I love doing a smokey eye – especially when it’s not just basic black. Playing with various tones of brown is one of my favorite things to do for nearly all skin tones – from the most fair, to deep, dark complexions, and all shades in between.
To recreate the above look I did on Annaliese, for yourself, you’ll need:
- Two brown shadows (i chose Transcend from Kjaer Weis as my base shade, and Wisdom, also from Kjaer Weis, as my deeper shade – and when layered, the two created the deepest part around the crease and lash lines)
- A black eyeliner pencil (I chose Hypnotist from W3LL People)
- A creamy brown shimmery eye crayon (I chose Age of Consent from Ilia Beauty)
- A creamy highlighter for the inner corners (I like Ilia Beauty ‘Cosmic Dancer‘)
Begin by outlining the shape you’ll want with the lightest of your two brown shades. On all face shapes – no matter your eye shape – the most flattering overall shadow look is one that angles slightly upwards at the outer edge of the eye. This is why so many youtube video makeup tutorials show a short piece of tape being applied to the outer edge, so that no shadow (or liner) falls/is drawn below it. Shadow or liner that has a downward sloping outer edge tends to drag the face down.
Once you’ve pressed (notice I specify to PRESS your shadow into your skin. Do not sweep or fan your color on. The correct placement of the pigment is what sets apart a messy shadowed eye from a beautifully done smokey eye, and for the latter, you’ll need to be precise about how much and where you put it!) your light brown shadow into the approximate shape that is most flattering to your face (experiment! You can always use cotton swabs to wipe away what doesn’t look good), you can begin pressing your deeper brown shadow in a sideways V form, starting along the outer corner of the eye, and along the crease (if your eye has a crease, of course). Take a good fluffy eyeshadow brush and blend, blend, blend, so that the two become seamless, and the edges are diffused into your naked skin.
Take your sharpened black liner and gently dot along the top lash line, smudging along the way with a skinny smudge brush, or cotton swab. Experiment with your eye shape – does a bit of black liner smudged along the bottom lash line look good? Then do it!
Finish the look by adding your highlights: Using the creamy, shimmery brown shadow crayon, drag it along the top of the lash line, just behind the lashes, staying close to the lash line. This will serve to highlight the area behind your lashes, drawing attention to them.
Take your creamy pale highlighter (choose a deeper shade if your skin tone is darker than Annaliese), and press it into the inner corner of your eyes for a little added flare.
Curl and coat your lashes with a few swipes of black mascara… et voila! BEAUTY! xx
