GUEST POST by A Beautyfull Day: smokey eye tutorial

This is Hey Pretty Thing's first guest post, and it is by my friend and fellow Seattle blogger Soo Jin of A Beautyfull Day -- her blog features beauty, makeup reviews, and fashion. I have gotten tons of questions about eye makeup, so I wanted to answer you guys through someone who is much more of an expert in beauty than I am. Enjoy!

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Soo Jin: Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to share with you my smokey eye tutorial. I've seen a lot of smokey eye tutorials on YouTube, but sometimes it's hard to recreate the look when your eye shape is much different to begin with.  If you're in the same boat as me and have "asian eyes," also known as monolids, then this tutorial is especially for you! Here's how I create a smokey eye:

I wanted to keep things simple for any new makeup users out there. I'll be sticking to the Urban Decay Smoked palette (my review here) -- the perfect palette for creating smokey eyes, and one MAC "Kid" eyeshadow -- a beige cashmere shade great for blending darker colors out. Of course you can use any other brand eyeshadow in similar shades.

The Urban Decay Smoked palette set also comes with a mini Primer Potion and a 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil in Perversion. We'll be using both of these as well.

The brushes I'll be using in this tutorial are an angle brush, a pencil brush, a fluffy blending brush, a shader brush, a firm blending brush and a large shader brush. So let's begin!

1. Prime your eyes. The last thing you want is your beautiful smokey eyes to melt off at the end of the night. A good eye primer will make your eyeshadows more vibrant and last longer without fading or creasing. I'm patting on the Urban Decay Primer Potion with my finger all over my eyelids concentrating more toward my lashes where my lids tend to get oily.

2. Next I'm using my large shader brush to pat on Kinky eyeshadow under my brows to create a highlight. Blend it slightly downward. The highlight will make you brows appear lifted and bring more dimension to your eyes especially if your eyes are naturally flatter.

3. I'm now taking the Perversion eyeliner and lining one eye. It's okay if this is a messy line, just try to get it as close to your lashes as possible.

4. Then blend it out with your pencil brush. Continue lining and blending on your other eye. I suggest doing one eye at a time because the eyeliner sets quickly and it'll be harder to blend if you wait too long.

5. I'm now taking my firmer blending brush and blending Backdoor eyeshadow on my crease. Blend upwards and start to create the shape that you want.

6. Now I'm taking my shader brush and dipping it in Backdoor twice and Blackout twice and then patting it on my crease to give it more depth. Don't be afraid to go dark on this step because we're going to blend it out soon.

7. Take the firm blending brush that should still have some Backdoor eyeshadow on it and blend out the Backdoor/Blackout combo. Take your time blending. This is key in any smokey eye look.

8. For the next step, I'll take my fluffy blending brush and MAC Kid eyeshadow and blend the edge of Backdoor up to where I applied Kinky. It should progressively get lighter the closer you get to your brow.  Blend blend blend away any harsh lines.

9. Take your pencil brush and dip it in Barlust. Line your lower lashline starting from the ends and working your way inwards towards your nose. I usually stop about two-thirds of the way in.

10. Now use Perversion eye pencil to line your upper waterline. I don't like to line my lower waterline because my eyes are easily irritated but feel free to do this if you like! Then use the angle brush and blend to make sure there are no gaps.

You're almost done! Curl your lashes and apply your favorite mascara! You can either stop here...

...or take the drama one step further by adding false lashes. And viola! You're done! Now you're ready to hit the town or swoon your date with your alluring smokey eyes. For a different colored smokey eye, feel free to replace Backdoor with any other dark colored eyeshadow. Loaded eyeshadow would make a beautiful green smokey eye look for the Fall! Also, practice makes perfect so don't give up!

Wishing you a BEAUTYFULL day! Love, Soo Jin

Shop the smokey eye tutorial: