The smokey eye has long eluded me, but I finally got a handle on it, and it's not nearly as difficult as it looks. It's pretty much a matter of knowing your eyeshadow and how to shade.
And so I bring you:

Here's what you'll need:
- A BB Cream or primer
- mascara
- pencil eyeliner, either brown or black (I prefer black)
- A quad of eyeshadow in your desired color palette (I'm using browns. Also it was on sale, hence the sticker)
- Eyelash curler
OPTIONAL: An eyeshadow brush.  I just use my finger, but if you want to use a brush you can.

Here's what you do:
Familiarize yourself with your eyeshadow palette and where the different colors are supposed to go.
As a general rule, the lightest color goes on your browbone, the second lightest on the inner corners, the darkest (what makes it "smokey") on the outer corner/crease, and whatever you have left can define your bottom lash line.
So first, browbone!
This is that jutting bone right below, well, your brow. The light, shimmery shadow makes it pop out and illuminates your eye. Don't go heavy, just put enough to make it light.

That triangle of skin right between your eye and your nose is important to light up so that your smokey eye doesn't end up looking like you just stayed up too late.  Extend the shimmery stuff to about the middle of your eyelid and right to the beginning of your bottom lashes.

This one can be tricky.
The rule is to BLEEEEND. Don't just leave a big ol' smudge of dark shadow in the corner of your eye; blend it in so that it's shadowy but not bruise-y.  You may want to tame it with a little of the shadow that you used in the inner corners so that it doesn't dominate your eyelid. Blend it into the crease of skin between your eyelid and the rest of your eye.  If it gets out of hand you can put some of your browbone shadow on it to tone it down.

This is pretty simple. Just blend a tiny amount of eyeshadow right under your bottom lashes.
I only use eyeliner on my top lid when I do this, because with all that shadow you don't want to go too heavy.
Add mascara, and you're done!
Thanks for bearing with my eyebrow zit and horrendous nails.


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