Transformative Beauty: Day to Night Smoky Eye

Contrary to what you all might think, I haven't always been the biggest.... beauty queen. Case in point:

Shiny pink pants, zebra print, crazy oxford Doc Martens? Yeah....

Up until I really started to be comfortable with makeup and beauty routines (aka college, aka where everyone goes to find themselves.... thank goodness, because I needed to), I was scared to do anything besides really basic makeup. Foundation, mascara, eyeliner and some blush. Smoky eye was definitely out of the question. It was so untouchable and so out of my comfort zone. A smoky eye isn't really that untouchable. In fact, it's totally wearable. It doesn't mean that you have to make your entire eye black. You can do all sorts of colors! I, personally, am a fan of the gold/bronze smoky eye. It is also incredibly easy to take from day to night, which I am going to focus on today. Let's keep it simple! Here's what I used:

 

I'm using my favorite shadow palette (make sure you use one that has many options like the one pictured above), some gel eyeliner with the brush, and then a few eyeshadow brushes to pack on the color, blend, and smudge.

The key to a smoky eye is to make it look like there aren't any hard lines. So, when you line your eyes, make sure you smudge some of the eye shadow over it to blend it out. Take a fluffy eyeshadow brush and make sure you blend a lot all around the lid to get the entire look to "smoke" out. To balance the look, I used a neutral blush and nude lip, so that my eyes would stand out. It's important that your smoky eye doesn't conflict with anything else like a red lip.

 

For my daytime look, I wanted to keep it simple with a golden bronze look.

A golden smoky look is so easy to do. I focused on using the gold shade, all over the lid, then a bronze-y brown in the crease, and finally a dark shimmery brown in the outer corner and on the lower lash line. I then applied my gel liner, and then with a small smudge brush, I smudged some more of the gold and darkest shades over the liner to diffuse it.

 

It is so easy to take this look from day to night. Let's take a look.

In order to make this look more dramatic and date-worthy, I focused on taking the darkest shade in my palette, into my crease and outer corner to what I already had applied. I also applied it on my lower lash line and focused a lot on blending it out on my crease. Just taking this dark shade and applying it to what I already had makes a significant difference. 

 So, don't be afraid - try a smoky eye! It's pretty on everyone. And much better looking than an all pink and zebra ensemble.