{Make-Up Tutorial}

A friend of mine, Shannon O'Neill, is a make-up artist for MAC and she popped over to mine last night to give my sister, Ali and The Grey House, Becky from The Olive Dragonfly and myself a make-up lesson. We were keen to find out how to do smokey eyeshadow, eyeliner and attach false eyelashes properly.

Here's the how-to for smokey eyes and I'll possibly have to come back and add some more photographs showing the different steps when I get a chance... (I should have taken more pics during the lesson, but I was too busy concentrating & taking notes!).

1. Moisturise as per your normal routine.

2. Apply primer to eyelid

I just want to add a little quote here from Shannon.... in her opinion eye primer is "definitely a must-have". It's something that I do have in my make-up bag (an Elizabeth Arden one) but I must admit that I have only used it once. I'll be using it more often now though! Shannon's recommendation is Laura Mercier.

3. Apply a nude eyeshadow all over eyelid and up to brow to set the primer. One recommendation from Shannon is MAC Shroom - a soft beige with a little shimmer.

4. Using a brush, pat on a mid-tone colour across the eyelid from the last to the crease. For brown smokey eyes, Shannon's recommendation is MAC Satin Taupe.

5. Using a blending brush, such as MAC 217, blend the line at the crease to make it less obvious.

6. Add more layers and blend until you have desired colour.

7. Using a brush, pat on the dark colour to the outer corner of the eye and pat into the eye crease. This darker shade can also be applied under the lower lashes for a more dramatic look. For black/grey smokey eyes Shannon recommends MAC Carbon for the dark colour; for brown smokey eyes her suggestion would be MAC Mystery.

8. Again, using the blending brush, blend this darker shade into the lighter one.

9. To apply eyeliner, Shannon recommends the MAC 208 Angled Brow Brush. It's meant for eyebrows but is really good for eyeliner (I can vouch for this as I borrowed Shannon's one to practice, and I'm about to buy my own one!). The eyeliner Shannon suggests (which I've also purchased today!) is Bobbie Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Black Ink. You want to apply this to the edge of the upper lashes and then you can do a flick at the side if you would like a more dramatic look.

10. Add a touch of light eyeshadow to the inner corner of your eyes and you can also apply a little under the brow bone.

11. For a dramatic look you can also apply eyeliner or pencil to the waterline.

12. Use a cotton bud with eye make-up remover or a baby wipe to touch up any areas

13. Then you can go ahead and apply your base (foundation, tinted moisturiser or whatever!) as normal.

14. Add some concealer under your eyes if needed (and I definitely need it!!)

15. Add a few coats of mascara (Shannon's recommendation is Estee Lauder Double Wear Mascara, which I'm also currently using!)

Here I am after doing my own make-up... unfortunately due to glasses you can't really see the eyeshadow... oops! Becky has some better photos so I'll post these soon.

This morning I've done a day-to-day brown smokey eye... Here are a few pics (taken with my phone so apologies for the photo quality).

After primer, nude colour (slight shimmer) and mid-tone applied.

I've applied the darkest shade to my left eye and the right eye hasn't been done yet.

As above but with eyes open so you can see the effect. (BTW I've not added under eye concealer at this point!!).

The finished look - this is me right now.

I placed an order with MAC online last night for the angled brow brush and two eyeshadow colours, so  once I receive these I'll do another post with some better photos and step-by-step guide. 

Let me know what you think... (I must add that I'm no make-up artist and the make-up in these photos has been done by myself, but hopefully with a bit of practice I'll get better at this...especially the eye liner!).