Smokey Eye

This week Branka showed us how to create the perfect catwalk smokey eye which is very dramatic and out there, and I loved it. She started off with a Demo

Branka prepped the skin using bioderma. Followed by some moisturiser (steam cream) to relish any moisture that has been lost (really rubbing it into the skin).

Eyes - pulling out some black gel, she placed it at the back of her hands (using a lip brush) and creating a shape around the eyelid followed by filling it in, then taking a blending brush with no product on she blended this upwards. Followed by putting some product on the waterline (not underneath). She then cleaned up underneath using a cotton bud. Then doing the same thing underneath the top lash line . After, taking a get black eye shadow (carbon) by Mac, she dabbed it onto the eye lid (eye socket). She then took a neutral colour (nude) and placed it under the brow bone. Lifting the brow gently, taking a slightly darker brown and placed it on top of the eye lid to blend the black harsh line, followed by an even darker brown to blend even more, just below the top point of the smokey eye.

Finally she took a cotton bud with some bioderma and cleaned under the eye.

Foundation - full coverage Mac (NC15) placing it everywhere she wanted to highlight (bridge of the nose, under the eyes, side of the temples, just underneath the jaw line. Then taking NW25 placing it In between these areas to slightly darken it. Finally taking NW45 to contour. Then taking a buffing brush to blend (first all the lighter shades, working it into her palm, once these were all blended, she went on to blending the darker shades). She then used kryolan transulecent powder to set the glossiest areas.

Eye brows - She used D15 and D12 mix to line brows. Starting at the bottom and brushing her way up to create a natural blend. Once at the arch, take it down. Followed by some brow gel and some brown eye shadow to hold. Back to the eyes, sheb used black eye shadow under the water line and blended it to reach the eye shadow.

Highlight - under the eyes, bridge of the nose, cupids bow and under the eyes.

Mascara using a fan brush, asking the model to look down and very gently lift the brow and applied upwards strokes. She used some cream blush on the cheeks (dabbing it in).

For lips, using the naked liner by Mac all over. Then taking verve (plum colour) and NC15 full coverage foundation (mixing at the back of her hand) to create the perfect lip colour. Finally using Mac lip glass and dabbing it with her finger into the lips.

She then wanted to show us how to change the look and vamp it up very quickly. So, using hanger and ciber the two dark plum colours in the mac lip palette she applied this mix onto the lips working from outside in. Going in with a plum liner to define some of the lip edges to give a clean finish making sure to get right into the corners. Now she wanted to show us how to make a glossy eye. So Taking Vaseline she gently pressed it on to the eyelid which gave it an amazing look. Finally, taking some strobe cream and a duo fibre brush, she added some on places she wanted to further highlight.

I then went on to trying to re create this myself.

I did the same steps as branka however I used slighly different foundation colours as my model was darker. Therefore I used full coverage mac foundation and I mixed the shades NC35 and NC25 as I felt like the colours by themselves where either too dark or too light. Below is a picture of some of the process I did.

I struggled using mac's black track gel eyeliner. I found that when I applied it, it dried too quickly, and when I went onto blending it outwards, it was not blending. Therefore I removed some of the product from the top as I had taken it up too high. I then re-applied it and quickly blended it upwards and outwards. I then went onto dabbing the mac black eyeshadow on the centre parts of the eyelid and I took mac's dark brown above this shade, followed by using a lighter taupe brown ontop of this to blend it out further. I then went on to applying the foundation in the same process as branka. I managed to match her skin tone perfectly which I am proud of. I blended this all using a buffing brush. I then set it also using kryolan's translucent powder. Breaking the rules, I dabbed some strobe cream after, onto the places that I wanted to highlight. I did this as I really wanted it to show through. I then took the black under the eye lid, really blending it and taking it up to reach the top of the eye shadow to look seamless. I used black track in the water line with a lip liner brush.

For mascara, I applied it using a small fan brush which was my first time using this technique and I am really happy with it. I found it very useful as I felt that I can really get deep into the lashes without making any mess around. Moving onto eye brows, I used a brown mac eye shadow and really blended this with an eyebrow brush. I love the look I achieved with the brows. Finally for lips I did the same that Branka did, mixing a pink from my lip palette and some extra foundation I had on my hand, I mixed them to create the perfect lip colour.

Overall, I am so happy with this look. I love the seamless look I achieved whilst still keeping it bold and sexy. Next time I could have not taken the black up so far as I think it would have looked even better.

Above is a picture of my second try. I tried this at home on myself as I wanted to practise. I focused on getting the smokey eye shape more elongated other than round. I did not add in any dark lip as since I am so pale, It would have looked way too much on me.