You know me…of course I love big smokey grunge eyes (and always will), but I’ve been really enjoying a quick, pared back soft liner and lashes situation recently. It’s fast and goes with everything and has been my go to for pretty much any occasion. It’s probably because I’m getting older as well as changes in taste, but I find it way more flattering than a harsher wings so sharp they could cut liner!
I wore this eye look the other day paired with one of my favourite nude lips (Melt Cosmetics Liquid Set Lipstick in the shade Dreamboy*…it’s the most perfect wearable sepia nude and a bit deeper on my skin tone which I love for a change and especially now it’s Autumn)…but it would look amazing with any lip colour! We only went out to a comedy show and ate pizza (in case you’re thinking I’m way more social/ party animal than I am…I’m not) but it was a fun night and I wanted to wear some nice makeup, but didn’t want to spend ages doing it.
One of the great things about this smokey winged liner is that you can switch up the colour of the liner itself, to whatever you fancy. I love using a deep maroon to make my green eyes pop or brown for an even softer look, very Autumn/ seasonally appropriate too…you can’t beat a smokey black though right?? It’s really easy, using minimal products and brushes, so here’s the quick (it really is!) steps to smokey winged liner…
⚡︎ Start with the rest of your face makeup, brows etc on. Take a light brown transition shade (I used the shade Blurr by Melt* but you could also use a bit of your bronzer too) through your socket/ crease on a big fluffy brush and also run this beneath your lower lash line.
⚡︎ Using a mid tone brown (I used Unseen again by Melt from the Dark Matter stack*) and a slightly smaller blending brush, gently buff in to the outer corners of the socket and lower lash line (in pretty much a ‘V’ shape)…you can apply as much or as little as you want, just build up the depth you want and just make sure everything’s well blended.
⚡︎ Not essential, so if you don’t want to/ don’t feel confident doing this bit (maybe I’ll do an updated liquid liner how to post?) feel free to skip but I find it gives the eye look more staying power…especially for me because my eyes can be super watery! Using your preferred liquid or gel liner (mine’s pretty much always the Kat Von D Tattoo Liner IE*/ UK*) go in with a quick wing…the beauty is you don’t even have to be precise with it because it’ll be mostly covered anyway. It’ll just give you a guide and a waterproof base. I always run a pencil liner along my tight line (upper waterline) too at this point, it’ll make everything look more seamless at the end. Put some in your waterline too if you want, not essential though.
⚡︎ You can take an angled brush if you’d prefer, but I love the Zoeva 226 Smudger Brush (Vegan)* for this. It’s a bit thicker than your typical angled brush, but still allows for precision while smudging out pencil/ liner/ shadows at the same time. This brush will be your new best bud for smokey eye looks of any kind! All you need to do is either use the brush and an eyeshadow (I used Melt’s Dark Matter*, the most intense rich black!) to apply your wing or go over the top of your liquid liner base if you have one by stamping on your shadow bit by bit. Makes it way easier to get an even wing if you place shadow down gradually.
⚡︎ Once you have enough wing action going on (and that bit’s entirely up to you), you can clean up any messy bits underneath with your concealer/ foundation brush or beauty sponge and the using the slightly smaller blending brush and the lightest (first) eyeshadow or bronzer…lightly buff the top of your wing to soften as much or as little as you want. You can leave as is if you want a stronger look, but I’ve been loving that bit of a blurred edge.
⚡︎ Get some mascara on and if you want to put lashes on, now’s the time. If you’re not wearing falsies just build up a few decent coats with your mascara instead, that works just as well. I like the extra little bit of oomph that a naturally fluffy lash gives. The ones I have on in the picture are the Baby Doll Cosmetics 709’s…they’re cruelty free/ Vegan and super lightweight and comfy. You can pick these up from Penneys/ Primark and they’re so inexpensive for the quality of lash. They’re not too long, more on the natural side and have a lovely curl to them. FYI Brides…these make for great wedding lashes too, I’d use these on someone who wanted a more dramatic but still natural looking fluffy lash for their big day!
And that’s it! Let me know if you try this, also…what are your favourite nude lippies?? Don’t really mind what kind of finish…I have so many (and use loads of different one in my pro kit!), but always find myself reaching for the same handful of shades. Hit me up with any recommendations!
Lyd x
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