7 STEPS FOR CREATING A PERFECT SMOKY EYE LOOK

One of my favorite things about makeup is that there’s always room to step up your game. I love to imagine all the tips and tricks that I’ve yet to learn.

I’m always looking to get better at doing smokey eyes. I’ve come across hundreds of smokey eye tutorials, and I think these 10 are some of the most helpful ones. I hope you find them useful, too! 

STEP 1 – GETTING YOUR EYES READY

Begin by applying a light shade of concealer to the under eye area, and all over the top lid. Your mineral makeup foundation is a great concealer for this step and prepares your Eyes for the eyeshadow that you are going to apply.

STEP 2 – USING THE LINER

First, line both the top and bottom rims with an eye pencil, paying close attention to going into the lash line itself.

If you have small eyes apply liner starting from the middle of the under eye to the outside of the eye. If your eyes are large feel free to line from corner to corner.

Hint: If you are using liquid liner you can place dots on the lash line and then follow the dots to get a perfectly straight line. I knew those connect the dot puzzles I did as a kid would come in handy some day!

STEP 3 – ADDING THE SHADOW

With a small eye shadow brush or a q-tip, soften the edges of the eye pencil line.

Apply a dark shadow using a sponge-tip applicator, smudge brush or a q-tip directly over the penciled area and smudge. (If you prefer, you can use your finger tip.)

The shadow helps to set and soften the look.

STEP 4  - THE FINAL TOUCH

Next apply a lighter shadow in a neutral tone with a larger eye shadow brush, I like to use the wet/dry brush.

Encircling the entire eye area, be sure to soften and graduate outward for that perfect blended look.

Add mascara!

In case you haven’t found your perfect mascara yet, you will love this post on best mascaras, called Best Mascaras – Expert Reviews.  I was doing a research to finally find the mascara that worked for me and it turned into a nice post on the best mascaras out there. But back to the Smoky Eye…

STEP 5 – CLEANING UP THE “TERRITORY”

Brush away any shadow that has fallen below the eye with a fluffy brush and clean up any areas that have smeared with a q-tip.

STEP 6 - GOING SUPER-DRAMATIC

Want a more dramatic look add more Shadow and mascara! If you are looking for the most dramatic effect be sure to curl those lashes and apply 2-3 coats of black mascara!

Hint: Want your eyes to look larger – Pull your liner upward when lining your bottom lashes instead of out from the top liner! This will make your eyes look larger and rounder!

STEP 7 – FINISHING UP THE LIPS

If you want to go for a classic smoky eye look, lightly line lips with a natural color and add some sheer color in peach, caramel, or barely there pink.

You might try the Nude look on the lips with your smoky eyes – see these 5 Tips on Embracing The Nude Lip Look to learn more…

If you want to add more drama to your look, line your lips with a darker lipliner and fill it in with a deep color to get that look from YSL, Dior and Armani beauty ads.

Both, the nude lip and the deep dark pout are very “it” this season.  So, it’s up to you to decide which look is better for you.

And the last, but not least, don’t forget to put some natural looking blush on your cheeks.  It will ad some color to your complexion.

Voila!  You’ve got the look!