excited about how it turned out! I hope you all liked this as much as I did. Please let me know your thoughts down below, or on my Facebook page "Beautymark," or my Instagram @__beautymark__ - two underscores on each side. Thank you all SOOOOOOOO much for reading, and I'll see you soon!


                                  XOXO - Tabitha