From The Straits Times    |

Photo: Instagram / ponysmakeup

From subtle shading to bold blacks, here’s our 3-step tutorial to creating three different smoky eye looks.

What’s not to love about smoky eyes? It looks great on everyone and is easy to do yourself because it doesn’t have to be perfect. The most important thing to remember when creating this is to blend as it helps to keep the makeup natural. Here, we’ll teach you how to create three different variations of the look in just three steps.

 

Soft smoky

 

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Great for the office or a weekend out, this more natural look is surprisingly easy to achieve. When doing a soft smoky, try to stick to soft browns or light greys to prevent your makeup from appearing too overpowering.

1. Apply a shading powder about two or three tones darker than your natural skin colour over your whole lid and smudge a little over your lower lash line. This gives the base for your smoky eye and is always good when you start a smoky eye as it makes it more three-dimensional.

2. Using a medium brown/grey hue, apply colour along the crease of your eyelid while keeping the majority of the eyeshadow in the middle. It’s best to start from the middle of your lid as this makes it easier to blend the pigments. Using the same colour, lightly blend the shade below your lower lash line.

3. With a thin brush, apply a dark brown/grey eyeshadow on your lower lash line and blend. With this look, you can do without eyeliner as it can distract from the natural graduation of the shadow.

Tip: Soft browns are great for all skin types. However, if you have a darker skin tone, stay away from greys as they can look ashy against your complexion.

 

Coloured smoky

 

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A fun version of the tradition smoky, this versatile look can take you from quirky to romantic depending on the eyeshadow shade. To keep it simple, stick to two or three colours of the same family.

1. Using a brush of about one to two cm wide, blend a medium-shade eyeshadow over your whole socket, focusing more on the middle. Apply the same colour along your lower lash line and blend softly.

2. Apply a highlighter in the same colour family at your brow bone and blend it down to your shadow to contour your eye.

3. Choose a dark eyeshadow shade and use a brush line your lower lash line. Apply the same shade to the outer half of your upper lash line, blending upwards.

Tip: Darker tones tend to be easier to wear when working with colours. And to keep the look chic, pair it with nude cheeks and lips.

 

Full-on smoky

 

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This glamorous eye makeup is a sure way to get you noticed. Perfect for a formal event or a party, this intense look is wearable for all skin tones.

1. Apply black eye shadow all around your eye socket with a heavier emphasis as you get nearer to the lashline. You can try using your fingers instead of a brush, as a brush tends to let more colour pigments fall on your cheeks than when using your fingers directly.

2. Use an eyeliner to line the inner of your lower and upper lash line. This helps to define the shape of your eyes.

3. With a small brush, apply a more intense black colour close to your upper and lower lash line then blend for graduation.

Tip: When working with black eyeshadow, don’t apply all the colour at one time. Instead, work layer by layer, slowing adding on more pigments as you go.

 

This article first appeared in Female

 

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