Brown Smokey Eyes

One of my other obsessions besides fashion is makeup - since they go hand-in-hand, I figured I might post about some step-by-step guides to my favourite makeup looks, from dramatic, bordering on ridiculous, evening makeup, to the simple(ish) looks I wear to college. To begin with, I thought I'd try one of my failsafe options, the one I always turn to when i don't have the time or energy to put much thought into what I'm going to wear on my face. It looks like this:

So here's how I do it..                                                                                   

 First, press a light brown shimmery eyeshadow all over your lid, and just above your crease. In this case, I used Toasted by Urban Decay. I've also applied foundation, and defined my brows with a blonde  brow pencil.

 Next, using a fluffy crease brush such as the MAC 224, apply a warm brown directly into the crease, and using small, circular buffing motions, blend it slightly onto the brow bone. Here I used Brun Violet by Bourjois, but a perfect alternative to this is Embarked by MAC, which is very similar. 

Using a stiffer eyeshadow brush - here I'm using the Fluff Shadow brush by Benefit - apply a darker
matte brown on the outer 'v' of the eye, as shown below. I used Handwritten eyeshadow by MAC.

  

Then take a very light gold, shimmery eyeshadow, and with a large fluffy brush, apply it to the inner corner of the eye, and underneath the brow as a highlight. I used the lightest gold shade from the Glamour Girl quad, by GOSH Cosmetics. 

Next, smudge some black liner into the upper and lower lashline, and apply to the lower waterline. Any formula will work, but I find creamy pencil liner blended with a small pencil brush to work best for me. Here I used 24/7 liner by Urban Decay in the shade Zero, a matte black.

  

                                               

                

Finally, curl your lashes and apply mascara.  At the moment I'm using Colossal Volume by Maybelline - the non waterproof version is fine, but the waterproof formula is very waxy, which is perfect for holding a curl ; handy if you have long, but poker straight eyelashes!

I finished by applying MAC's Ruby Woo on my lips with some clear gloss on top, and Bare Escentuals blush in Hush-Hush on my cheeks. On my skin I wore Revlon's Photoready foundation in Shell ( I cannot rave about this enough!), MAC Select Coverup (NW15 mixed with NW20) and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light Medium. I used the Catrice Allround Concealer to highlight and contour - I want to do a separate post on this, it's so useful.

Hope this was helpful, and enjoyable. 

Sian.