woman is showing smokey eyes style make up

How to Do a Smoky Eye

A Step-By-Step Guide for Every Eye Color

July 19, 2019

Smoky eyes have always been trendy in the beauty world. For us, it’s one of our favorites! It’s perfect for the summer and it’s perfect for an evening ultra-glamorous and sultry look. The smoky look is a great way to make your eyes look bold and stand out, and it’s just oozes elegance.

The good thing is that you don’t have to be a total makeup pro to do a smoky eye. Read on for some hints and tips on creating the perfect smoky eye.

Smoky Eye Tutorial: How to Do the Perfect Smoky Eye


To create bold smoky eyes, you will need:

Follow this simple step-by-step guide:

  1. To prep your eyelids, apply an eyeshadow base or eyelid primer and smooth over the eyelids.
  2. Touch up your brows with your chosen brow products, such as brow brush or brow gel. This step is important because getting your brows in shape will compliment your smoky eyes.
  3. Using your eyeshadow brush, apply your smoky or metallic eyeshadow product and blend all over your eyelids.
  4. Apply black eyeshadow in the crease, then smudge the corner and blend.
  5. Apply black eyeliner to the lower lash line and on the tips of your eyelids.
  6. Finish off the look by curling and volumizing your lashes with mascara, or by adding fake lashes.

Best Colors to Use for Each Eye Color

To really make your eyes pop and stand out, it’s best to use the right smoky eye eyeshadow shade that compliments your eye color.

Here are the best eyeshadows to match your eye color and flatter your eyes, complexion and makeup look.

Blue Eyes

If you have blue eyes, try not to use blue eyeshadow otherwise your eyes will look dull. In fact, for all eye colors, your eyeshadow color should not completely match with your eye color, so don’t pick an eyeshadow hue that’s the same color as your eyes.

For blue eyes, warm and earthy eyeshadow tones are your best bet, so go for grey, taupe and bronze. For a brighter look, go for pink, rose, coral and peach hues.

Green Eyes

For green eyes, the best shades to go for are on the purple spectrum, so use mauve, violet, lilac and plum shades. If you’re aiming for an elegant makeup look, go for bronze or gold hues. Avoid bright colors and don’t go for cool shades such as blue eyeshadow because this can make your eye color look washed out.

With any eyeshadow look it’s good to finish off with eyeliner and mascara. For green eyes, use brown eyeliner and mascara to complete the look.

Light Brown Eyes

If you’ve got light brown eyes then you’re pretty lucky, because you can wear any eyeshadow color and pull it off!

Aim for warm, golden, metallic and reddish tones to give your eyes more depth, but a sultry look, choose dark hues such as deep purple shades.

To make your light brown eyes pop, go for pink or green hues.

If you want a more neutral look, go for salmon pink or bronze. Try to be careful when using brown shades because these might make your eyes look muddy.

Hazel Eyes

With hazel eyes, you have the best of both worlds because you can pull off green and brown shades. Use eyeshadows that have golden undertones, shimmer and hints of yellow. Go crazy with light purple and pale pink hues to accentuate your hazel eyes. To finish off the look, apply black eyeliner and mascara.

Gray Eyes

Gray eyes are kind of rare, but the good thing is that there are some really pretty shades that can really accentuate them. To make your gray eyes stand out, aim for eyeshadow colors that bring out green, brown or blue undertones. Go for smoky shades as these will give your gray eyes a sultry look.

Dark Brown & Black Eyes


With dark brown and black eyes, you have plenty of shades that you can pull off. Go for bold tones such as dark purple, violet, chocolate and cobalt blue. Also, try out eyeshadows that will leave a metallic or matte finish to really contrast with your dark brown eyes. Complete the eye look with very black mascara and eyeliner.

All in all, creating the perfect smoky eye is simple and easy to do, and it’s a great way to make your eyes stand out. Also, knowing the right eyeshadow color to use according to your eye color is important because it means that you can find the right hues that will compliment your eyes and enhance your overall makeup look.

Do you like to do a smoky eye as part of your makeup look?