How To Create A Smokey Eye Of Any Colour!

Hi!

I've always found that your basic smokey eye looks great on everyone - no matter your eye colour, hair colour or skin tone.

I decided to just compile a few of my favourite tips for creating a smokey eye and some products as its something that I know a lot of people find daunting! :)

Basic Technique:

 

With a good smokey eye its all about having a gradient. You want a mid toned colour, a dark colour and a lighter colour and if blended correctly, these will combine to create an amazing, smouldering smokey eye!

 

The most common colour for this type of eye look is black, combined usually with a silver/charcoal colour and a light colour for a highlight.

 

Basically....you want the darkest colour closer to your lash line, the middle colour all over your lid, and then the lightest colour as a highlight under the brow bone and on the inner corner, near the tear duct. You can also add the darkest colour into the crease and the "outer v" for extra smokiness and definition. Smokey eyes also go great with some smudged liner on the bottom lash line and waterlines and a good couple of coats of mascara!

 

Here is a picture to illustrate where you want the shadows...basically the darkest red naturally is representing the darkest colour in your smokey eye, the red the middle colour and the orange is the lightest colour.

 

Products:

 

 

 

This Bourjois Eye Shadow Trio in 01 is really great for creating your classic black smokey eye...

 

 

I created this simple smokey eye using the Bourjois shadows - this trio is so useful and I remember using this way back when I was just getting into makeup!

 

 

These are some swatches of the Bourjois trio.

 

 

If you want more intense colours, you can layer them over a base. These NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils are great for that, and these shades are perfect for a black smokey eye. The black shade is Black Bean, the silver (acting as the middle shade) is Pots & Pans and then the white is the lightest colour and is called Milk.

I've done a review of these HERE if you want to have a read & a closer look.

 

 

Here are swatches of the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils! :)

I've found the best way to apply these is using a small synthetic brush and then smudging them out with your finger.  They will crease if you put on too much so be careful, but they will intensify your shadows.

Another option is the E.L.F Cream Eye Shadow Duos...

 

I have them in Black Liquorice and Coffee & Cream and they are also good for creating different looks.

Now for some different coloured smokey eyes besides your typical black smokey eye...

 

1) Brown Smokey Eye

 

This looks great on everyone. It's less intense than a black smokey eye but works well for work or for more everyday purposes.

You can use mattes if you prefer, but I personally love combining bronzes and golds to create a brown smokey eye.

 

For these types of looks, I love using the famous Urban Decay Naked Palette. It's simply beautiful and you can create a load of different looks.

 

 

I won't lie I have no idea why this is upside down. I tried to rotate it but it didn't work...anyway I'm sure you get the gist!

 

 

For the purposes of a brown smokey eye I'd recommend using the colours Sin, Smog and Darkhorse but of course there are endless options!

 

2) Deep Red/Pink Smokey Eye

 

I thought i'd show you something that was a little different to the usual types of smokey eye.

For a great deep pink or red smokey eye I love using the Too Faced "The Man Eater" palette.

Mine is quite old and I only use the shadows in this palette but they are great!

 

I haven't found names for these shadows but they are soft, pigmented and look beautiful.

You can really smoke out that deep wine red shade and make it as dramatic as you want.

This makes a really different alternative for a smokey eye.

 

 

3) Green Smokey Eye???

 

I thought I'd throw in something completely random here.

I recently tried out a green coloured smokey eye that I loved!

 

This is the Urban Decay Book Of Shadows 3 that came out a couple of years ago. I think you may still find this circulating around the internet and also some of the shades are in other palettes too so you don't need this identical palette for a green smokey eye.

 

 

 

These are the colours (from top) Loaded, Kush and Money.

These shades are amazing and look really good smoked together.

 

4)....Any other colour you can think of! :)

 

A great way to create a load of different looks is to get a huge palette full of different colours. From this, you can create any coloured smokey eye you want!

 

This is the 120 Pro Palette which you can easily find on Amazon or Ebay...They are sold under different brand names but they are all the same palette - the company just put their logo on the same products.

 

 

This is the Coastal Scents 88 Original Palette which is also really great.

 

Basically as long as you can get a light, medium and dark shade and apply them in the way I mentioned earlier you can create a smokey eye using any colours you want. You can make it as dramatic as you want or not! :)

 

 

I hope this post has been useful...sorry it's so long!

Thank you very much for reading if you managed to get to the bottom of this! I hope I've been able to show you some products that are useful and also how to apply them.

 Libby x