Of all the many makeup machinations, styles and takes on smoky eyes (and there are A LOT of them; we’d seriously be here until next Tuesday if I tried to list them all), brown smoky eyes are among my favorites.
I know, so predictable. Homegirl loves brown, so of course she’d love brown smoky eyes, LOL! Yes, you have permission to laugh at me. It’s totally cool. We’re all friends here.
BUT YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE, THOUGH!
There are many legit reasons to love brown smoky eyes. One is their versatility in terms of what you can wear on your lips with ’em. Like, with green or blue smoky eyes, I feel like there aren’t as many lip colors you can wear with them, but brown smoky eyes go well with so many different shades! This is music to your ears, I bet, if you’re a lipstick hoarder like yours truly. 🙂
And what you choose to pair them with completely changes the vibe. Just for fun, here are five ideas for lip colors to wear with a brown smoky eye.
1. A nude beige
This one’s a classic smoky eye-lip pairing combo: the nude beige lip. The trick is to find something pale, but not so pale that you look like you’re under the weather. I like nude shades with a little bit of peach in them to warm things up, and an extra smooth formula, because some nudes look patchy on my dry, flaky lips.
Right now I’m all about MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme D’Nude, a creamy, peachy nude beige.
Tom Ford’s Sable Smoke is another really good one.
2. A neutral pink
You can’t go wrong with a neutral pink lip. They go with just about anything and work for day and night. You can also wear them with warm or cool-toned brown eyeshadows, and Fast Play by MAC is a current fave.
3. A berry
If you like more color on your lips, a berry shade, like MAC Brick-O-La, will draw attention to yo’ pout but won’t take over your entire look.
4. A brown
Brown lips are back and totally having a moment right now with the ’90s revival, but if you wear brown on your eyes and brown on your lips, that can be, well…a lotta brown. With brown smoky eyes, I look for brown lip colors that have a little bit of peach in them to break up the monotony of brown while keeping everything in the same color family.
MAC Satin Lipstick in Mocha is a good one to try.
5. A red
Last, but certainly not least, RED! It’s a dramatic choice, for sure and, in theory, it can seem like a lot of look, but it works because the bold eye and lip balance each other out.
There are so many red lip options out there. For my skin tone, I like yellow-based reds like MAC Lady Danger, and if you’re a cooler-toned babe, try something like MAC Ruby Woo.
All of the colors mentioned above, by the way, are permanent shades, so they shouldn’t be vanishing off shelves any time soon.
What lip colors do you like to wear with brown smoky eyes? Inquiring minds want to know.
Movie night!
Another exciting night here at Tabs the Cat Industries, LLC. Tabs wanted to host a movie night — his choice — so we’re watching possibly the cheesiest movie ever, but it’s still highly enjoyable. 17 Again, with Zac Efron, which I’ve never seen before. Hey, boss’s orders! 🙂
Boy, Zac sure is young in this movie, and ridiculously pretty. Why does he have such lovely lashes?? It’s almost unfair.
I hope you’re doing something fun tonight.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Thanks for the movie trailer. Oh my grape soda Zac Efron is so delicious. He was in a Nicholas Sparks movie about a Marine – finding the name — The Lucky One. Silly plot, badly written, but shirtless Zac Efron being damaged and strong and decent and The Body… do yourself a favor and find the shower scene. Just turn the sound off, it’s okay…
That movie is worth watching more than once, hope you enjoy it Karen. Happy Weekend!
Hiii karen..thank u so much for this post..i thought nude lips r a must for smokey eyes. .really glad to see so many fun lip colors to play with..:-) i have a teeny tiny request..
Wat eye makeup do u think should be paired with a coral (reddish orange like chanel insaissisable) lippie? Ya know to look polished. .please please please. .do let me know..
Wow, this was super helpful! I’m always struggling with matching my eyes and lips. Usually with eye-heavy looks I just wear a nude lipstick (MAC’s Blankety is my fave) or just some lip balm and with bold lips barely nothing on my eyes (just lots of mascara or a tiny kitten flick). I feel like I look too made up if I try to wear color on both. I’m not sure I’d wear the red, but the others look so nice (at least on you!).
I agree, brown smokey eye is my favorite too! And just changing a lip color can take it from day to night. It won’t come as a shock that I like wearing mine with nude pink for a softer look and hot pink for a more dramatic one (I don’t know what’s with me and hot pink but I don’t think this obsession is going away anytime soon, lol!).
I LOVE brown lipstick.
You are the brown smoky eye QUEEN. I’ve been loving your little tips and tricks and tutorials articles lately!!! Please make us some video tutorials. You have such mad skillz!
I love Brick O La with that eye look on you. How do you know which eyeshadow look to pair with which lipstick? Seriously – this question has never been answered to my satisfaction. Do you personally have a guideline for what goes with what? You always seem to have the perfect pairing. I know about the color wheel, but seriously, what determines how you pair your lipsticks with eye/blush? Do you try to match the crease/transition color with the opposite color or???
Brown smokey eyes and a red lip have been my go-to look throughout summer, a berry lip will most likely replace it for fall. Nudes make me look like I died two days ago…
I love berry and deep red lipsticks with smokey brown eyes. All the options you show look beautiful. I like pinky browns with daytime brown smokey eyes.
I love it with the Berry!
I’ve worn either pinks or reds with a smokey brown eye.
My favorite combo is with neutral pink. I love to keep attention on eyes so for me any neutral pinky shade would work
sparklygoddess.blogspot.com
I like the natural pink or berry look. I have blue-pink pigment in my lips and nudes just don’t doit for me. I haven’t mastered the red lip look and browns are just not flattering. I do like brown smokey eyes (it’s the most comfortable look for me). Thanks.
I absolutely adore blog posts that includes swatches and images of what the product looks like on themselves as opposed to just a photo of the product!! Beautiful images and beautiful pairings – my beauty wishlist is just getting longer day by day!
Diana xx | http://www.londongirldiana.com