Achieve your Smokey Eye.

So at some point yesterday, I got a request for a smokey-eye tutorial after I posted this picture on twitter. Although you can't tell from the photo, I had actually gone for a hunter-green smokey eye, so in person, it wasn't your typical Kardashian charcoal gray; it was colorful and unique, to say the least. However, for the purposes of this post, we're going to stick to classic dark tones (Just keep in mind that black can be substituted for virtually any deep color you like: Plum, navy, hunter green, etc.). After creating a 7-minute long video tutorial, I decided to scrap it. I mean, I looked like a complete dufus putting my makeup on, and didn't want that rolling around anywhere near this blogosphere. Note to self: Never let your boyfriend watch you get ready (Unless you want him asking about your contortionist facial expressions)! So, you're just going to have to bear with me as I explain to the best of my abilities the technique to achieve your perfect smokey eye. {Oh, and it's much easier than you think!)

So these are actually the exact products I use on the daily to make my smokey eye. If you do not have a palette of dark eyeshadows that comes with a brush, you are going to need a brush as well. Most important part! From left to right, I use Lorac's Color Me Couture Palette (inclusive of five pearlescent shades, from light to dark), MyFace BlingTones in "Morocco," Christian Dior Crayon Eyeliner in "Noir," and Benefit's Bad Girl Lash Mascara.

Sweep your lightest color over the entirety of your eye, right on up to your eyebrow. I use the pearlescent white of the Lorac palette, and actually throw the BlingTone on top of it; again, all the way up to my brow. The BlingTone gives your base a sparkling pop. The most important smokey eye technique is keeping your darker colors to the lower part of your lid, and the lighter colors up top. If you start brushing dark color too close to your brow, you will look scary. Stop. Don't do it.

Keep on working your way up the color ladder (in my palette, I usually avoid that army green), carefully keeping your darks to your lid. When it's time to apply the black shadow, be wary of where you apply it. This is the one shadow that should indeed be applied with the greatest amount of concentration, because black will so easily smudge all around your eye. And you should be smudging your smokey eye, but only once it's finished. Feel free, when you've finished applying your shadows via brush, to rub your eye lid with your finger, as to blend all the colors you've used together. 

Remember: A smokey eye should look blended; not perfect. Be liberal with your eye liner; apply to the top and bottom of your lid. I actually apply mine directly under my eyeball, as opposed to on the skin immediately below. Finish your look with a heaping few layers of mascara. Again, I enjoy Benefit's Lash, because it's one of those mascaras that just make it easy (and don't painfully clump up your lashes!).

Ta-da! How'd it come out? I'm dying to know!


PS - My bff Nick has a blog, too. It's a finance blog. Like money? Need help managing it? Stocks? Just want something else to read to kill some time? Add Money Rabbit to your blog roll.