Have you seen the movie Wanted starring Angelina Jolie? It’s a cheesy action flick with several cool Matrix-inspired scenes. Angie looks great in it, and hawt day-am! — girlfriend sure works the smokey eye. I counted her wearing at least four stunning variations of it in brown-beige-black. Seriously, where do full-time, expert assassins find time to blend in the outer V? I always assumed they spent their free time cleaning guns and practicing jiujitsu rolls and whatnot. Who knew?
The movie itself didn’t exactly inspire me (two words: exploding rats), but I was inspired by Angie’s makeup in the film. I see some smokey eye looks in my future, for sure.
Speaking of smokey eyes, here are a few posts that featured them. How do you feel about smokey eyes? Have you ever worn one before?
- Runway Smokey Eyes 101
“Despite my proclamations of klutziness, Gordon Epsinet, Vice President of Makeup Artistry for MAC Cosmetics, insists that just about anyone (even me) can do a hot smokey eye.” - Mally City Chick Smokey Eye Kit in Nolita Navy: Makes Blue Eyes Easy
“Nature’s rarest color isn’t always easy to work with, and even the simplest of blue eye looks can quickly devolve into hot blue messes if you don’t know which products to use and where to put them. Enter Mally Beauty’s Nolita Navy smokey eye kit (pictured up top), a palette of blue and peach shadows with a handy black pencil liner.” - Simple Smokey Eye with Chanel Winter Nights Quad
“As far as complete looks are concerned, this one is quick and easy to do. I used shades from the Chanel Winter Nights Quad, a versatile set with four basic, but pretty shades of pink, peachy gold, green and light brown. The look works well for the office or for things like family functions or semi-formals.” - MAC Smokey Brown and Purple Eye
“I was inspecting the purplish nether regions under my eyes this morning and feeling pretty crappy because of the whole no sleep thing, so I decided to run with it and try a purplish-brown smokey eye. The result improved my sour mood and put a lil’ spring in my step, for sure!” - A Smokey Eye with MAC Club
“I had a lot of fun with MAC Club eyeshadow today. Its versatility makes it great for creating quick, daytime smokey eyes. I had about three seconds to put on my makeup this morning, and I owe this look to MAC Club. Paired with a few new products from Fafi and the N Collections, MAC Club helped me finish this look in 10 minutes.” - A Black and Gold Smokey Eye
“I finally got my paws on MAC Fafi yesterday, and all I have to say is MEOW! Love it. This morning I busted out a few things from the collection — Fafi Eyes 1 Quad, Nice Vice Paint Pot and the Not So Innocent Lipstick — and created this subtle gold and black smokey eye for work.” - A Smokey Eye with MAC Pigment in Purple
“So, I’m trying to figure out what makeup look to wear to the midnight Sex and the City show tonight. Purple + smokey eye = a lil’ bit out of my comfort zone, but I thought I’d give it a whirl.”
Tabby Cat Update
I found out that the pet store across the street offers low-cost veterinary services every so often and that the next time is this coming week, so I’m taking Tabs there for a full check up. 🙂 Worms be gone (ewww)!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. On Sundays a bunch of fellow beauty bloggers submit what they felt were some of their best posts of the week for a weekly roundup, and here they are. Here are last week’s best posts by the gals of the Beauty Blog Network.
Beauty Blog Network
The Makeup Divas review Mac Solar Bits in Black Ore and Scatterrays.
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The Daily Cookie is celebrating her first reader newsletter with a GIVEAWAY! Sign up and enter for your chance to win a Kat Von D True Romance Beethoven palette for you and a friend.Â
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A Touch of Blusher tells you where to indulge in beauty retail therapy in London.
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Beauty Anonymous reviews Dior Bronze Matte Sunshine SPF 20 Bronzing Powder.
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Elke shares how you can get creative with your makeup. Have the makeup? Now what? Read for her fun solution.
15 Minute Beauty Fanatic gets the low down from Makeup Artist Molly Stern on her favorite brushes and makeup items!
The Muse rocks out with the new Bare Minerals Rocker Eye Kit and shares product photos, a review, and FOTD using this great new kit from BE!
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Beauty Banter asks the makeup pros all you’ll ever need to know about STAINS – how to apply, when to wear, and which ones are the best in this month’s A Girl’s Guide to Stains!!!
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The Beauty of Life is giving away products from Bliss and Farfalla, worth over $80!Â
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Beauty Junkie in SF finally has clear, beautiful, break-out free skin with the help of Jan Marini Skin Research.
What beauty product put Beauty411’s glow on? Check out her review of Kate Somerville Deep Tissue Repair!
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What kind of eyeliners should you invest in? Cybelesays recommendsfour you don’t want to be without right now.
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Beauty Blogging Junkie has identified her holy grail concealer. Find out what it is here. Â
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Can’t find the perfect mascara? Makeup Moxie thinks the new Lash Stash from Sephora might be your ticket to true love.Â
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Listen up, curly girls…for this week’s giveaway, Spoiled Pretty is partnering with world famous hairstylist, Ouidad – “The Renowned Queen of Curl.” Click here to enter!
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Want their favorite combination for gorgeous hair? The girls from Beauty in Real Life deliver the scoop.
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StyleBell discovers a long time secret of the stars, Klorane Dry Shampoo!
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Beauty and Personal Grooming asks you to trim those ugly dangling nose hairs using nose hair trimmers.
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Beautynomics interviews Dr. Jennifer Linder, PCA Head Scientist/Dermatologist and asks all about skin care!
The Mineral Makeup Blog thinks that Mineral Makeup can qualify as HDTV Makeup.
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Makeup loves me interviews the founder of a new makeup line, noir cosmetics.
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Shades Of U shares a fresh, new, refrigerated idea in skincare featuring products from The Body Deli.
I love smokey eyes, but I always feel like I look as if I’ve been beaten if I smudge below the eye! So I usually smoke up the lid and use a clean line on the lower lash line. Does that still count as a smokey eye? 🙂
Aaawww, you’re such a good CCL! 😀
I love smokey eyes. You just have to make sure that you blend carefully otherwise it will look like a hot mess.
Marisols last blog post..MUFE haul & more
I loooove the look of a smokey eye, but I’m super pale (as in, all MAC foundation colours are too dark for me – seriously!) and I feel like black against my skin is kinda harsh-looking. Sometimes I do a smudgy dark-brown eye, but I feel I can never get the complete smokey look because I think I look creepy, like a corpse or something, with any liner or shadow under my bottom lashes. Even my everyday eye (MAC Teddy kohl on top lashline, and Diorshow on top and bottom lashes) keeps the liner off the lower lid, just ’cause I think it looks… weird. I can’t explain it, but I just think it looks funny on my round eyes. I’m determined to figure it all out one day, though!
for someone like me who loves neutral..I just have to say, smokey eyes looks good on my small Asian eyes. I love it and it has this strong statement just by looking at my eyes…topped with nude lips! so yeah, I love smokey eye looks!
Nikkis last blog post..Askmewhats Reviews: The Body Shop Mini Brush Kit
Awwww… poor Tabs! He could have belonged to somebody once, thus explaining his friendly, though demanding personality. IMHO, a tagless cat with worms is fair game for adoption.
Hi Karen!
Can you tell me how I can be a part of the Beauty Blog Network? Thank you so much!
How do you feel about smokey eyes? Have you ever worn one before?
Hehe, that’s an understatement for me 😉 I love a good smoky eye and usually rock a more understated/subtle version to work on a daily basis. What I love about a subtle smoky eye is that it can easily be va-va-voomed into something super hot by adding one dark shade if I need to be somewhere after work 🙂
Tanyas last blog post..How to be a Drugstore Maven.
I love the smokey eye too! What’s there not to love… 🙂 I usually do it with browns – Bobby Brown neutrals palette is usually involved. The look you did on the photo to the right above was cool! The nice vice paintpot really set it off.
I also love that you have been adopted by Tabs! Often it is the cat that chooses the owner, not the other way around. And cats can be picky! 🙂 My cat died a couple of months back (*sob*) but we are cat-sitting a small black kitty right now while her owners are on vacation. Such lovely animals! Lots of thanks to you on Tabs’ behalf! 🙂
During summer I love smokey eyes in teal or green. In winter I prefer grey-black or violet smokey eyes!
dramatic smoky eye is definitely my number 2 choice for performances and clubs!
love the blue smoky, navy blue is one of my favorite colors for the eye (makes my dark brown asian eyes pop, rather than just make them look black).
however, nothing beats the mac liquidlast inky + mac russian red combo with a pair of mac 34lash (for clubs) or 37lash (for those big performances), because i usually wear black, silver, navy, charcoal or red (red and navy (not worn together, but separately, seem to be my lucky colors). that look also gives me a exotic (i like to think, LOL), hot geisha-y (i don’t know if that’s something to be proud of) look that makes my pale skin look flawless, and has won me a lot of man candy. salsa dancing cubanos totally go gaga over this look at the clubs.
i like the falsies because MY STICK STRAIGHT EYELASHES REFUSE TO CURL. karen, do you have any ideas on how to make them curl? tools, mascara formulas, ill take any advice, i’ve tried everything. nothing seems to work except curling my lashes after the mascara dries, but that makes them all scary and 90-degree-angle-y, not to mention that i lose like, ten lashes.
stupid asian genes. i have no problem with the thickness, number, or length of lashes, just the stupid curl part.
and… YAY FOR TABS. karen, the next time he comes, just take him off the street until you can take him to the vet, so that he doesn’t get anything else. try and keep him confined indoors, and don’t forget the box you can close the top of, with large-ish holes (or a pet carrier thing which i assume you need to buy anyway if you’re keeping him).
great news: my cat-obssessed friend tells me, most cats are litterbox trainable, even at an older age, so tabs can most likey be housebroken pretty quickly.
GOOD LUCK KITTY 😀
and… JAMES MCAVOYYYY DROOOL
Hi Karen, actually I do have you and your tutorials to thank for my smokey eye technique. So, merci beaucoup!
Awww its not cheesy lol, I loved it lol. In fact I’ve got a FOTD of her look posting soo, look for it. Thanks for all this good info!
Hey Karen!
I love smokey eyes, especially on you. Not that I haven’t seen a look you don’t look gorgeous in! But I have to say my favorite is the first photo featured in this post.
I plan on doing a similar look Thursday night to celebrate the end of my house-arrest and the bar exam–I’m due for some major partying!
*Jen*s last blog post..YSL Mascara Comparison and Some Bobbi Brown Cocoa Mauve Photos
Hi Karen,
Happy last Monday of July (sobs). Eyes, eyes, eyes. You had asked me about what I thought about the Chanel eye quads. Well, I have many of them. Each time I buy one, I swear that it will be the last. Currently, I am looking at the smokey eye quad that Chanel has. But I do not like to wear the same eye look each day and I do not think that I would get a lot of wear from that quad. Now take a look at your blog on June 11, 2007 with the MAC smokey eye. I really like your look there and it works well for you. I also wanted to comment on your eyebrows. I especially like their shape in that picture. But as another poster said, you always look good. I hope that you are able to give the kitty a new home and a better life. Have a great week. Louise
I love ’em, and I have to admit that my love for Angelina Jolie is what always makes me want to try the smoky eye look. (And I love that screencap, too…James McAvoy…droooool 😉 ). I’m not quite sure I’ve mastered the look yet, but your tutorials are awesome and I’m dying to try out the brown/purple smoky eye you have up there.
Good luck with the kitty this week! Hope he (or she) has a good checkup. There are a few stray cats in our neighborhood and I’ve left milk out for them when they come by. Unfortunately I’m allergic so I can’t help them very much, and my dog would maul me if I ever brought another furry creature into the house, so I have to be content with just feeding them.
I love a good smokey eye. The eyes is the photos look amazing. I have to admit, I do find it challenging to apply a smokey eye….practice I guess!
LOVE this post! I can never do a smokey eye either; but I must say that I’m inspired to keep trying!
Hope Tabs is doing well!!! OMG I loved “Wanted”!!! Finally saw it last weekend…totally cool. I can see it being a cult-ish movie with fans..kind of like “Pulp Fiction” was (or still is).
Angie looked HOT in that movie! I was like DAMN! She rocks the smokey eye. I wish I could rock it like her but alas…I can only hope. and wonder how the make up artist did it for her. I would totally rock the smokey eye like her, if i could carry it off.
I can totally rock a smokey eye look. I think it has to do with the fact that I have kinda deep set eyes anyway. For me though, the best smokey eye…means I don’t line all the way to my tear duct on the bottom… I leave like 1/4 to 1/2 unlined on the bottom….otherwise it tends to make my eyes look smaller.
So it works for me. Sorry to hear that Tabs is not doing so hot. 🙁
Yesss…the post of my dreams. Love me some smokey eye!!!
Hi Karen,
Lately I’ve been doing lots of smokey eye looks – esp. since I hve bought 3 different mineralize MAC shadows: Two to Glow, Hot Contrast and (recently) Love Connection. If I am at home chillin I just finish up with Technakohl Brown Border but if I am going outside and want more of an impact I finish up with Graphblack instead. I call it my ‘Penelope Cruz look’ when I line with black -i have to admit Penelope’s eyelined/smokey eyes are my favorite. Well it’s a tie between her and Salma Hayek!
Hi Karen,
I haven’t watched “Wanted” but Angelina always looks good regardless what role she plays. I love your Mally Beauty look, it’s so hot!
So you’re taking a step closer to adopt le tabby kat? I’m confused, Stripes is the same cat as Tabs, right? He’s the one you featured in the Sally Hansen post, right?
Daos last blog post..The 5-Minute Makeup Challenge
I just did a smokey eye last Saturday night. I used the smokey eye kit by Bare Escentuals (the one that comes with the stupid V brush, I hate that thing!). I used my own brush and it came out pretty good if I do say so myself 😉 I really love the 1990’s glimmer that came in the kit, it’s so pretty.
I thought you and your readers would like to see this YT tutorial that speaks to this very look. I think Francine did a fabulous job with the smokey look.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BqXAJreJU-g
I adore all your looks!