The smokey eye is great and all, but not every woman is confident wearing the look for everyday, or on more formal occasions. Updated, softer versions, like the sexy new navy and gray trend seen on red carpets everywhere, work well for a wider variety of skin tones and create the same effect without the accompanying self conscious feeling about the makeup you have on.
Fortunately, a navy and gray duo for eye makeup can be created easily and quickly, so that even the most low maintenance girl out there can get the look within a couple minutes and little hassle. Ideally, it would be great if there was one navy and gray eyeshadow combo that would work perfectly for every woman out there, but we all know better than that. A much better option is to use a navy eyeliner that works well with your eye color and then pair it with a light blue and gray or dark navy and gray.
Follow these steps for the perfect navy and gray eye:
1. In order to insure that your look stays put, you should use an eyeshadow primer followed by concealer. The primer serves to keep your eyeshadow from creasing and disappearing halfway through the night because your eyelids are one of the oiliest parts of your face and you are constantly blinking. The concealer provides a smooth base for you to apply the rest of your makeup.
2. Instead of applying a pre-selected navy and gray combo, look for a pencil and eye shadow that looks good with your skin tone. The tricky thing about blue eyeliner, is that the wrong shade of blue can actually make you look tired, and not the sleepy sexy tired, just tired. Try the deepest shade of navy eyeliner you can find and apply that to your entire upper eyelid, along the lash line. On your bottom set of lashes, run the pencil from your outer eye to about three quarters of the way along your eye lid, decreasing the intensity of color as you go. Smudge the color along the top lid so that is can be blended with your eyeshadow.
3. Using a gray shade of eyeliner pencil, sweep a light layer of color over the top eyelid that has already been lined with navy. You do not want to cover up the navy, just apply a little sparkle to the navy. Do not blend or smudge at this point.
4. Using a deep navy eyeshadow, sweep the top eyelid and into your crease, working your way from the inner eyelid out and up towards your brows. Add additional color to the crease because this is how the smokey look is created and really adds drama to your face. Each time your sweep across the eyelid, pull the brush out towards the outer corner of your eyelid and along the navy lash line you made earlier.
5. Now, apply a light dusting of grey or shimmery silver over the inner corner of your eyelid and blend into the crease. This color combo can really only be created by a gray over a navy, so don’t bother looking for a navy shadow that has silver undertones because it will look different when applied. Use your brush to dust more gray shadow along the lower lash line for an additional pop of color. Only use a shimmery gray or silver if you really like the added sparkle, otherwise keep it a matte shade to produce a more traditional smokey look.
6. Finish off the eye lids with a quick swirl of gold or light shimmery beige to the inside corner of your eyes, both top and bottom portions, which will really wake up your eyes and make them glow.
7. A quick two coats of black or navy blue mascara and you are done! Super sexy eyes without worrying that you have overdone it and without taking all day to create.
