Once you’ve coated the front side of your lashes per usual, look down and carefully coat the backside of your lashes with mascara for an instant thickening effect. Flick your wrist as you reach the ends to add more curl and follow up with another coat to the front of your lashes for even more lift and volume.

2. Baby Your Lashes

Use a small shadow brush like BESTOPE Eye Makeup Brushes to dust your lashes with baby powder or a translucent powder in between coat of mascara—it will help your mascara cling to your lashes, making them look even thicker in the process.

[Read: 8 Insanely Easy Ways to Get the Best Brows of Your Life]

3. Be Flexible

A tip we repeatedly hear from makeup artists? Bend your mascara wands. The thought of snapping your favorite brush may sound scary, but gently bend the tip so the brush is horizontal—the new shape will make it easier to maneuver the wand around hard-to-reach-places like the inner and outer corner of your eyes.

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4. Get Toasty

If your favorite mascara is starting to get clumpy, a little bit of heat can thin the formula. Make sure the cap is tightly secured and let the tube sit in a glass of hot water while you apply your liner to smooth it out. But if your wand is over three months old, you’re better off replacing it to keep things clean.

5. Lay It on the Line

Wiggle your wand close to your lid to create the illusion of eyeliner and make your lashes look even fuller. You can also dip an angled eyeliner brush like into your mascara tube and use it to line your eyes when you're in a pinch or want to add more definition.

If your mascara went on a little (or a lot) clumpier than you originally planned, use a toothbrush to comb through lashes and fight spider eyes without completely starting over.

7. Twirl, Don’t Pump

Pumping your mascara wand may seem like a daily ritual, but the bad habit actually forces air into the product, making it much easier for bacteria to spread. Instead, pull the wand upward and gently twirl it to evenly distribute the product.

8. Keep Your Guard Up

Avoid smudges on your lids with a handy pick like beautyblender® liner.designer. You can also improvise grabbing a credit card or spoon and gently placing it over your eyelid when you apply your mascara to avoid going back in fixing flubs with remover or cover up. A spoon can also help you curl your lashes: With the spoon facing outward, place the bottom edge along your lashline. Use your index finger to gently press your lashes against the edge while rotating and pulling the spoon upwards (the curling motion!) so the edge eventually hits the tips of your lashes.

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9. Whip Up a Cocktail

Don’t be afraid to mix and match formulas—sometimes it takes more than one wand to get the look you want. Try layering specialized mascaras (we love using Benefit’s Roller Lash to curl and separate and stila HUGE™ Extreme Lash Mascara to thicken and volumize for night’s out), or mix and match different formulas, like applying a waterproof mascara like Bobbi Brown No Smudge Mascara over a lengthening mascara, to not only make it last longer (and the waterproof product easier to remove), but to keep it from rubbing off on your lids.

10. Make Moves

To customize your lash look, try switching up the direction you hold your wand: Hold it horizontally for thicker lashes, vertically to coat each lash for a more natural finish, and wiggle it from lash line to ends to help hold curl

Let’s face it: even to the most experienced makeup junkie, eye shadow can be intimidating. Palettes! Primers! Colors! Blending! Creasing!  It’s enough to make your head spin. But knowledge is power, and that’s why we’ve put together this handy list of eye shadow tips to change your eye shadow game and bolster your confidence. Here are 12 genius hacks to help you finally get that flawless eye shadow look.

1. Primer is half the battle…

Don’t even think about using eye shadow without applying primer first. Primer solves the problems of oily lids, creased lids, eye shadow smearing or fading, and just makes your shadow go on better and look better in general. Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion  has a cult following, and if you’re on a budget, NYX has several great options $5.

And if you don’t have any primer on hand, you can always use concealer under your eye shadow. As long as your concealer has a thicker consistency (rather than runny), you’ll find that it does a decent job of priming your lids for eye shadow.

2. …And decent brushes are the other half.

If you’ve been attempting to blend your eye shadow with one of those itty bitty sponge applicators that come with most drugstore eye shadows, you owe it to yourself to consider investing in a few quality eye shadow brushes. A good makeup brush is required for decent blending, which is what it takes to bring an eye shadow look to the next level. MAC makes great brushes ( the #239 ($10) in particular is very versatile), as does Sonia Kashuk—we especially love this very useful brush kit ($15) that’s both high quality AND inexpensive.

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3. Blend a cut crease for easy definition.

A cut crease really helps to make your eyes stand out (especially if you don’t have naturally defined eyelids). Simply take a dark shadow and blend it really well along the upper crease of your eyelid, connecting the end of the line with the outer corner of your eye. Look downwards at a mirror while you do this instead of straight ahead; it will help you find your crease. Use a lighter shade on your mobile lid (that’s the part that moves when you blink) to create contrast. Add eye liner and mascara, and boom: sultry, defined eyes.

4. Make colors more vibrant with white shadow.

If you really want to make your eye shadow colors pop, apply a white base first. We love NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk ($4) for this—the pencil makes it so easy to use. Blend it all over your lid and then apply your shadow on top for a more vibrant color.

[Read: 8 Insanely Easy Ways to Get the Best Brows of Your Life]

5. Get an instant brow lift.

We hope so, because it’s another great use for white eyeshadow. Applied on your brow bone (so right underneath your eyebrow), white shadow acts as a highlighter and can also hide any errant eyebrows in between threading appointments. Make sure you blend this really well; nobody wants a crazy streak of white on their eyes.

6. Look more awake.

You can also use white pencil eye shadow to line your lower waterline. This will make your eyes look bigger, and make you look awake and alert. It’s a life-saving technique for those late nights followed by early morning. If you find that the white looks too harsh or obvious for you, a light nude shadow works equally well.

7. Fix broken eye shadows easily.

Dropped your expensive eye shadow palette? Don’t stress: you can fix it easily (and cheaply). Simply add a few drops of rubbing alcohol to the broken shadow, mix it and smooth it out a little bit with a spoon or stick, and then press it flat with a tissue. Then leave it to dry, and it will be as good as new—we promise.

8. Know your eye shape (and work with it).

Knowing what sort of eye shape you have will greatly help you adjust makeup tutorials for your needs. If you have hooded eyes, you may not be able to see eyeshadow when your eyes are open—so focus your shadow efforts underneath the lower lashes and at the outer corners, instead. Wide-set eyes can achieve balance with dark color at the inner corner, while close-set eyes should concentrate darkness at the outer corners instead. Monolids should experiment with cat eyes and highlights at the very center of the lid, and babes with deep-set eyes can really get into dramatic smoky eyes without it seeming like it’s too much. Once you know what works for your unique eyes, you can easily adapt any shadow look to work on you!

9. Dealing with shadow fallout: not as impossible as you think!

There’s two solutions for the annoying problem of getting eye shadow fallout all over your face while making up your eyes. The first and simplest: do your eye makeup first, then do the rest of your face. That way you can clean up any messes left behind without disturbing your foundation and concealer. The second solution is to use an eye shadow shield, a brilliant invention that totally saves our faces on the daily. We love Milani Eyeshadow Primer ($6)—it could not be simpler to use and really, genuinely works.

[Read: 5 Simple Tips to Keep your Lips Beautiful]

10. Fix mistakes in one second.

Another awesomely affordable product that will save you from eye shadow messes is this SO NATURAL SMUDGING ZERO REMOVER STICK ($12.50). If your eye shadow smeared or fell onto your cheekbones, simply use this pen to swipe it off. It’s also great for saving time when you want a very precise look: just go totally crazy with messy blending, then when you’re finished, use this pen to swipe off the eye shadow where needed to create a perfectly precise line.

11. Matte brown eye shadow is your friend.

If you buy any shade of eye shadow (besides white, obvs) make it brown. You can use a matte brown eye shadow for so many things: concealing a wide hair part, contouring under your cheekbones, as a natural-looking eye liner, and to define and fill in eyebrows. LORAC PRO Matte Eye Shadow Palette ($28) is perfect for this because it has both a light and a dark matte brown shadow—plus it even has a handy white shade for all of your highlighting needs.

12. Keep it simple.

Intimidated by palettes, unsure of blending several colors together, or just in a hurry? There’s nothing wrong with picking up just one shade at a time and applying it all over your mobile lid for a quick pop of color. We can’t get enough of  Makeup Revolution Eyeshadow Palette (25.29) for both their range of colors and incredible staying power, but you should also check out the new Aesthetica Starlite Powder ($10), which has beautiful packaging and beyond amazing pigment.