Thank You for Smoking: 7 Tips for Perfect “Smoky” Eyes
Smoking cool: An intense black (and, in this case, grey) shadow brings out eye colour. Case in point, Tanya Shafi Khan's tawny brown iris looks positively "Twilight." Photo: Bina Khan
Every girl needs to know how to do a smoky eye. It just goes with everything. And it’s guaranteed to make you feel super hot, or super elegant – and all the boys love it! However, too much smokiness and not enough eye can make you look goth instead of great. So here are seven pointers that will have you looking absolutely smoking:
1. Start with identifying a light, a medium, a dark and a black. For example, the classic smoky eyes look is part black and part brown. As such, use a palette of soft vanilla-esque white (light), camel-caramel beige (medium), chocolate brown (dark) and true black. The hue of these four eye shadows can change according to your desires, but they must be a subtle and glorious gradation of colour. For example, for a smoky purple, use a pale cool pink (light), a warmer quartzy pink (medium), an aubergine (dark) and a black.
The smoky eye kit: Start with identifying a light, a medium, a dark and a black. Photo: Bina Khan
2. Once you have these neatly laid out in front of you and you are in good, even light, start by putting the medium in to your socket line. Fade the colour upwards along the line towards the brow and on to the lid a little. Channel your inner Twiggy and make it pop. Use a soft rounded brush for this.
3. Once your socket is looking all sexy, do your black liner, a little thicker than usual, almost double. Cover half of that liner with your dark colour. Then apply a strip of the dark above, then a weaker strip above that. Keep applying the dark shadow like many strips of slowly fading liner, till you reach the medium of your socket.
4. These strips can be achieved best with a wet brush. I like to work with paintbrushes, and if you go and buy yourself a watercolour brush (say a size four or six), then that should help you to achieve the required strips of colour. Once these strips dry, you will be impressed with how professional your make-up looks – and you have the added advantage of keeping the colour on your eye all night as opposed to it settling on to your cheek! Water acts like a make-up sealant that even humid weather can’t break through.
5. Now that you are done with the hard part, swish your light colour on to your brow bone and into your inner corner. Drag a little of your dark colour onto your under eye, but only go as far as your little lashes last. Add a rich black kohl and concentrate hard on your mascara. Your eyes are done!
6. If your eyes are the main focus of attention, please down play your blush and lips, unless you are trying out for a role in Chicago. Keep it in the same colour family. A good rule is to try and mirror the medium and light tones in your eyes.
A warm chocolate-brown smoky eye on Tanya Shafi Khan's smiling face. Photo: Bina Khan
7. Once you have mastered this technique, you can apply it to any number of colours: a smoky green, a smoky blue. The only rule is that your medium on your socket line needs to be a pink, bronze, or beige – in short, anything that could be a lipstick or a blush – as it should be a complimentary colour to the colours on your lid. For example, for a smoky blue eye you would use a pale pink (light), quartzy pink (medium), dirty royal blue (dark) and black. A green eye would fade to a bronze medium and so on.
Armed with this information, your imagination is your only limit. But always practice and perfect a look ahead of time, before an important occasion. That way there is no pressure, and repeat performances are always smoother. It would not be cool, for example, to keep the whole screaming wedding baraat waiting while you frantically try to work out which medium would work best. The odds of you dancing to “Rang Barsey” at your brother-in-law’s wedding sporting a look worthy of Marilyn Manson could get pretty high! Yikes!
For a speedy version of the smoky eye click here.
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Bina i wish u had selected a better pic of Tanya. In the second pic she looks scary and u can hardly see her eyes!!Looks like u were giving tips on teeth!!(or hair maybe)
oh funnily enough i was about to comment on the pic saying what a great pic of tanya this was- un-modelly and natural, spontaneously laughing, not a care in the world – completely different from the fake posey pics that are abundant all over. i guess no accounting for different tastes, eh?
i love natural laughing pics of women who arent holding back and this is a prime example of looking real and wonderful – who was the photopgrapher who captured the moment?
Hey Bina,
Great article and awesome pictures, such a warm smile in that 2nd one, what is this sadia chick talking about… obviously doesn’t know much about styling or photography…
All the photographs in Bina’s post have been taken by Bina herself. Not bad, eh?
Hey thanks for the awesome tips, the smoky eyes technique feels so much like doing a wash (in watercolors I mean)
Tanya looks awesome as always
love the Twilight thing happening here- so envious
Thanks Bina — i have been slaughtering this style for years, thanks for setting me straight!
if glowing, vibrant, and radiant is the new meaning of ’scary’….then Bina, i beg you….PLEASE MAKE ME LOOK AS ‘SCARY’ AS TANYA, with her stunning smile and perfect teeth! i agree with SJ, its so refreshing to have a model who looks happy with life (and herself!) as opposed to the typical pouty types. for me, this picture epitomizes the ‘Bina Khan’ beauty philosophy – of natural easy glamour that makes you feel confident from within. and of course we all know ‘natural’ glamour is not easy! thankfully Bina is as eloquent as she is skillful, and generous enough to share her secrets. one of your best articles yet and gorgeous pictures too!
…thank you for the insider tips and tricks of the trade Bina (:
…and very warm and honest pictures!
hey,
the smokey eyes is the most pouplar form of make up in pakistan and well these tips are a blessing for all of us. thanks bina! i just do not understand one thing, in step 3 how can we achieve weaker strips by just using the dark colour? a strip of dark colour after a strip of the same colour wont really give the required fading effect. it seems like a lot of people have understood this technique. anyone is please welcome to help me out. thnx!
Mahwish, you achieve weaker strips of colour by taking less and less of the dark colour. So it gets weaker and weaker the higher you go….
thnx bina!
Hi bina…!
Thanks alot for such a wonderful article..the tips are just amaaazing..will definitely give it a shot!!
One question though..hope you don’t mind me asking..the pic with the eyeshadows..could you tell me which shades they are? as in the names of the MAC pans? would really help me start out on the right foot!
I think that those are “Carbon” (black), “Folie” (dark brown), “Soft Brown” (medium) and “Shroom” (light). Other popular colours are “Patina”, “Honesty”, “Saddle”, “Soba”, “Cork”, “Brun” and “Concrete”.
Thanks alooooot Bina for writing down all the names!!
… now all i need to get is Folie! 
reaaaally sweet of you
Already have shroom..soft brown and carbon…whew!
oh by the way…i loooove the shade PATINA as well…do i pair them up with the same colors?? if not..which colors do u think would go with it..and if yes…should Patina be a replacement for “Folie” or “Soft Brown”?
I hope i am not bothering u alot…but lots and lots of HUGZZZZZZ for you for being such a sweetheart!
takecare
“Patina” could be a replacement for “Soft Brown”…
Its not everyday where you meet make up artists who are so willing to share their techniques and expertise so enthusiastically, for that gesture itself Bina Khan is commendable.
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