Glamorous Smokey Eyes

This tutorial is dedicated to Jasmine, who kinda gave me the impromptu, spur-of-the-moment urge to put together a smokey eye tutorial. Many people may find that the amount of product I use is way too much, but these are the techniques that I use to achieve the look that I want. The entire look was done in under half an hour (hooray!), so forgive me if the pics are a little fuzzy.


For future reference, my product lists for tutorials will be as follows:

*product type* [the exact product that I used]

You could switch up the general shadow colors, eye liner colors and lip colors as you wish to suit your desire. You will need (in order of application):

• eye shadow base [shu uemura Creme Eyeshadow in Beige]
• 3- or 4-pan palette [Daiso Layered Palette in Green]
• pencil liner [Elianto Stay-On Eyeliner in Black]
• gel liner [Silkygirl Double Intense Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Pure Black]
• mascara [MaxFactor False Lash Effect in Black]
• false lashes & lash glue [generic brand demi lashes & 1000Hours Clear Lash Glue]
• liquid liner [Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackest Black]
• brow product [The Face Shop Automatic Eyebrow Pencil in Black]
• under-eye concealer [The Body Shop Oil Free Balancing Foundation in 05]
• foundation [Maybelline Clear Smooth Aqua Gel Foundation in Natural]
• powder [Pigeon Compact Baby Powder in Beige]
• contour/blush [Bobbi Brown blusher in Blushed]

This list is actually quite short. I expected it to be a little longer. Anyway, a small palette is best for simple looks, because all the colors are respectively complimenting. For smokey eyes, choose a palette with light, medium, and dark tones (there are palette which are completely light and medium). The lightest tone acts as a highlight, the medium tone(s) act as the color base, and the darkest color acts as definition and intensity.

Remember, the more dark color you pile on, the darker and more intense that your smokey eye will be. To balance out everything apply a bit of the (two) darker colors on the outer half of the lower lashline (demo later), and always apply black eyeliner on the top lashline at least. And remember to always conceal dark circles as best you can.

I'll just get on to the tutorial before any more interest is lost. Forgive the chipped nail polish and the bad photography (used a different camera than usual and still trying to get used to it) and the different lighting (I did this in the evening), but I tried my best to catch the essence of each step.

1.

Start with a moisturized face. Apply eye shadow base for that extra color intensity + lasting.

2.

Using (1) color in the palette, take a large flat brush and sweep it across your brow bone to highlight the area.

3.

(2) color goes onto the inner 2/3 of the lid with a medium flat brush.

4.

The (3) color goes onto the outer half of the lid, layering on the (2) color, and blended upward and outward with the cleaned brush. Apply some also on the outer half of the lower lashline.

5.

Get a fluffy shadow brush, and take the (4) color. Blend this into the outer corner, concentrating the color near the lashline, then slowly blend up, out and into the crease. For monolids, the crease would be where your brow bone is, so that it will be visible. What I did was just gently poke my loaded brush onto my socket for the crease. Also apply some on the outer half of the lower lashline.

This is one of the ways to line your upper waterline - gently pull the upper lid, and run the pencil along the waterline.

6.

Take your pencil liner and line the upper and lower waterline (the pinkish skin that lies just at your eyeball), and tightline (run the pencil just along the roots of the lashes).

7.

Line your eyes with the gel liner, extending the line straight out just slightly. Touch up with the pencil liner if there is any skin peeking through the eyeliner.

8.

Fill in the sparse areas in your brows and darken them slightly. Take a stiff brush/spoolie and comb your brow hairs nicely. If you have clear brow gel, it's time to take it out.

9.

Curl your lashes and apply mascara on the upper and lower lashes. To avoid excessive clumps, twist the mascara wand at the root of your lashes to give more volume, then only apply as normal.

10.

Apply false lashes. Take your lashes, bend them a little, check for fit, trim if necessary, then apply a thin strip of glue on the spine of the lashes, adding an extra blob on the front and back ends. Wait around 20 seconds for the glue to become tacky, and looking down into a table mirror, stick them as close to the lashes as possible, but not on the lashes.

11.

Take your black liquid liner and line just slightly above and on the spine of the false lashes to help it blend into your eyeliner. To make it blend even more, try curling your real lashes with your false lashes.

12.

Conceal your dark circles. Doing concealer and foundation after doing the eyes makes the entire look less messy. Blend away with a foundation brush, your fingers or a damp sponge.

13.

Apply foundation evenly, blending well to ensure no streaks. Make sure to apply some at the corner of your nose, the corners of your mouth and down the neck. Set with powder.

Notice how I have a "hollow" in my cheek and how the cheekbone is more emphasized?

14.

Make a fish face and with a smallish face brush (tap off excess product), brush your contour product from the ear down toward the mouth. Make sure not to apply any product near the mouth. Run some of the product down the sides of your nose starting from your brow for some light nose contouring.

Your smokey eyes are now complete.

Sexy.

Mysterious.

Captivating.

Hypnotizing.

Closer-up of the complete eye make-up.

The key to smokey eyes? BLENDING. If your shadows look like patches of paint thrown on the canvas by a three-year-old, take a clean brush (or your clean fingers) and gently go over the harsh edges until the shadow seems to be melting into your skin. Each color should transition smoothly, with no harsh lines.

By the way, you can substitute some of the stuff that I used, or just omit it altogether. I personally don't use blush, so I use the contour for some color. If you want you can have the dark color lighter than I applied, or all in all don't have such intense eyeliner.


Smokey eyes are, in my opinion, the most universally flattering eye make-up, and is the easiest once you get the concept and the hang of it.

That's it. I would appreciate some comments - hopefully positive, but constructive criticism is also accepted. No haters, please. And please keep in mind that this is my own developed way of doing my smokey eyes. I'm not Michelle Phan or a professional or a Youtube guru. I make these partly so that I can share another different technique, and also for fun.