A cool toned, velvety smokey eye for occasions where you want to look glamorous but still neutral and classic 🙂 This kind of makeup suits all eye colours, all skintones and all ages – just modify the intensity to suit your preferences!
NB: Under strong lighting, the Stila shadows bounce light and look transparent and patchy. They appeared perfectly even and opaque in natural light as visible in the photos, it’s puzzling. Just something to note if you work in a studio environment 🙂
Final Look
Nail Polish I’m wearing in this tutorial
Marc Jacobs Enamoured
Complete List of Products
Benefit – Stay Don’t Stray in Light/Medium*
SUQQU – Brow Powder in Moss Green
Stila – Eyes are the Window Mind Palette
Rouge Bunny Rouge – Eye Kohl in Salome*
Sunday Riley – Start Over Eye Cream
Viseart – 01 Corrector Camouflage Palette
It Cosmetics – Transforming Pearl (Naturally Pretty Palette)
Shu Uemura – Drawing Pencil in Black
Pixi – Silky Eye Pencil in Black Cocoa
THREE – Performance Eyeliner in 05
House of Lashes – Siren Lash
MAC – Extended Play Gigablack Lash
Koh Gen Do – Aqua Foundation in 213*
Rouge Bunny Rouge – Diaphanous Finishing Powder*
Kevyn Aucoin – Sculpting Powder in Medium
Shiseido – High Beam White (WT905)
MAC – Mineralize Blush in Dainty
Urban Decay – Lipliner in Illegal
Tom Ford – Lipstick in Nude Vanille
If there was anything that could go wrong in filming, it went wrong this day 🙁 A lot of people requested the look on Instagram so I suppressed my perfectionist compulsions and uploaded it anyway. I hope you enjoyed it 🙂
xxkarima
* denotes products sent for consideration. I only feature products that I love.
Loved this tutorial. The finished look was great.
Quick question, what did you use to curl your hair at the end of the video? Thanks.
I’m pleased you like it 🙂 I used one of the Nume curling wands! xx
so beautiful those smokeys! Love that they are more soft and not that intense!
You could soften it even further if you like 🙂 x
Karima – thank you so much for this vid. i have always struggled with blending my transition shades. watching you in this vid, i think i am putting too much pressure on my brush when i blend. you use such a light touch and i was using a bit more pressure. also i have smallish eyes and not much eye space. :-/
also – true story – when i saw the finished look before watching the vid i said “super flattering lip color!” and then you mentioned how you always get compliments!! haha! xoxo sj
Hey SJ,
A good way to lighten your pressure without thinking about it is holding the end of the brush.
Funny that about the lip colour, I sometimes think it can look a bit blank on me (which is why I tend to use it over a deeper lipliner!).
xx
You used the Stila Mind palette? I’ve been on the hunt for that one. Very anxious to know how you felt about it. Also I can´t resist a glamorous sophisticated smokey eye tutorial! Can´t wait to get home and watch the video.
Hey Sonia,
I mentioned my thoughts about the Stila palette in this post, still quite conflicted about it!
xx
Yay a chatty video lol such a gorgeous look! I love smokey eye looks but I feel like my eyes are too big to pull it off. 🙁
Hmm interesting, I generally find that big eyes hold a smokey eye well! Do you put black eyeliner in the waterline? You may also opt for a smaller shadow placement (i take mine high up because that’s the only way it’s visible when my eyes are open).
xx
You’re so pretty AND professional!
PS. 2014 favorites please!?
Go back several posts; she’s done them. 🙂
Thanks, Chloe! <3
As Shelly mentioned below, I did a 2014 favourites a few posts back.
xx
I do love a classic smokey eye, so it’s good to have this tutorial as a guide – you make it look achievable, even for me!
I also have stupidly long lower lashes and I usually end up with flakes and smudges under my eyes by mid-afternoon – how does the MAC mascara hold up?
xx
It’s actually pretty easy, just step away from the mirror a few times so you can judge the intensity with a fresh eye.
I generally don’t suffer with smudging or migration but for what it’s worth, the MAC mascara requires an oil to remove so it must be long wearing!
x
Karima I love how interactive you are with people leaving comments. Its hard to come by. ( remember seeing this as a pet peeve on your “how to run a blog”post ). The connection with the writer makes it so much better for us readers.
Hugs
Hey Anna,
I’m so pleased you noticed! I dedicate a lot of time to responding to comments, it’s so important to me.
xx
Hi Karima – what do you use to curl your hair with? I’m on the hunt for a good curler!!
Hey Rose,
I use the Nume wand, it comes with a few different barrels. Prefer it to my Cloud Nine Wand, which is really long and I always manage to burn my arm (scars GALORE).
xx
ooh so chic! I’ve noticed you’ve been using the Shu Uemura for tightlining quite a bit in recent videos. If you were to do a tighliner smack down, would the Drawing Pencil fare well?
Hey Isabelle,
I actually REALLY want to do a tightlining smackdown. It’s next on my list! The Shu pencils would fare well, they’re definitely long lasting but perhaps not the most indelible tightlining product in my collection.
xx
I love how soft yet killer this eye makeup is. Love the smokey eye!
I’m glad you like it 😀 I think this will become a regular look for me, I really enjoyed it too 🙂
xx
Random, BUT: for a minute I forgot you had that black line in your eye, and I freaked out. “Holy shit, she dropped a false eyelash in her eye, how does that not hurt?!?!” And then I remembered and felt like an idiot. T___T
Strangely, I also have moments where I forget and startle myself lol.
xx
Love this video and the finale look, now I need a black #smokyfriday very soon. 😉
Tag me if you take a photo!
xx
I will.
this look is so boss. i tried it on myself, despite usually getting an i-just-got-punched-in-the-face result with smokey eye tutorials, and it was perfect. tried it on a friend who is a bride-to-be, and we are doing it as her wedding makeup in the fall! thanks so much. would love to see another look with this stila palette. xo
Yay 🙂 So pleased you found a smokey eye that works for you! Congrats to your friend, also 🙂
xx