Tutorial: Va Va Voom Violet Eyes

Smokey eyes are great for a night out, but why stick to plain old black and gray shadows? You can actually create a smokin' smokey eye with nearly any color. Jewel tones are in this season, and purple is my fave. It makes all eye colors pop, especially green, brown and hazel. I know it can seem a little scary to use a purple eyeshadow, but it's really quite flattering and depending on how comfortable you are, it's easy to tone down or layer up.

Start off by applying moisturizer to the eye area. A thin layer will do; pat to dry. Next, prep your lid by brushing on a cream concealer. Eyeshadow will adhere to it better than you natural lid; it also won't crease and will last all night.

Use a pale lavender eyeshadow (I like one with a little shimmer) all over the lid, especially under the browbone. It's important that this shade is not too purple; it should be more cream/pink hued than anything else.

For all the shadows, I used NP Set's Amsterdam Eye Palette. The lightest shade works perfectly for this step.

Using the same palette, apply the medium shade on the lid from your lashline to your crease blending upwards as you go.







Next, use a deep purple pencil eye liner and line your top lid from the inner corner out, as close to the lashline as possible. To get a straight line, gently pull the outside corner of your lid towards your cheekbone. This will give you a smooth surface to work with. To line, I like L'Oreal's HiP Color Chrome Eyeliner in Violet Volt. It's really well-pigmented and easy to blend.



Take a dark purple shadow and apply it over the liner to blend even more. Use an eyeliner brush to do this (any small brush will work) and blend with your fingertips. This is the key step to getting a flawless smokey eye--harsh lines tend to ruin the look.




When you're using dark eyeshadows, chances are you'll end up with a lot of unwanted color under your eyes. Because of this, I like to hold off on undereye concealer until I'm done using dark shadows. Using a gentle makeup remover wipe, remove the excess color. Dot on a liquid concealer and blend with your ring finger.




Next, apply the light lavender shadow to the inner corner of the eye. Blend into the inner 1/4 of the lid. This wakes the eye up and gives you a fresher look.






Finally, curl your lashes and brush on a bright purple mascara. It's a nice touch that surprisingly doesn't make you look overdone if you use the right mascara. Victoria's Secret has a great one, their Beauty Rush mascara in Violight adds just enough purple to give eyes an extra pop.




Because the focus of this look is the eyes, you'll want to downplay everything else to avoid looking like some sort of clown. A simple matte peach blush and nude lipgloss finish off the look nicely.