Smoky eye make up tips

Have you looked longingly at those models with beautiful smoky eyes and said, “I wish I could look like that”? Well, guess what, you can…smoky eyes are easy to get if you have the right tools for the job.  These are:

  • Eyeshadow (2 shades – one light, one dark. The light eyeshadow should be close to your skin color)
  • Eyeshadow base or primer
  • Eye liner (2 shades – light and dark)
  • Mascara
  • 2 brushes
  • Makeup sponge
  • Q-tips

As with all makeup, ensure that you start with a clean palette, that is, your face, and for smoky eyes, your eye lids must be clean. Now for the fun part:

  • Use a sponge to cover your upper eyelids with primer or base, this will stop the eyeshadow from settling into the creases.
  • Experiment with different color eyeliners to find the best smoky eye look that will suit the occasion. Good colors to start with are black, gray, violet, blue and green.
  • Apply the lighter shade eyeliner to bottom eyelid, then smudge it a bit using your fingertips or a sponge. This will help to give that great smoky eyes look. Depending on the size of your eyes this line should be long, short or mid-lid, for example, if you have large eyes, line them almost to the inner corners, for small eyes stop the line mid-lid. Experiment until you find what works for you.
  • Apply lighter shade eyeshadow on eyelid. Apply from lid to the bottom of the brow bone. Use a crème (cream) shadow for this lighter coat for best results.
  • Next, it’s time to apply the darker shade eyeshadow to get the smoky eye effect. Using a clean brush, start blending in the dark eyeshadow (start at the lash line so that the eyeshadow merges with the eyeliner, and blend upwards). Tilt your head back slightly and raise your eyebrows and blend covering the eyelid all the way to the brow bone.
  • To get a perfect blend you can use a Q-tip to finish up.
  • Examine both eyes when you are finished to ensure that they are alike.
  • Coat your lashes with a good mascara (if you have thin lashes go for a volumizing mascara for added thickness and length)
  • Finish off your smoky eyes by making sure your eyebrows are neat

If you want your eyes to appear larger, use blue mascara, this is great for giving the appearance of larger eyes. Remember that when going for the smoky eyes effect, the focus is on your eyes, so go light on other makeup such as lip color and rouge.

Note: If you want to go all out, use three different shades of eye shadow, one close to your skin tone, one a shade or two darker and then a much darker shade. After using the lighter shade apply the in-between shade before using the darkest and final shade.

It takes practise to get this right so don’t fear it you don’t get the look you are going for the first or second time; just experiment until you get that perfect smoky eye look you want.

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