How to Create a Neutral Cat Eye

Looking for a new makeup look to rock everywhere from coffee dates and the office to happy hour and holiday parties? A neutral cat eye could be just the right makeup trend to top off your look with, as it’s totally understated (yet still gorgeous). Not only does the right blending of neutral colors keep your makeup looking fresh and barely-there, but it helps play up on your natural features so that you can add more definition to other parts of your face, like your lips! The best part is that a neutral cat eye is just about one of the easiest makeup looks to create. All you need is a neutral eye shadow palette, like the L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche Pocket Palette Eye Shadow in French Biscuit, and a brown eyeliner. Of course, before you go drawing on your neutral cat eye, being with a clean slate by working your way through your skin care routine, from facial cleanser to moisturizer. Once you're done with that, it's time to move on to our neutral cat eye tutorial below.

Get the look by following these simple steps:

Step 1: Start off with eye shadow primer. You don’t want to create a killer eye makeup look only for it to completely fade by mid-day, do you? Nope, we didn’t think so! To help ensure that your neutral cat eye stays in place, start your makeup application routine with a dab of eye makeup primer on each lid. If you don’t have any eye primer on hand, you can use a dot of concealer, like the L’Oréal Paris Infallible Pro Glow Concealer, which can also help brighten the appearance of your lids.

Step 2: Create an allover wash of medium color on your lids. Start your neutral cat eye with a wash of a medium neutral color from your eye shadow palette. This will give your darker and lighter colors something to blend into.

Step 3: Add dimension to your creases. Now that you’ve established your base color, it’s time to add a little neutral depth and darkness to your crease. Use the darkest shade in your eye shadow palette. The best way to create a blended eye makeup look is to work in small circular motions on the outermost corner of your crease about two thirds of the way into your inner eye

Step 4: Make your nude cat eye pop with lighter hues. You’re almost there! The last step of the eye shadow portion of your nude cat eye is to brighten things up with a highlighting effect in a few key areas. First, blend some of the lightest hue in your eye shadow palette into the center of your lid to give the appearance of bigger, rounder eyes. Next, use the bronze shade in your palette to highlight the inner corner of your eyes, as well as just below the tale end of your brows.

Step 5: It’s cat eye time! Your eye shadow alone creates a gorgeous smoky eye, but the you can take it to the next level by adding the slightest flick of neutral liquid eyeliner, like the L’Oréal Paris Infallible Super Slim Liquid Eyeliner in Brown. This faint line will give your eyes just enough shape to really open them up.

Step 6: Line your under-eye with nude liner. When you use light eyeliner along your lower lash line, you can help instantly brighten your entire look and create the appearance of bigger-looking eyes. Take one peek at your favorite princess characters and you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. To do this, use the L’Oréal Paris Infallible Pro-Last Liner in Nude.

Step 7: Finish with mascara. No statement eye is complete without a swipe of mascara. Instead of reaching for a set of falsies (which can be super-time consuming and difficult to apply), grab a tube of the L’Oréal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara. Gently sweep the brush up to the tip of your lashes to apply.

As much as you’ll likely love your new neutral cat eye, chances are you’ll want to switch up your look every now and again. To get a little inspo, check out our article, 10 Daring Eye Makeup Trends You Need to Try This Year.