A few years ago, I was one of one those girls who didn’t know anything about make-up. Neither was I interested in it. In fact, my idea of make-up was a swipe of kajal and a touch of blush. I could never wrap my head around putting a lipstick every day. Call it divine justice but as soon as I started studying Fashion Styling and Image Design, I had a module for make- up. This was my worst nightmare, I would do everything just to miss that class every single week. The idea of blending smokey eyes, foundation and so many layers of make-up just went way over my head.
Things changed when I attended a wedding the same year and thought that I should definitely use my make-up skills and try something new. After spending three hours on my dresser, multiple tries and 30 minutes of vigorous blending, I finally felt my look was complete. That is the day I realized that make-up is something I just LOVE and nailing the smokey eye look became my biggest make-up dream.
It took about 10-15 attempts to get my smokey eye just right. From blending it right to ensuring the gel liner doesn’t dry out, trust me, the struggles are real. Soon enough, I became pretty good at it and now I can pull off a smokey eye look within 30 minutes. Then came next level.
I recently had to get ready for a work party and wasn’t carrying my make-up brushes. The only makeup products I had in my kit was my eyeshadow palette, kajal, and a brown eye pencil. I attempted to create a full smokey eye in black without using make-up brushes and guess what…it worked!
So here’s how you can go about doing the smokey eye look without brushes.
Step 1
Dab a little bit of cream concealer over your eyelids. Then, apply a light colour eyeshadow (white or cream shade) to ease the blending of the visible line.
Step 2
With the help of your fingertips, sweep some dark brown eyeshadow on your eyelids. While blending, feel free to extend it a bit towards the outer corner of your eyes. Blend softly with your fingertips in circular motions till no lines are visible. Now, use a light brown eyeshadow on your crease line. Blend it in with the help of your fingertips to give a gradation effect.
Tip: Between all steps, wash your hands to ensure the eyeshadow colors don’t get mixed.
Step 3
For this step, using an eyeliner with an attached blender saves a lot of time. Apply a line of black eyeliner close to your lash line. Blend it upwards with the help of the sponge blender. Ensure you blend only in one direction.
Step 4
Using the brown eye pencil, blend the black eyeliner as well as the brown eyeshadow to create a gradation.
Step 5
Apply black kohl to your water line and a brown pencil beneath to create the smokey effect even underneath.
Step 6
Take a light colour eyeshadow (preferably white, gold or silver) and apply it on the inner corner of your eyes. This will help to make the eyes look bigger!
Step 7
To finish off, apply a coat of mascara.
This is the final look.
To perfect those smokey eyes POPxo Recommends: Colorbar Just Smokey Eye Pencil (Rs 540), Benefit Badgal Lash Volumizing Mascara (Rs 1,600), Faces Ultimate Pro Eye Shadow Palette (Rs 991)
Is this inspiration enough for you to try smokey eyes without a brush?