Here’s one simple trick to take your smokey eyes to the next level: blend a little bronzer along the edge of the eyeshadow on your lids and along your lower lash lines with a fluffy domed brush like the MAC 217.
Nothing too dramatic, but I think it gives a dash more depth and dimension to the look, especially when I’m wearing a shimmery shadow and use a matte bronzer for this trick. The contrast between the matte and shimmery products just werks.
If you don’t wear bronzers, no worries. You could give it a try with your favorite brown eyeshadow, or maybe even a blush. 🙂
Thanks for playing Share a Tip Tuesdays! Here are some of the makeup cleanup tips you left on last week’s post in the comments. Some great tips here…
“I always do the wings of my eyeliner before I line my upper lashline; since I have a monolid the wings are all you really see, so I perfect those first.”
–Christine“While working with glittery pigments, you can use some medical tape to gently lift off any fall out from the cheeks/under eye. The adhesive picks up the loose glitter but leaves the base makeup intact. I saw a makeup artist use this trick, pretty neat I’d say!”
— Ankita“One trick I’ve learned recently is to pat my setting powder into the skin. I always used a powder brush to brush and set my powder, but have since switched to a flat top brush to really dig the powder into the skin. This guarantees that my foundation will last all day and the oiliness is under control for a little while longer. Plus, I don’t get that heavy buildup powder can sometimes show. I also use this technique with certain foundations. I’ll spread, then pat.”
–Nadege“I do my eyes first and I noticed this ‘scooting’ problem with fallout you speak of. So what I do now is apply only my face primer before I do my eyes. The primer keeps the fallout from sticking and sinking to the skin — so its very easy to brush off afterwards. I then go back and apply foundation after eyes!”
— Slick“Whenever I’m out of eye makeup remover I grab the nearest facial moisturizer, put some on a q tip and erase any mistakes. It works like magic!”
— Gabi“A few months ago, I decided to start using a new baby shampoo to start cleaning my makeup brushes. I decided to use Johnson’s Baby No More Tangles Extra Conditioning Shampoo. This baby shampoo is awesome at cleaning my makeup brushes!!! I was able to quickly clean all of my makeup brushes in half the time it took me to clean them with Johnson’s regular baby shampoo. Each of my brushes’ bristles looked great after I cleaned them. They also did not have any residue that some brush cleaners and other baby shampoos can leave behind. I highly recommend this baby shampoo for cleaning all types of makeup brushes.”
–Nadia A
In this week’s installment of Share a Tip Tuesdays, what’s a tip or trick you use to take your smokey eyes to the next level? I bet you have a tip or two…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. If smokey eyes aren’t your thing, do you have a different dramatic eye you like to wear? If so, any tips that make it easier for you?
P.P.S. And if you have a tip you can’t wait to share on a completely different makeup or beauty topic, please share that tip, too.
Tightlining! If I wear a smokey eye I always line my upper waterline. It makes a huge difference!
Keeping your eyes open while you blend helps you to see how you’re doing. You can then tell if you need more or less eyeshadow, if you’ve applied it to the wrong area, etc. This is especially useful for people with small eyes.
That’s a great tip, Chris. It’s also handy for gals with hooded eyes!
Thanks for featuring my tip Karen! Now I realize I forgot to type ‘use’ in my comment before ‘some medical tape’. Could you please correct it?
For smokey eyes, I line my lower lash line only halfway starting from outer corner so the intensity of the eye shadow automatically softens and it looks soft and smokey this way.
Sure, no prob!
To line the lower waterline, swipe it with a dry q-tip first and then apply waterproof pencil – better chance of it “sticking” to line. Just don’t poke eye – that hurts like a mutha!
Awesome tip, Priya! I’m going to try this today!
Thanks for the smokey eye tip! I love smokey eyes, but I am also a huge fan of bright and/or metallic eye shadow combinations. The biggest key with working with eye makeup that is anything other than neutral is to not be afraid and know that some color combinations will not always work, but at least you tried something new. When I first ventured into wearing green eyeshadow, it seriously looked like I had mold or algae on my eyes. I learned a) to blend brights well and b) a good primer does wonders for keeping eyeshadow bright and cheery all day long.
For smokey eyes, I have been working a lot with the UD Black Palette. It is a wonderful palette and extremely pigmented. My advice for working with that palette is a little goes a looonnnnggg way – you load up that brush with too much pigment and you go from smokey to very pigmented black in about 2.5 seconds. My current fave colors out of that palette are Cobra, Barracuda, and Sabbath. I haven’t worked too much with the other 3 yet.
Here, here to trying something new! The great part is that even if it looks funky, you can always wash it off, right?
If anyone’s interested in the UD Black Palette, here’s pics/reviews/swatches:
https://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/product-reviews/the-urban-decay-black-palette-is-not-just-for-bad-girls/
The quickest way to a smokey eye is to use a dark base underneath your powder eyeshadow. It doesnt have to be black, since the smokey eye is more a technique than a color. My fave colors to use would be gray and navy blue – theyre softer than black and a tad easier to work with. 🙂
Hi Nina,
Great tips! What are some of your fave gray and navy blue bases?
Remember those Greasepaint sticks MAC made? I love those! The Shade Sticks are great as well. Lately, ive been reaching a lot for my Maybelline Color Tattoos – I believe I have all shades. Theres a gray called Audacious Asphalt that I really love. One of the new ones is a pretty navy whose name I forget. 🙂
My fiance freaks out when I do smokey eyes (aka ‘scary lady eyes’), especially when I use a lot of dark colors or black for a night time event. To brighten up these party shades, I use my highlighting color and pat a bit on the center of the eyelids. Use a Q-Tip or your spare eyeshadow brush to blend the highlighting color in.
Did you get a little caught up in the smokey eye thing and look like you got punched in the eyeballs? Pat your big brush with your highlighting color and sweep it back and forth on your eyelid until just enough color is lifted. It also helps all of those colors blend even more.
Awesome tips, Tennyoceres. 🙂 And LOL about the “scary lady eyes.”
Soba is my go-to instead of bronzer to add extra warmth and dimension to the edge my smokey eye, without adding *too* much warmth or color. It’s also my workhorse for a lazy day smokey eye. – pack some black (or darker color of your choice) on the eyelid and use Soba to softly defuse the line and create the smokiness desired.
Hi Rose,
Soba is a wonderful color and one of my favorites, too.
What shades do you like to wear it with?
Here’s a lip tip I learned from a MAC artist: instead of using Mac prep n prime lips on your lips use it to trace along the outside of your lips. This creates a barrier. This trick always helps to keep bright or dark colors from bleeding.
That’s a great tip, Suzi! Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
One trick I learned from a friend is to prime your lips with eye contour cream! It really moisturizes without being greasy, and it reduce the appearance of fine lines on your lips.
I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but one of the most helpful things for me was realizing that makeup is removable. Yeah, I know how it sounds, but please bear with me! For a long time, I would spend hours trying to get my eyeliner to look perfect–thin on the inner corner, thicker at the outer corner, and with a tiny flick at the end. I struggled really bad with that damn flick and would keep applying it, removing it, then reworking it–trying to get both the flicks at a precise angle. I did this for a long time before I realized that hey, I could just fix it with a cotton bud dipped in makeup remover! So I began purposefully applying my eyeliner much thicker and didn’t worry about how neat or perfect it was. When it had set, I would go back in with a cotton bud and thin out the lines and perfect the little flicks. It’s MUCH easier to thin out the line than to apply it just right the first time, in my opinion.
I like your new Share a Tip Tuesdays- I don’t have anything to really contribute because I figure if *I* know about it, then it’s blatantly obvious. But this feature is a LOT safer for my wallet than MAC Unsung Heroes. I was doing some late-night impulse shopping and a few extra items you’d recommended just leapt into my cart. 😉
Fingers are awesome blending tools if you’re in a pinch. Sometimes when I have to apply my makeup at work, I lightly but messily line the lower lash line about halfway, then use my ring finger to softly smudge it out.
My favourite smokey eye tip is to map out the shape with your bronzer before you go in with a dark colour. That way if you can’t get it right/run out of time, it just looks like crease definition.
Awesome tip! I get so caught up in the ritual of getting ready to go out, I sometimes lose track of time. This tip totally helps.
This tip is absolutely amazing. Adds so much depth to the look. I just did a very elaborate look on my friend using bright shimmery blue, some blending brown and black shadows. However once I put a matte coral shadow slightly above the crease it gave it life!
I put on a gel liner o the waterline and then put a deep pencil liner in the same shade. Stays put ALL day