A soft & smokey eye
I tend to stay in my little box when it comes to makeup. And I’m not typically very experimental when it comes to new eye makeup looks. On a daily basis, you can find me with a mix of soft browns, black liner, and plenty of mascara for eye makeup. If I’m doing something fancy, I may add a flick of liquid liner to the edges of my lids to create a bit of a cat eye. If I want a really smokey eye, I’ll layer on the grey shadow, and add a bit of heavier liner to my lower lash line.
And those a pretty much the three looks that I’m most comfortable doing.
Sometimes, though, I want a little bit more of an interesting eye (especially with my new found interest in nude lips), but I don’t want to always default to a smokey eye.
So I tried a soft version of a smokey eye. And I have to say, I really liked it! I didn’t feel overly “done up” for the day, and could have easily lined my inner rim to make it a bit more fancy for evening.
I love, love, love my Make Up For Ever concealer, but had never really ventured into many of their other products. I know their HD Microfinish Powder is a cult favorite, but somehow I missed out on tossing it into my basket at Sephora.
So I was thrilled when they approached me about working together on a make up look featuring their new shadows. Choosing the colors I wanted to experiment with was the hardest part!
Here is what I chose:
Gunmetal, Pearly Grey Beige, Vanilla, Pink Ivory, Crystalline Grey Beige, Cement
Below is the step by step of how I created the soft, smokey eye.
1. Start with a bit of eyeshadow primer on your lids.
1. Using a Make Up For Ever Shader brush, press Vanilla all over my lid and up to my brows.
3. With a smaller brush, like the Make Up For Ever small shader brush, press Cement into the crease and outer corner.
4. Add a strong line of liquid liner to the top lash line using Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner in Diamond Multi Color Black
5. To soften the boldness of the liner, I like to swipe a bit of lighter shadow just above the line using a small angled brush. In this case, I dipped my Make Up For Ever Straight brush in Vanilla, and swiped it right above the liner.
6. For just a bit of shadowing along the lower lash line, use Make Up For Ever Straight brush and press on a bit of Gunmetal.
7. Curl lashes with a curler and apply a few coats of the seriously lengthening Smoky Lash mascara to the top and bottom lashes.
What I love about Cement is that it’s almost a perfect mix of grey and blue. It’s a bit more interesting than just a flat grey, without being too colorful and intense. This would also be beautiful all across the lid for a really smokey eye!
Adding Vanilla right above the dark liner goes a long way in creating the “soft” smokey eye. It’s not too intense for daytime, but can easily be darkened up for something fancy!
*this post is in collaboration with Make Up For Ever
