Friend Makeover Time: Smokey Eye Look

My good friend Pam has been in town this weekend and she mentioned that she loves the smokey eye look that Gwyneth Paltrow wears. She agreed to play guinea pig and let me try to recreate the look on her!

Here's the inspiration pic:


And here's my interpretation with "before" and "after" pics:


Doesn't she look fab? I tried to keep the smokey/smudginess to a minimum so I didn't scare her. (heehee) Pam also said she preferred a nude lip vs the pinkish one that Gwyneth wears.

Here's what I used:

EYES
MAC Blackground paintpot
MAC Gorgeous e/s (from 2008 Smokey Eye Holiday palette) - lid
MAC Carbon e/s - crease
MAC Shroom e/s - highlight and inner tear duct
MAC Smolder eye kohl - lower lash line
Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel eyeliner - upper lash line
MAC Cork e/s - brows
Loreal Voluminous mascara

FACE
Mary Kay medium coverage foundation in Ivory 104
MAC Stark Naked blush

LIPS
MAC Love Nectar lustreglass

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Thanks for letting me play, Pam! :)

Hopefully I will be posting more makeover looks soon...

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All About Eyeliners

Eyeliners... I personally think it's the trickiest thing to apply when it comes to makeup but also makes the biggest dramatic impact from looking dull and bleh to polished and well, awake! :P

If you're looking for some helpful tips, here's a great video by YouTuber MakeupbyTiffanyD that breaks it all down for you from using pencil eyeliners to liquid liners to gel and cream-based liners. (In general, I'm a big fan of all of her make-up videos so if you like this, you can see more on her YouTube channel.)



For my upper lashline, I personally like using the gel and cream-based liners and I bounce around between ones from Bobbi Brown, MAC, and Clinique. I think I like the ones from Bobbi Brown the best because they seem to glide on easier and are rich in color. (They're also the most expensive, too, unfortunately.) As for brushes, I used to use the MAC 266 angled eyeliner brush but am now using a teardrop paint brush I got from Michael's for $3-4. I haven't tried the bent brush like the one used in the video so I may give that a try as well.

For my lower lashline, I always use a pencil eyeliner, typically one of the MAC Powerpoint pencils but I like the ones from Urban Decay as well.

What are your favorite eyeliner techniques?

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