Question for 10/18/2006 - The Smoky Eye

Good morning everyone!

I'm pilfering today's question from my morning ChaCha Search session.  (You can find my ChaCha profile here: http://underground.chacha.com/guide/guide_profile/9115)

One of my very favorite things to teach clients was how to do various eye makeup looks.  Themost popular request was the smoky eye look - and it's also one of the easiest.  The technique, in fact, is used to teach makeup artists how to apply different forms of eyeliner and get a long-wearing look.

First step - you must correct dark shadows around your eyes and on either side of your nose.  You want shadows only where you put them - not necessarily where they appear naturally.  This means using a corrector, as well as concealer and eyeshadow base.  Otherwise your color could "drift" where you don't want it. 

Next, apply a very light dusting of powder to set your eyeshadow base.  Take your darkest, most concentrated eye shadow and using a flat shadow brush, "push" eyeshadow into and along the lash line. You don't have to worry about a crisp line, since you're going tosmudge this out later anyway.

Then apply a coordinating pencil (just wait, there'll be more).  This is easy to trace since you already have the shadow line to guide you.  If you're comfortable you can start smudging out with the pencil to get increased depth of color.

Now take matching liquid eyeliner (I told you there'd be more - this is also the best way to learn how to apply liquid liner as all you're doing at this point is tracing it) and apply it along the lashline right over the pencil and eye shadow lines.  This will help "set" your eye color and make it last.  This trick gives you definition so that you don't simply look like your eye shadow/liner just smudged around your eyes. 

If you have deep-set eyes with a prominent crease, add a medium neutral color (a cool brown or plum tends to work great for this) and blend from the edge of the color you applied to your lash line to above the crease, but not up to the eyebrow.  Add a touch of shimmer under the arch of your brow after that.

Finally, a couple of thin coats of black mascara on curled lashes.

With a smoky eye look, remember to take it easy on blush and lipstick color.  Keeping neutral is the safest bet - but bronzy tones look great with a smoky eye.

(Picture courtesy of SmashBox cosmetics.)