How to Recreate This Pointillism-Inspired Eye Makeup Masterpiece

January 06, 2021
Alanna Martine Kilkeary
By: Alanna Martine Kilkeary | Makeup.com by L'Oréal
pointillism makeup tutorial

One place we love to visit for a spark of creative inspiration is a modern art museum. There, swirls of glossy colors dance around canvases and paint takes different shapes and forms.  One of our favorite painting techniques to admire is pointillism. This method involves painting small dots in patterns to form an image.


Inspired by our appreciation for the style of art, we asked makeup artist Serena Adelaide
to create a pointillism-inspired look using makeup, and the results were seriously incredible. Here, she walks us through how to recreate her graphic eye makeup masterpiece.
  • STEP 1:

    Create Your Base

    To begin, do like an artist does and start with a blank canvas. Prime your face with a blurring formula like the NYX Professional Makeup Marshmellow Smoothing Primer and add a coat of foundation and concealer.

  • STEP 2: 

    Start Your Dots

    While we encourage you to let your creativity run wild, we also recommend choosing an image to  use as a reference as you dot. Inspired by a field of lavender flowers and a night sky, Serena combined the red and blue shades from the NYX Professional Makeup SFX Face and Body Paint Palette in Primary to create the purple flowers. To get the look, use an eye makeup brush or a small, round brush to dot the purple shade between the brow bone and the eyelid, around the outer corners and then under the eyes along the cheekbone. Add some dots in a lighter shade of  purple to create dimension.

    pointillism makeup tutorial
person wearing colorful pointillism makeup look
  • STEP 3: 

    Keep Dotting!

    Using a blue shade, dot along the outer corner of the eyes onto the temple, as well as under the eye and onto the forehead. Using the NYX Professional Makeup SFX Face and Body Paint in Palette in Brights, add light blue dots on the upper cheek and forehead area, and use the bright green shade to create dots along the tail of your brow. Finally, use the bright yellow shade to create dots just above your brow and onto your forehead to represent stars in a night sky.

    pointillism makeup tutorial
  • STEP 4:

    Set the Look

    Complete the look with a lifting mascara, and feel free to draw on exaggerated lower lashes like Serena did here with an eyeliner pencil. To ensure that your look doesn’t budge, set it with a long-lasting makeup spray. We love the Urban Decay All Nighter Ultra-Matte Setting Spray.

    pointillism makeup tutorial
person wearing pointillism eye makeup look
Photography and Makeup: Serena Adelaide of @serenaaide

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