ARTIST TIP | Mastering the Smoky Eye Without the Mess (Part II)

I meant to mention another useful tip that MAC Senior Artist, Jane McKay, pointed out during our Pro Master class on Monday evening. A while back I did a post on mastering the smoky eye while avoiding the usual mess that the application of dark eyeshadow entails. Jane highlighted the most obvious one that I failed to mention during my own post (duh!). To help ensure you get your eyeshadow where you want it to go, do your smoky eye first. Once your smoky eye is complete, use eye make-up remover with a q-tip to clean up any stray bits of eyeshadow underneath the eye area (or anywhere else you didn't intend for it to go). Then, go in with your concealer and a concealer brush underneath the eye to complete the look.

Once concealer (and foundation if necessary) had been applied to the undereye area, Jane used a tapered blending eyeshadow brush (see MAC Brush 224) to lightly distribute a loose translucent powder to set the concealer. The eyeshadow brush was the perfect size for the small and delicate undereye area; a brush of a larger size (or a sponge) could end up distributing too much powder and making the undereye look cakey. Remember just because a brush is called an "eyeshadow brush" doesn't mean it's specific to that one area of the face. Jane herself was using brushes intended for eyeshadow application as powder brushes, and brushes meant to apply concealer as lip brushes.

Overall lesson: The rules with make-up and make-up tools are flexible. i.e. there is no set order to applying make-up to the face first and then to the eyes (and vice versa), and although a product says it's designed specifically for one area of the face doesn't mean it can't be used elsewhere. It's where you bend the rules that you become your own little make-up artist! Enjoy :)