Smokey without the Smoke.

What do you do when, by some miracle, you wake up much earlier than you need to on a workday? Have a long breakfast? Do a 20 min Zumba workout? Go to work early? Or you could be like me, and play with make-up. Play until you end up being a little late to work. Story of my life. 

I am still quite a baby when it comes to make-up expertise (both in products and techniques), and I have ridiculously pale skin, so I've never dared to use dark eyeshadow. When I stumbled across my small BYS 'Smokey Purples' eyeshadow palette, I decided to try my amateur hands with it. I wanted to achieve a "not-so-traditional" smokey eye, in that it needed to be subtle enough to be work appropriate. 

 

Please excuse my messy, just got out of bed, hair. 

 

As you can see above, the one pesky thing I find about BYS eyeshadows is that they're extremely loose. One light dip with an eyeshadow brush creates a powder bomb. Not fun! BYS eyeshadows are extremely cheap though, so if you're a newbie like me, it's good to use them for experimenting and practice without your wallet hating you! And you may not be able to see in the pictures, but the eyeshadows in this palette actually have a subtle shimmer. 

Anyways, I digress. To achieve my look, I applied the light purple shade (1) all over my lids, the purple brown shade (2) on the mid third of my lids, and the shimmery black shade (3) on the outer corner of my eyelids. I then used a small blending brush, and starting from the outer corners, blended the colours together, making sure to blend the darker shades along the creases of my eyes. 

Product Roll Call

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Liquid Foundation (in 5.5)

Stila Hydrating Finishing Powder (loose)

Muji Stick Concealer in light

BYS #6 'Smokey Purples' Eyeshadow Palette
Rimmel 'Colour Rush' Mono Eyeshadow (for lower lash line)
MAC Zoom Lash Mascara

MAC Wonder Woman MSF in 'Golden Lariat'

Chanel Aqualumiere Lipshine in 'Antigua' (#32)

Overall I think it was a no-fuss, dramatic yet subtle look! As I practice more and get more knowledge about what products work for me (and my poor sensitive skin), I really hope to up the ante on my techniques as well. Now to reallocate my clothes "budget" for more make up...