My 3 Minute Smokey Eyes

The 3-step guide to an easy smokey eye

This post contains affiliate links marked by a ‘*’

Yes black eye shadow screams rock n’ roll, subversive and sexy, but unless you’re a pro, mastering pitch-black shadow can go horribly wrong. For a look that’s equally dramatic, but way more flattering, I stick to warm brown hues. The beauty of bronzes, golds and coppers is that they suit all skin tones and eye colours. Here are my failsafe 3-steps to a smokey eye:

1 Apply mascara first

I don’t normally do it this way – but when doing smoky eye, I find that applying mascara first gives me an outline of my eye shape and eases the next steps.

2 Add Brown Eye Pencil

I line my upper and lower waterline first. Then I sketch the pencil out over my entire eyelid and blend it just above the crease with a soft eye shadow brush (I like MAC 217)*.

3 Smoke with Shadow

I press don’t sweep a shadow over the lid (sweeping it makes it drop all over) and then blend it out until I get a diffused finish. I step back, take a look and add a bit more pencil to lash-lines if I want more intensity and smudge shadow on top to blend the textures. I finish with more mascara if needed.