Eye Seduction | The Basic Smokey Eye

 

The Basic Smokey Eye

With the understanding that there is no way really for someone to either or explain or master a smokey eye makeup application by just reading about it, these are the basic steps to a smokey eye.

Of course many variations exist, as well as various executions based on various levels of expertise, still following steps ought to be useful.

 

1. Prepare the eyelid by creating a good base

After applying foundation and loose powder, prep the eyelid using an eyelid primer.

Alternatively you can blend a small amount of your normal foundation over the eyelid using a cosmetic triangle or sponge and pat lightly with loose powder on large powder brush.

2. Apply the mid-tone eyeshadow from lash line to eyebrow

Fill the entire space up with an eyeshadow that closely matches, or is a shade lighter than, your natural eye lid colour and blend. A shimmery (not glittery) shade is usually very flattering.

 

 

3. Apply the highlighter eyeshadow to the inside corner of the eye area and on the brow bone.

Using an eyeshadow brush, apply a light shade of eyeshadow at the inner corners of the eyes as well as on the brow bone. Blend WELL into the existing mid-tone.

If you have perky (large) eyes, forget applying this shade to the inner corner of the eye as this will just make your eyes look even larger.

 4. Line eyes with black eyeliner and blend

Using a black eyeliner, line upper and lower lash lines with black soft kohl eyeliner pencil. Smudge the line with fingertips or a soft brush to diffuse the harshness of the line a bit.

 

 

5. Apply the accent tone around the lash line

A smokey grey, a black, a metallic navy, an eggplant shade – you create the fantasy that you’d like here. Just so long as it doesn’t match the colour top that you’re wearing exactly. Too matchy matchy.

Starting from the outer corner of the eye, apply eyeshadow using short, controlled strokes on the upper lash line toward the middle of the eye using a small eyeshadow brush. Use a little of the accent colour at a time, you can always layer more colour if you wish the colour to be darker.

At the middle of the eye on the lashline, blend this accent colour into the corner of the eye where it meets the high tone that you’ve previously applied.

Now, starting again from the outer corner of the upper lash line, blend accent color upward and over the eyelid until the colour reaches the eye crease, just where the eye folds when you blink.

Blend, blend, blend.  

If you decide that you want you want the smokey effect darker, use more eyeshadow on the eyeshadow brush and always start from the outer lashline and blend it up. That way the darkest effect will always be at the outer corner of the eye.

You can choose to focus most of the accent colour just to the outer colours of your eyes, or you can up the ante and colour your entire eyelid with the accent colour. For extreme sized eyes, the first technique opens smaller eyes and the second minimizes larger eyes.

With a very small eyeshadow brush, or with those teeny, firm eye shadow sponges that normally come with eye shadow compacts, apply accent colour on the outer bottom lash line, and blend toward the inner of the eye. 

Blend the free outer edge of the eye in a slightly upward fashion, so as to not make eyes look droopy.

6. Apply Mascara

Focusing on outer lashes, apply two coats of masacara on top lashes. If you dare, try applying to the outer bottom lashes as well. However, to avoid the spidery look, only apply mascara to bottom lashes if you’ve previously lined them. Mascara with no eye-liner on the bottom line looks well scary.

Easy does it, it’s a little tricky.

Use waterproof mascara, or the type that coats the eyelashes in a ‘tube-like manner’ so that mascara, especially that applied on the bottom lashes,  wouldn’t run if you get misty. 

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Minimalista Steez

On a very basic level, smokey eye shadow differs from a more natural, well defined eyeshadow application in the following ways:

- The choice of makeup colours (variations of your skin-tone’s natural colours vs. statement bright/ deep/ vibrant colours)

- The intensity/ amount of the accent shadow applied and 

- How far from the lash line toward the crease the accent eye shadow goes.

Just a little definition goes a long way. In a normal eyeshadow application the accent colour is limited to the lash line, with particular focus being paid to the outer corners of the eye.

For more on applying everyday makeup using 3 colours see GC post Makeup | 3-C Eye Definition
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Other possibly related GC posts
Makeup Tip | Choosing Eyeshadows
Beauty | Flawless Face
Holiday Glam: Face Bling
Frump to Fab in 10 steps

Champagne Taste and Mauby Pocket.

Hmmm.

As Divas, we sometimes have to deal with more than our fair share of the nasty.

We’ve all met them:

- The Super who is a bit too friendly when he comes to fix the leak in the kitchen

- The Bouncer at the nightclub who thinks that he can get some of your lovely because he mans the door of the hotspot, or

- The Smarmy landlord who “subtly” offers to subsidize your rent for a night out on his town.

We have all been through it, and it sucks big time. Coupled with the feelings of revulsion, you wonder if maybe, just maybe, you somehow, somewhere along the way, managed to show this scumbag that you were able to be bought.

Well, Sweet Honey Chile’, don’t blame yourself; It’s nothing you said or did.  The onus falls on Mr. Little Blue (Pill).

Rest assured that if he offered to give you an extension on your lease in exchange for your lovely presence on his arm in public, (its ok to cringe), and you declined this, oh so generous offer, it is he that should feel like Eau de POOP, not you.

We should feel good about the fact that we were not in the least turned on by the fatness of his wallet, (or his engorged beer belly, for that matter), but rather would choose to be impressed by valour, honour and compassion for one’s fellow man, not to mention the unquestionable ability to get it up without the use of a prescription drug or a magnifying glass.

So what if he thinks that he is worthy to even stand on the platform of your exotic love train, much less buy a ticket and be allowed to board, all because he has a lot of cheddar? Somebody is in total denial and it ain’t you Sister!

Its not your fault that he suddenly got the “Mauby Pocket Syndrome” (a common syndrome among the beta males roaming the planet). We ought to feel flattered that he realized this, and that he tried to sweeten the pot with something that he thought you didn’t have.

And so this paltry token of appreciation has been laid at our feet. What the firetruck do we do now?

Withhold the the urge to slap the teeth out of his lecherous mouth. Instead dig deep to find your most believable ‘Ditzy’ moment and start giggling helplessly. Do this for about 3 minutes, just enough time for Mr. Tiny Blue (Pill)  to start feeling seriously uncomfortable.

Then do something that will throw him off course, and mess with him a bit. Things that come immediately to mind are :

- Search in your bag for a pen, and decline vehemently when he offers one.

- Take out your phone and call your grandmother and ask her if she is up for a date with a really swell guy (insert “Face Drop” here), or

- Start calling for your dog, Patches.

By the time you are finished doing something totally insane, sober up suddenly and make Direct Eye Contact (DEC) with the old Smarm. Smile brightly and politely decline his offer.

Don’t give the bastard any help by just standing there. Pack up shop and walk away, shut your car door, roll up your windows and when you get to where you are going, give yourself some time to recoup and collect your self.

A good pat on the on the back for leaving with your dignity in tact, and you’re ready to take on the world.

Remember self love is something we cannot do without. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.

Love yourself. There isn’t enough money to wash away the stink of losing your dignity.

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Forward ever!

P.S.:
Mauby Pocket Syndrome - a term derived from a local Trinidadian saying which states that a person has “Champagne taste and Mauby pocket”.

This means that he or she has very expensive tastes but no way of affording it.

Champagne, as we know, is associated fine (and expensive) drinking, whereas Mauby, although a tremendously delightful drink made of bark, spices and cane sugar, is priced so affordably, at even the least fortunate among us can enjoy it.

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Related GC Posts
The Goddess Treatment
Finding the strength to ride the hell out.
Dating | Me no speak Engrish 
Relationships | Deal breakers
Live your life 

Random quote: Pam Tillis

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“I knew he didn’t have any money
Yeah that’s why he couldn’t buy me a ring
Oh and just because he bought himself a brand new pickup truck
Really didn’t prove anything
And he never had to say he loved me
I could see it every time he smiled
Just call me Cleopatra… ’cause I’m the Queen of Denial”

Pam Tillis : Cleopatra, The Queen of Denial.

Anti-Aging Tip #6

Wear Sun Screen

This should have been the first Anti-Aging tip, but I didn’t want it to get lost in the melee.

Badly damaging skin due to unprotected exposure to the sun’s UV rays is the greatest way to accelerate your skin’s aging process. 

The best anti-aging advice anyone can give is to avoid excessive sun exposure and at the very least, wear a broad spectrum sun screen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays.

Everyone should wear sunscreen daily, SPF 15 minimum. Lighter skin types, Fitzpatrick skin types (I, II and III), should wear sunscreen containing a minimum of SPF 20.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun, even in small daily doses, results in free radical action on skin that enables the destruction of natural collagen and elastin fibres in skin, causing skin to lose elasticity and tone, as well as develop wrinkles, crows feet and frown lines. 

We live in modern times. There are many types of sunscreen products in various formulations/ weights in creams, lotions and fluids.  No longer does sunscreen have to smell of bananas and coconuts, be oily, or cause acne breakouts. There are formations that incorporate sunscreen into moisturizers and foundations. Alternatively sunscreen can be worn alone or under makeup. There are sunscreens formulated for the face and others formulated for the body. The options are endless.

It may be cute and ‘cool’ to bake in the sun and live in tanning beds when we are young, but not so cute to have to consider replacing the lost collagen in our skin when we are older, by the use of injectable fillers or surgical procedures.

Though darker skin types are better protected against the damaging sun’s rays, they are not immune to aging.

So really, there is no excuse to not wearing it.

Playing russian roulette with your skin health is so 80′s.

For more on Sun Screens see post Sun and Skin Types

Lotion up!

Related Posts
Anti-Aging Tip #5
Sun and Skin Types
Premature aging
Slip, Slop, Slap, and Wrap
Sunkissed beauty

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Self | Holding back the tears

I don’t like to cry.  It makes me feel weak and out of control, and I have to tell ya, I love to be in control of what goes on around me.

Interestingly enough, I’ve read that tears actually contain stress hormones; if we don’t cry we can cause some damage to ourselves that may be irreversible. Heart attacks may ensue (especially in males) as a result of being unable to release emotion this way.

Normally this would not be an issue because crying is the body’s natural way of dealing with a release of emotions. However, complications develop as we have typically been conditioned to not cry. 

I find myself telling my 7 year old not to cry,  maybe for selfish reasons because it is very hard to bear watching her cry, or maybe because I feel that I need her to toughen up because this world isn’t easy.

“As children grow older, this aversion to crying becomes part of their ego. Parents should never stop their sons from crying, and should never make these kinds of statements.”

-Seema Hingorrany. Child psychologist

In fact most of us, male or female, are taught that its overly dramatic to cry, as crying is often seen as being either weak or manipulative.

Me, I always saw it as a dead end. I never knew the healing properties of crying. What I saw was the futileness of it all. I saw that even though I may have already expressed a need for something, crying did nothing to make things go faster, or make people want to help. For me, I would prefer to “save face” and bear it valiantly, rather than have anyone see that I had been pushed far enough past my emotional limit to start crying.

So I’m going to see how I can balance the two. but its going to be difficult.

This will require that I recondition my mind, and my heart. A wise old man once told me that, if not the world, I must at least let my daughter see that I too have feelings and emotions, and that it is okay to feel a little hurt sometimes.

It is this way that we can start reconditioning the minds of the young ones who have been de-sensitized to pain and suffering because we shield them from too much, or maybe from too little, but that is another story for another day.

So, for the sake of keeping it at least a little real, and living a well rounded healthy life, I’m gonna see if I can allow myself to cry from time to time.

If, in fact, by doing this I can also prolong my life, then ‘better fete’ and so be it.

Forward ever!

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Works Consulted
The Possible Health Benefits of Crying – Helium
In Mumbia even the Big Boys Cry – DNA India

Possibly Related GC Posts
The Goddess Treatment
Finding the strength to ride the hell out.
Relationships | Deal breakers
Live your life
Nova monologues: Screw Collector
 

Random music quote: Pitbull

“Can’t tell me nothing now… I know how to fly
“Can’t nothing hold me down, I’m going to touch the sky …”

- Shut it Down, Pitbull feat. Akon

Either they get on board, or get out of the way.

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