A Makeup Artist Showed Me Exactly How to Do This Smokey Eye With Just 2 Products
Amy Clark is Adore Beauty's former Senior Editor and co-host of Skincare School the podcast (and self-appointed beauty road-tester!). Amy's worked as a journalist, beauty editor and podcaster for several years, previously writing and talking about all things beauty at Mamamia and You Beauty. When she's not writing honest, no BS product reviews and taking selfies 'for work', you'll find Amy eating halloumi in a hair towel turban and... taking more selfies.
When I sat in makeup artist Annabelle Hogg's chair backstage at Australian Fashion Week with Lancôme recently, I had no idea what she had in store for me.
Less than 20 minutes later, I left wearing the most stunning green smokey eye makeup look I've ever seen.
So good was this makeup, a photographer mistook me for a model in the show.
*The specifics of this claim have not been verified, but I stand by it.
The look was inspired by the 90s glam grunge makeup created by Lancôme for the Bec & Bridge show seen below.
But with a few tweaks to make it wearable for the average non-model person aka me.
When I posted a shameless selfie of myself made up on Instagram, my DMs blew up with comments on how lovely the green eye makeup looked.
But The People also wanted to know exactly how to get the look, and what products were used.
So, enough chat! Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to recreate my green smokey eye look yourself!
Step 1. Prep Your Skin Like a Makeup Artist.
Say it with me now. Thou shalt always prep thy skin before makeup.
Yes, even if you have oily skin. Yes, even if you want your foundation to last or look matte.
Nine times out of 10, patchy, dry or cakey-looking foundation is caused by a lack of skin care, not the foundation itself.
(You can learn more about how to prep your skin for an event and patchy foundation tips in these Beauty IQ articles.)
Annabelle prepped my skin using three different skincare products:
- Lancome Advanced Genifique Serum 30ml - The brand's best-selling probiotic serum that targets the look of inflammation, dull skin, fine lines, uneven tone and loss of firmness.
- Lancome Advanced Genifique Eye Light Pearl & Lash Concentrate 20ml - The most beautiful hydrating eye serum with a cooling massage applicator your puffy eye bags will love.
- Lancome Hydra Zen Cream 50ml - A silky cream that hydrates, smooths and adds radiance to skin.
Crucially, she spent a good five minutes applying each one and massaging them into the skin.
She told me *this* is what will make long-wear or full coverage foundations look and feel like skin throughout the day.
Shop this skincare routine here:
Step 2. Foundation & Concealer.
Now my skin was looking plump and dewy like a freshly-bathed babe, on went the full coverage, long-wearing foundation and concealer.
My dry skin usually turns to dust just looking at a matte foundation, but the skin prep turned Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Wear Foundation SPF15 into more of a satin finish that will still last all day or night.
Same deal with the Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Concealer for dark circle coverage that won't disappear on sweaty under eyes.
Step 3. Blush & Bronzer.
If the 80s were all about bright blush and the 2000s made bronzer and contour a thing, the 90s didn't care much for the cheeks.
The focus is on the skin and eye makeup, but you can use a touch of bronzer and blush to define and warm the face.
Annabelle applied a matte bronzer as a contour using a fluffy angled brush.
Pro tip: Feel for the little hollow spot just down and in from the middle of your ear where your cheekbone meets your jaw. This is where to pop your contour.
You can use the same brush to apply your blush. Line your index finger up with the middle of your pupil, and then place blush on the cheek and blend upwards along the cheekbone.
We used Lancôme Blush Subtil NEW 2014 for a skin-like finish, but a cream blush like Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Wear Stick Blush will give you a dewier look.
Step 4. An Easy (& Wearable) Smokey Eye Tutorial.
After years of typing 'how to do a smokey eye' into Google and chickening out, I finally found a doable smokey eye makeup option in this glam grunge 90s makeup look.
Black smokey eye and brown smokey eye looks are classic, but can feel intimidating or even a bit... boring.
How about an electric blue or navy smokey eye?
Or something like terracotta or brick red, or gunmetal greys or a deep eggplant purple?
Annabelle said the trick is to an easy smokey eye is layering your powder eyeshadow on top of a cream eyeshadow in similar shades to build intensity, rather than using several colours and products.
We only used two shadow products for this green smokey eye:
A cream eyeshadow and traditional smokey eyeshadow palette.
Sadly, I found out after the makeup session that the exact khaki eyeshadow stick and eyeshadow palette used on my eyes are set to be discontinued (whyyyyyyy).
You might be able to find the last few units of the Lancôme Ombre Hypnôse Intense 24h Eyeshadow in shade 05 Erika F here and Hypnôse Eyeshadow Palette in 14 Smokey Chic here.
But never fear, because here's exactly how to recreate this smokey eye makeup.
- Swipe your chosen cream eyeshadow shade onto the lid - MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Resist Smoky Shadow in the shade 4 Jungle is a perfect match for the one used on me.
- Blend out using a flat eyeshadow brush. You can leave it as a light wash of colour or repeat until you're happy with the colour.
- Look for an eyeshadow palette like Nude by Nature Eyeshadow Trio - 02 Smoky with at least one deeper shade of your chosen colour, and one light metallic shade.
- The Lancôme palette used on me had silver, grey and black shades to contrast the green, but you could try Lancome Hypnose Eyeshadow Palette 15 Bleu Hypnotique for a blue and gold look, or Eye of Horus Winter Solstice Eyeshadow Palette for a navy or pink-y burgundy.
- Apply your deep shadow shade with a small tapered eyeshadow brush, starting from the middle of the eye and working outwards along the lash line before coming back inwards into the eye socket.
- Picture making a < and > shape for each eye. use the small brush to run the same shade along the lower lash line.
- Blend over the shadows using a very soft fluffy eyeshadow brush - this gets rid of harsh lines and gives the grunge smokey effect.
Watch our YouTube video below (from 1:51) to see these steps done in real time.
OK, but how do I get the specific glam grunge effect?
Rather than needing a separate eyeshadow product, Annabelle created her own sheer pearlescent shade using products she already had on hand.
She mixed the black eyeshadow she used to define my eye shape with a bit of the Lancome Advanced Genifique Eye Light Pearl & Lash Concentrate 20ml on the back of her hand.
Pressing that over the green cream eyeshadow created more of a jewel-toned emerald green colour.
Genius.
Add a couple of coats of Lancome Lash Idole Mascara and a glam touch of your metallic eyeshadow shade (we used silver) the inner corners of the eyes.
And that's it! A high-impact smokey eye look using just three products.
Shop these eyeshadow products here:
Step 5. A 90s Lipgloss Look.
It wouldn't be the 90s without an almost-translucent lip colour.
Forget using concealer as a lipstick (I won't allow this beauty trend to come back).
I'm wearing Lancome L'Absolu Lip Plumper for this look.
As someone with corpse-coloured lips who feels naked without a proper lip colour, I was skeptical about this super sheer baby pink lip gloss.
But as Annabelle explained, the plumping tingling effect gives your lips a natural flush, without the maintenance of a lipstick.
Because makeup touch ups aren't very grunge.
And that is every tiny detail you need to know about the makeup look that changed my life.
For makeup tips and product recommendations, check out the articles here:
