My “night out” smokey eye tutorial

My “night out” smokey eye tutorial

IMG_0747

Ever since I can remember I have been absolutely obsessed with makeup. Although I wasn’t allowed to wear hardly any in elementary school, I began experimenting with makeup in highschool, progressing into university. For the longest time I never did anything too complex with my makeup because I was never really taught by anyone how to apply it. That’s when I started to watch makeup tutorials online on a daily basis (because I wanted to and enjoyed it), and self-taught myself on how  to achieve different makeup looks and techniques. One look that I absolutely love doing when I am going out to a bar/club later is my brown smokey eye look. I absolutely love any eye shadows that have brown pigment to them. I find that this colour compliments well with my eyes and skin tone. For smokey eye looks, feel free to incorporate any colour you wish that best compliments yourself whether it be pink , brown, blue or black. I have seen a lot of different makeup tutorials on these certain colours, and they all look absolutely stunning! For this makeup look I am just going to stick with different shades of brown! Let’s get started!

First, I already applied my primer, foundation and powder to my face before working on my eyes. This is just a preference , so feel free to do whatever makeup step you wish to do first. When focusing on the eyes, I always prime my eyes with an eye shadow primer before my eye shadow. This step helps to ensure that your eye shadow stays on throughout the day/night , and helps your eye shadow “pop”. I am using my favourite primer “Kat Von D- High Voltage” which I purchased from Sephora, and putting this all over my eye lids.

IMG_0759

Now that I have applied this product all over my eyes, before applying the eye shadow on top,  I grab some tape that I have lying around , and place a piece on the outside corner of my eyes.  Place it on an angle right where your lashes end and drag it towards the end of your eyebrow. This technique always helps me out when I am about to do a smokey eye look. It helps create a more defined application for your eye shadow, and helps the process stay “clean”. I also find that the tape helps me later on when I am applying a winged eye liner.  Once you have placed the tape in it’s location, you can start applying your eye shadow. I love to always apply my Stila eye shadow palette called “Artful eye collector’s edition”,  that I purchased at Sephora (I believe it was limited edition),and use the shade “Starlight” first. After applying this shade all over my lids, I then apply the shade “Oasis” over top of the previous shade, creating a nice shimmery beige colour.  I apply this eye shadow with my “Still” makeup brush that I have purchased from Walmart (nothing fancy).

IMG_0735

IMG_0733

IMG_0734

After applying these two shades over my eyes, I then move onto my lovely Naked 2 palette. Let me just start of by saying how much I adore this Palette, as the colours are so pigmented and beautiful! I would highly recommend purchasing this palette from Sephora if you love the more neutral brown colours.

IMG_0708

I first take the shade “Tease”, and place this all throughout my crease. This helps create depth, and helps prepare for the more darker brown we are going to use on the outer corners of your eyes. This is more a “transition” colour.

IMG_0710

IMG_0732

After applying this colour in the crease of my eye lids, I am now going to use the brush that came with my Naked 2 Palette (again nothing special), and applying  a darker shade of brown to the outer corners of my eyes. This is going to slowly create the “smokey” effect.

IMG_0715     I simply take the more dense side of the brush (not the fluffy side), and dab in small amounts the shade “Busted” to the outside of my eyes. Again the tape is going to help ensure that you are not getting the eye shadow in places you don’t want it to get.  Once you have applied this darker shade to the outside corners of your eyes , use the other side of the brush for blending.  You want to make sure that the darker shade is blended in nicely with the first two beige shades we applied earlier. It is going to look something similar to this:

IMG_0757

IMG_0756

After applying  this darker shade on the outside corners of your eyes and blending it in, you are now going to take the shade “Bootycall” and place it on the inner corners and  front section of your eyelids. This helps to differentiate between the light and the dark colours , creating the transitioning effect.

IMG_0711

Once this has been applied to the inner corners and section of your eye lids , you are going to grab the shade “Suspect” and place this in the middle section of your eye. I absolutely love this shade , and just think it goes really well when incorporated into this smokey eye look.

IMG_0712

After applying all of these different shades of brown to your eye lids, you can now move onto the winged eyeliner. This I find is always a struggle for me since I have not completely mastered this technique. Do not worry if your winged look is not perfect, usually one eye always looks better than the other! Keep in mind that you can use the tape as a guideline when finishing the wing. This always helps me when trying to finish this technique. I always use my L’oreal Paris Carbon Black liquid liner to apply my wing. Once you are done applying the eyeliner feel free to remove the tape from each side!

IMG_0736

IMG_0755

IMG_0753

As you can see my liner is not absolutely perfect and that’s okay because your fake lashes are going to hide it a bit! I then move onto putting on my mascara and grabbing my fake lashes which I purchased from the dollar store (secret- the dollar store has Elf eye lashes there, which are a super good quality of fake lashes!). I recently purchased eyelash adhesive from Sephora because I always found that the adhesive that comes with the lashes never keeps my eyelashes on. I am so far loving this adhesive which is in the dark tone shade. I prefer this over the normal “white tone” that it usually comes in as it blends way more nicely, and you do not have to worry about it drying white. This product can be purchased at Sephora for under $15.00.

IMG_0737

When applying fake lashes, I simply apply a fine line of the adhesive and use a pair of tweezers to help hold the lash in place. I hate using my fingers at first, as they always tend to get in the way. After I have placed my lashes in the location where I want them, I then use my fingers to help hold it in place as I wait for them to dry. You have to be patient with this step as it does take a bit for the lashes to fully dry and stay in place. Once they have dried, you are going to look something like this:

IMG_0750

I then went ahead and started finishing the rest of my makeup routine such as: contouring and highlighting, adding a baked highlighting powder to highlight my face,extending my liquid eye liner so that it meets the corner of my eye, and adding some blush.I also added a nude lip colour to keep the main focus on my eyes. I find that extending your liquid liner helps create a more dramatic effect! You do not have to do this step if you wish not to.

IMG_0749

IMG_0743

And Voila! You are all ready for your night out! I absolutely love this look and think it’s perfect for going out to a bar or a club later on at night! You can create a lot of different looks with the Naked 2 Palette, which I highly recommend purchasing. It is around $60.00 (yes I know …..yikes!?) but I found that it was completely worth it!

IMG_0740

IMG_0741

Thank you for reading my beauts! Have a wonderful week and please feel free to follow! If you have any questions relating to this tutorial or other looks you would like to see please comment below!

Much love xo.

IMG_0745

The 10 easy steps of contouring and highlighting

The 10 easy steps of contouring and highlighting

533432_10151195916435830_1701809855_n

Do you ever just sit there in your makeup chair at your cute makeup table and think to yourself “I wish I had nicer cheekbones”, or ” I want that glowly look that celebs have”? I used to think about this kind of stuff all the time when I started to care more about my appearance. I used to always wonder how celebs got their face makeup to look so flawless on their face. Why can’t my face look like that? First, you need to realize what the power of makeup can do to your face. You don’t need to go get plastic surgery to make your cheekbones stand out, or your nose look better. All you simply need is your favourite bronzer of your choice, and your favourite highlighter. I am going to teach you the ten simple steps I take in order to properly highlight and contour my face. I am not at all saying this is the only technique on how to highlight and contour, but this is what I do on a daily basis and it has worked best for me. Let’s get started!

First, make sure that your face is washed and clean. Then apply a moisturizer that works well with your skin type.  I had already applied my primer, foundation and powder to my face before contouring and highlighting , so feel free to do so before you start this process. Now that your face is ready to start highlighting and contouring, pick out your favourite highlighter and bronzer and place them to the side. I usually always contour my face first, as this is just the routine that I am used to. It does not really matter what process you wish to complete first.

IMG_0625

  1. I always like to start off my contouring process with my cheekbones first. Contouring your face simply means you want certain parts of your face to stand out. Having your cheekbones “pop” or stand out gives off the appearance that you have great bone structure within your face.  Starting off, I take my favourite bronzer that I use on a daily basis called, “Two Faced- Chocolate Soleil/ medium deep matte brozer”and one of my Sedona makeup brushes, and simply draw a straight line on either side of my cheeks. You want to ensure that the line is right where your cheekbones are and trace it to the top of your ear.

IMG_0594

IMG_0593

IMG_0626

2.   You do not need to worry about your lines being perfect or too dark, as you are later going to blend them out. The next step of the contouring process is to now contour your forehead. Simply outline the top of your forehead with your bronzer to the top of your hairline. This helps to bring out the shape of your face as you are later going to highlight the middle of your forehead.

IMG_0627

IMG_0628

3. Once you have contoured your cheekbones and your forehead, you are now going to move onto contouring your chin. This is the same idea as your forehead in that you are outlining the shape of your face. This helps make your jawline stand out and add depth to the structure of your face.

IMG_0629

4. Now that you have finished contouring your cheekbones, forehead and chin, you can start to blend out the harsh lines. I grabbed a more fluffy brush from my Sedona brushes and started gently blending the bronzer to create a more subtle and natural appearance. After blending my cheekbones out, I move onto the other parts of my face that need to be blended ensuring that all the harsh lines look more natural.

IMG_0592

IMG_0632

IMG_0631

5. Now that you have blended together all the harsh dark contour lines, I usually move onto contouring my nose to finish off this process before moving onto highlighting.  I grab one of my smaller Sedona makeup brushes to help outline the bridge of my nose. This helps to make your nose appear thinner and give off the appearance that you got a nose job!

IMG_0633

IMG_0634

6. After outlining the bridge of your nose with your bronzer, you are going to take your finger and gently blend the lines out. I prefer to use my finger instead of a brush because I can be more precise with how much I would like blended in until my desired look.

IMG_0641

IMG_0636

7. Now that you are officially done the process of contouring, you can now move onto the highlighting. I usually like to start by applying my MAC pro long wear concealer in the shade NW20, all underneath my eyes. I simply just use my finger to apply this product and swipe down instead of dotting it,

IMG_0637

IMG_0598

8. Now  you are going to take your beauty blender (make sure that it is wet), and gently dab the product until it is all blended in nicely. Make sure to take your time when doing this step as underneath you eyes are extremely sensitive and you do not want to create any wrinkles.

IMG_0638

9. Once your concealer is all blended underneath your eyes, you can now start to highlight the rest of your face such as the bridge of your nose, forehead and underneath your cheekbones. When highlighting these parts I like to use my other concealer called, “Coverstick concealer” by Maybelline in the shade Ivory, and draw a line down the center of my nose. I then like to draw little lines going up from my forehead which can be seen in the picture below. Afterwards I apply a line on each side of my cheek underneath my cheekbones. You are going to look pretty funny as of right now, but don’t worry! You are then going to grab your beauty blender and blend in the concealer.

IMG_0639

10.  Voila! You now know my process of how I personally contour and highlight my face each day! I first started doing this when I was in my second year of University because I literally thought there was no point to this process. I now can not go a day without completing these two processes and I notice quite the difference in my face once it is contoured and highlighted.

IMG_0640

Thank you for reading my beauts! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask! I hope this has helped some of you out.

Much Love xo.

IMG_5077