How To: Purple Smokey Eye

The smokey eye is definitely my go-to look for shoots, nights out, and just about any occasion where I want my eyes to take center stage. Some people think creating the perfect smokey eye is difficult and requires a lot of tools, time, and products, but I seriously think this is one of the easiest eye looks to do.

Today, I had a shoot for The Brown Paper Bag; and since I was running late I pretty much just threw whatever I saw into my bag. Very minimal products were used, just the following:

• Estee Lauder Holiday Deluxe Palette (shades Mink, Amethyst and Pale Moon)
• ELF Duo Eye Shadow Cream in Berry Mix
• Nichido Color Intense Eye Pencil in 06 Deep Plum
• Maybelline Volum Express Mascara The Falsies

(To give you an idea of how the colors look like, here's the palette I used plus the names of the shades used)


1. Conceal dark circles; because smokey eyes+dark under eye circles= black eye look

2. Pat the shade Mink all over the eye as a base.

3. Take the Elf Eye Shadow Cream's darker shade, apply all over the lid (lashline up to the crease, then extend just a teensy bit above the crease to create a nice contoured look. The cream eyeshadow will later help the dark color adhere better and make it more vibrant.

4. Pat the lighter shade Pale Moon into the inner corner of your eye up to the middle part.

5. Then apply the darker shade, Amethyst, from your eye's middle part up to the end, then all over the crease.

6. Take Pale Moon again and apply underneath the brows to highlight the browbone.

7. Blend Pale Moon a bit into the crease, blending out the darker shade Amethyst a bit to eliminate any harsh lines and to create a nice, seamless look.

8. Using Nichido's purple eyeliner, line both the top and bottom lashes. Create a strong line underneath the eye and make sure it connects/blends with the line on the upper lash.

9. Apply black mascara all over lashes.

You don't have to use the exact same products used; same colors can definitely be substituted to get the same  effect. This entire look was created in about 20 minutes (from face prep to doing finishing touches) which is pretty much shorter tham my usual 45 minute routine haha, so, achievement! Just remember that when doing a smokey eye, there is no such thing as too much color; you just have to blend blend blend til it's prefect!

XOXO