 For today's Monday makeup lesson, I am trying the magic eyeshadow blending hack using sponge tip applicators. So I tried this in my previous video and it didn't work for me, and so many of you said it didn't work for you either, but others share tips to make it work, so I promised I would come back if I managed to get a better result and I did. I also wanted to compare this look to the more traditional technique, so that is at the end of the video, but let's get started with this hack. Here's a list of the products that I used to create this look. For a base, I'm using the painterly paint pot by MAC. I'm using a good base because I found this was important for this hack, gives the eyeshadow something to hold on to and prevents that muddy result that we were getting in our previous video. The lightest shade that I'm using is by Isilaron. It is number 3, Satin Crush. I'm using Up Cosmetics 5 Second Eyes in the shade Smoky Bronze and the shade Brownie. These are perfect for creating this look and I kind of wish that I'd used them last time because they're just ideal. For my matte mid-tone, I am using the Essence Eyebrow Shadow. Yes, it's for your eyebrows, but it's perfect for the crease. Now remember your mid-tones should be matte, at least one shade darker than your skin tone, but at least one shade lighter than your contour shade or your darker shade. For us, we're using brownie, so this is perfect. I also wanted to add a touch of sparkle at the end, so I'm using the powder chrome loose eye pigment by NARS in Chacom. And for brushes, as always, I'm using the Blank Canvas Cosmetics brushes and I'm using the one stop eye brush set, which has everything that I need. So I'm going to start off by applying a base on the lid. I found a good base was essential for this hack. It gives the eyeshadow some grip. It helps to create that blank canvas, which will help the eyeshadows pop a little bit more, which was an issue that we were having in our previous video. The eyeshadows don't really pop with this hack. So once I've applied my base, I then go in with my first eye shadow. The first shadow is the lightest shade. You want to load up your sponge tip applicator. Yes, sponge tip applicator. This whole hack is based around using a sponge tip applicator. So you want to swipe this on the lid and I immediately started blending. However, for this look, you actually don't want to start blending. You just want to swipe it on, Sinead. That's just silly me. So swipe this on the lid, don't blend, and then move on to your next shadow. The next shade is our medium shade. I am swiping that beside the first one. So right in the middle of the lid, remember, don't blend. Just swipe. Then we want to take our contour shade to do our final swipe. Now I should have had these two shades a little closer together. I didn't realize how far apart they were due to my eye shape, I guess. The further apart they are, the harder the blending process is. So that's just something to watch out for. Now, in my previous video, I used a blending brush to blend. However, you need to use a shorter brush that has less movement. So avoid anything tapered or fluffy and opt for a firmer brush. We're also blending light to dark, so do both eyes at the same time. If you do one eye in full, then you will darken your lighter shades on the other eye. So remember to switch over and back between each step. So essentially, you are blurring the edges of the shadows together instead of blending. So try keeping your hand a little higher. This will prevent you from blending your eyeshadows upwards. We want to blend them across the lid. Remember the brush is completely clear of any eyeshadow. We only want to blend what we have on the lid, which is why it's so important to make sure you're applying enough shadow with each initial swipe. Once you have blended shade one and two, you then want to blend shade two and three. This is a little tricky because the eyeshadows were too far away. So the contour starts to shear off a little bit because it has so much area to cover. So watch out for that. Then you want to apply your mid-tone. Now for this hack, you are meant to swipe it on. However, I thought that this was a little unnecessary. It would just be so much easier just to pick up the eyeshadow and apply it. But we're trying to stay true to the hack. So I'm applying this above the lid and then using my blending brush this time to softly blend. Now you can use the firm brush that you have been using. However, I wanted a softer blend so I switched to a blending brush. I did like the tip of using the sponge tip applicator on the lower outer edge and lifting it upwards to lift the eye shape. So following the lower lid, you're almost winging it upwards and then blending it in. I liked this part. It was a good tip and it added some nice shaping to the look. And that is the finished look. It all blended quite well together. I didn't get that muddy finish like we got last time. Though these eyeshadows are perfect for this style so that actually helped a lot. I added a little bit of the shock me pigment to the inner corner, mascara and lashes and I'm pretty happy with the results. However, I do want to show you how to create the exact same look using the more traditional technique but I've just made it super easy. Well at least I hope you find it super easy. So I applied a base all over my lid. A good base goes a long way to create any eye makeup look. I'm starting this time with the mid-tone or the crease shade and I'm applying this with a blending brush. I'm applying this to the crease of the lid so the crease of the eye is where the eye creases into the eye shape. It's slightly above the lid and you want to sweep this over and back. Try keeping your eyes open actually for this step. It will make the framing a little bit easier for you. You got to think of the mid-tone as the depth and the structure similar to how you contour your cheeks. It adds that structure and then you should end up with something that looks like this. And now we can move on to adding in everything else. So taking our lighter shade or highlight, we're going to apply this with a pencil brush. This is going to be applied on the inner third of the lid, pressing and swiping across the lid and then just simply repeat on the other eye. We're then taking the next shadow and using the same brush, we're going to apply this in the center and blend outwards covering the next third of the lid. Matching up to where that highlight stopped and then continuing on a little bit stopping before the final third. And then simply repeat on the other eye. With our final third of the lid, we're applying the darkest eyeshadow to this area. So we're still going from light to dark in the same way that we did with the hack. However, at this point, everything's already blended. Now I'm taking the brush and I'm sweeping it from the lower lid upwards to create kind of a soft wing. This is very similar to the same technique that we use with the hack. Instead of using a sponge applicator, we're using a pencil brush. And I finished off the look in the same way with a little bit of that pigment, mascara and lashes. And that is the finished look. As you can see, they're pretty similar. The brush application is a little bit more pigmented because the shadows are being applied directly to the lid. However, the placement is pretty much the same. They also took the same amount of time between picking up the sponge applicator, the swiping, the blending. It's the same as picking up and applying as you go. I will say my favorite thing about this, though, is that I can use this to test different combinations. So if you're unsure if a tone or a shade are going to work together, you can do your little trial run of swiping them on the lid. And then this way it can kind of help you be a little bit more adventurous and try different combinations that you might have been unsure about. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. If there's any more hacks you'd like me to try, let me know. If you liked this video, hit the like button below. I'd really appreciate it. I will upload the two looks separately without the comparison narrative going through. So that will be coming up soon. As always, my friends, be kind to yourself, be kind to others, and I will see you in the next one.