Fall makeup trend: Smokey eyes

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve never been one to shy away from bright lip colours’ red, fuschia, orange, burgundy.. bring it on! But this doesn’t mean I’m totally fearless about my makeup: For me, eye makeup has always been the thing that makes me nervous. I love the look of saturated shadows and dark smudgey liner on others, but on me, it always feels too heavy and dark, too dressed up and attention-seeking. As such, I’ve never quite gotten my application technique down when it comes to liner and darker shadows. But, with fall weather suddenly in the air and smokey eyeshadow and cat eye liner starring as two of the biggest makeup trends this season, I’ve decided there’s no time like the present to brush up on my makeup skills, (literally) and get over my fear.

For a story I did for our upcoming October issue, I interviewed L’Oréal Paris offical makeup artist Eddie Malter for his tips on creating a smokey eye look. What I learned from Eddie: “One of the keys to achieving a smokey eye is that it is best not to start by using the lightest shade, despite what many women think." (He’s right: I’ve always applied shadows from lightest to darkest) Instead, Eddie advises applying the darkest shade close to the lash line first, and then layering the medium and lightest shades on after, working your way up across your lids and towards your brow bone’ You want to "finish with the lightest shade right below the brow and on the inside corner, as it will help shape the smokey eye.”

Taking Eddie’s advice into account, I tried out his technique using my Smashbox Eyelights Smokebox eyeshadow trio (shown above; $45, 4.5g), with flawless results. Bonus for me: layering the lighter shades over top allows you to tone down the intensity of the darker shades, making this look wearable day and night.

Now that I’ve had a bit of practice with Smashbox’s comfort-zone friendly neutral shades, I’m also excited to try L’Oréal Paris’s new Wear Infinité Colour Smokes shadow palettes ($11, 4.8 g). Available in four combinations of rich, jewel-toned hues, they come with a handy paint-by-numbers guide on the back of the packaging, making a prefect smokey look easy to achieve.

Be sure to check out our October issue for top colour pick for eye makeup this fall, and more pro tips from Eddie.

Related:
‘ Easy 5-minute makeup routine
‘ 10 makeup tricks you need to know
‘ Mascara 101