The smoky eye lesson

I do love a neutral-toned, sultry, smoky eye with definition and sparkle. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t master it. And the thousands of different-sized brushes that I insist on using aren’t helping. I spoke to MAC senior artist, Cher Webb, who spelt it out for me.

1 Don’t OD on tools

“It’s easy to want to go wild with that new eight-piece brush set but really you only need two brushes for a decent eye look,” says Webb. “Invest in a fluffy blending brush and an eye-shader brush. Any more than that is unnecessary.”

2 Kohl liner is vital

I’ve long been a fan of primer, but Webb skips it in favour of cream shadow, which does the same job but has a hint of colour.“Buff it all over your lid and under your eye,” she says. “Then roughly apply kohl liner from the outer corner of your eye to half way along your [top] lash line, as close to the root as you can. Then blend with the fluffy brush.” To add serious definition, Webb applies the kohl liner in a backwards ‘C’ shape from the outer corner to the crease, then uses the fluffy brush loaded with matte shadow to blend out.

3 Press, don’t sweep

“To stop fall-out and help shadow last longer, press it on to the lid with the eye-shader brush rather than sweeping it,” explains Webb.“And metallic shadows should be used on the inside half of the eye and matte on the outside half: that helps open up and brighten while giving all-important definition.”