Creating a Smoky Eye Look for Dark Skin

Women with darker skin can achieve smoky eyes with the right makeup and application tricks. If you're applying the makeup yourself, be careful with black and gray, as they can flatten your look and turn smoky to dull. A better choice is to use a palette with a lavender or teal blue in the crease of the eye, or a glittery silver. But all dark skin is not the same, and what looks great on one woman may not be the choice of another. Women with dark skin start off with an advantage: their eyes are naturally defined. All they need is some color to bring them out.

My model was given the choice of purples, teals, navy, or black and gray for her smoky eye look. To my dismay, she went with black and gray. Bright colors, I said! Traditional, classic look, she said! So we compromised, and I threw a couple of different colors and some different textures into the mix.

Take a look at the photo with the shadow trio and the shadow duo (the second one). I started by using the lightest eye shadow shade from the trio under the brow bone, to set off her brows and open up the eyes. Next, I covered the eye from lash line to just past the crease with the center color in the trio.

Before adding more color with eye shadow, I lined both upper and lower lashes with a soft black eyeliner and smudged it out. She was looking good! I took the creamy black shadow from the duo, and applied it over the top liner and slightly up at the sides, to make her eyes look wider. Although you may not be able to see it in her photo, I also used a small amount of the lightest color under her eyes as a brightener, and buffed it into her skin so it wouldn't look like pale make-up on her dark skin. Add some mascara, and the look is done!

I was fortunate in that my model has flawless, smooth, soft skin. No bags or shadows under the eyes, and nothing to conceal. That was a great help in making the smoky eye pop even without using bright colors. However, I'd love a chance to do it again with shades of purple!