Yancell Valle
After you’ve spent time in the gym working on getting a fabulous body, you probably want to go out and enjoy looking fabulous! Here’s a fun “after the gym” makeup tip for sexy, smoky eyes!
The key to the perfect smoky eye is proper blending. You want to make sure the colors are blended together flawlessly. Also, it’s important to pair light base colors with rich dark colors. Nice mixes include: soft gold base with deep purple on top, champagne base with bright blue, and peach base with green hue.
Time required: 10 minutes.
Here’s How:
1. Prep the lid. The key to keeping eye shadow from melting into your eyelid crease as the day goes on is to keep your eyelids oil-free. To do this, start with an eye shadow base (also called “primer”). Simply swipe the primer across the eye and let it dry before you continue to the next step.
2. Apply eyeliner. If you’re going for a typical black, brown, or gray smoky eye, apply liner in one of those colors above the upper lash line, drawing the line thicker in the middle of eye. If you’re opting for a jewel-toned eye (violet makes a gorgeous smoky eye), line eyes with a purple, blue, or deep green liner.
3. Blend in color on bottom lashes. For color on the bottom (a key smoky eye look), you’ll want to use an eyeliner pencil because it’s the easiest to smudge. Once the line is drawn, run your finger over it to smudge the line. You can also apply a bit of shadow to get full smudge effect.
4. Apply light base color. Again, the secret to a smoky eye is pairing a lighter base with the darker hue. I prefer a nice cream shade for my base. Sweep a light, shimmery shadow over the lids to your brow bone.
5. Blend in darker color, but keep the dark color below the crease. Now that you have the base and eyeliner on, it’s time to get the smoky effect. You need a darker eye shadow shade. Using an eye shadow, blend in color starting at your lash line, blending up. Make sure to blend color into the lash line so the eyeliner disappears. Stop deep color at the crease. The most important part here is to blend, blend, and blend.
6. Double-check your work. Make sure eyes match, and blend color with a Q-tip if need be.
7. Finish with several coats of mascara. You’ll want to apply a few coats of mascara so lashes are thick and dark. If you don’t have naturally long, curled lashes, curl them with a lash curler first.
Makeup tip by Yancell Valle, former makeup model and Manager at Lucille Roberts Yonkers.
