Guess what? Smokey eyes will never go out of style. No matter what your look is, you can rock a smoky eye. There are a million different kinds of smoky eyes, whether it’s a silver that’s smoked out around the edges, a classic black charcoal solid lid, or a warm brown smoky look, they’re all pretty and all appropriate for different occasions.
I always think of smoky eyes in two ways when doing someone who asks for a smoky eye. I ask, do you want a Keira Knightly smoky? Or Pam Anderson smoky? Because the difference is huge, but every woman has a specific idea of what she thinks is a classic smoky eye, and it’s important that everyone is on the same page. J
I have a few hints that make a smoky eye easier, and not raccoon-ish or prostitute-y. First, do your eye makeup before your face makeup, that way you can easily wipe away any fallout with a makeup wipe or makeup remover before you do your foundation and concealor. That grey-ish concealor that sometimes forms when you put cover-up over some black pigments that have landed on your cheeks is not a good look. I see you out there… you know who you are. ;-) Practice safe smoke. Do your eyes first.
Second, keep your lips and cheeks neutral. Don’t go bold on a whole bunch of things, keep the focus on your eyes. They’ll pop, and get the attention you’re working for them to get.
I’m going to do a walkthrough on a mid-tone classic charcoal smoky. First prime your eye with a good base. Make sure that if your primer dries quickly, you do one eye first and then the other, so your primer doesn’t dry out and lose its tackiness and grab while you do the first eye.
I like to cover the whole eye with a neutral-color eye primer, but if you want to do a dark one, that’s fine. Just don’t use a dark primer above the crease, or it will be really hard to work backwards.
Now for shadows. I always say work down. Start with hightlight, then crease, then the lid, then lashline, then lashes. I start with a light color nude to highlight the brow bone. Take it from directly under the eyebrow, and work it down to the crease. You can choose how shimmery you want your highlight, some like it almost metallic, and some like it matte. I prefer a little shimmer to reflect light off the bone, but the more dramatic the look, the more shimmer is appropriate for the highlight. You wouldn’t want a really cool metallic highlight with a warm natural smoky look.
Highlighting and the next step can be pretty much used in whatever eye shadow you do every day. Work a warm brown shadow into your crease, starting from the corner and feathering into inner-corner of the eye. I like a shadow that doesn’t have any sheen or shimmer, choose something a few shades darker than your natural crease color. A warm terracotta or fawn brown is perfect. When you look at a shadow like that on its own, you probably wouldn’t think it would be one of the most used colors to a makeup artist, but believe me, it is. I use the same warm brown on my own skin color no matter if I’m doing a naked beauty culture look, or a deep smoky eye.
This step is mandatory to look good. It is SOOOOO important to build a smoky eye from the top down, and have another color to blend into, and it will also give you a guideline as to how high to take your dark color up. Work a soft bristled brush back and forth like a windshield wiper, and make little circles to really blend it out. Blending is the most important step of the smoky eye. J
Next, add your lid color. In this instance, we’re doing a cool charcoal mid-tone color.
Start at the base of the lashes, and work the color up to the warm brown crease. I first use a semi-stiff bristled brush to apply the color. Dip your brush into the color and shake off excess. After you apply it to the base of your eye, brush it upwards towards your crease, but don’t go above the crease.
After your smoky color is on the lid, go back over your brown crease color. If you are doing a soft smoky, this is when you can add some darker shading into the outer corner. If you’re doing a really dense black smoky color, this is when you would do a deeper brown to smooth out the gradation of the black to the light brown crease color and up to the light highlight. Adding a third color will help achieve a really nice continuation, that just blending alone won’t. Now blend, blend, blend!!!
After you blend, you may have to add more of your lid color to re-saturate where blending removed too much. I like to keep the lash line especially pigmented.
Now do your eyeliner. The whole point of a smoky eye is no harsh edges, just a really worked in color washing. Doing a cat-eye, or winged eyeliner kind of goes against the whole aesthetic of the smoky eye. Use liquid liner at the base of the lashes if you’re going to be using fake lashes, it will help hide the seam better. Use a black pencil if you want to work it out, and blend that into the shadow. I prefer a gel liner, that I’m able to line under the top lashes, and on top of the top lid. A gel can give more control than a pencil, but can be smudged better than a liquid. I like to use a smudge proof pencil, or shadow on a liner brush to line under the bottom lashes. After your lid color is blended, use a light metallic color to highlight the inner corners of the eyes, and blend into the grey.
Mascara and lashes are next. Once those are done, clean up under the eye for any fall, and finish up your face makeup. Don’t forget to keep lips light so that the eyes really pop. And have fun! Relax, smoky eyes aren’t brain surgery!!!
