Flashback to five years ago, getting ready for date night took a good hour, maybe more. Winged liner. Multiple palettes, Baking. I did ALL the makeup. Now, I am usually getting ready for date night before I pick up my oldest from school at 3:00 in the afternoon. A full on glam, smokey eye is a little over the top for preschool pick up. I only had about twenty minutes on Friday to get dolled up, but I wanted something soft, sultry, but wearable enough for daytime. An easy bronze smokey eye. Asking a lot? Nope!
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Getting a beautiful, blown out eye look is way easier than most of the Youtube tutorials make it seem. You really only need three shadows and four steps to get that subtle, sultry look. And it doesn’t need to be super dark. The more you wear this look, the easier it is to do and the more confident you will be! This is the perfect weeknight, Valentine’s date makeup look!
EASY BRONZE SMOKEY EYE
STEP ONE
Grab a big, fluffy blending brush and dust a warm, light brown shade (Birkin) all over your lid and your crease. Don’t worry about making mistakes or being perfect, as this is your base and you want it to be super blended. Just use big windshield wiper motions and focus most of it in the crease and part way up to your brow bone.
STEP TWO
Take a dark brown shade (Hot Chocolate) on that same fluffy brush. Tap off any excess product and place it in the outer corner of your eye crease. Wiggle the product into the outer V of your crease and then use those same wiper motions to blend it through the rest of your eye crease. Don’t bring it too high up, and keep as much of it off your lid as you can. Swipe off any extra eyeshadow on a tissue and go back in and blend a little more. Trust me, you can’t blend too much!
STEP THREE
Using a flat shadow brush, wet the bristles a bit by quickly running it under water and removing as much moisture with a washcloth. You want a damp brush, not sopping wet. You could also spritz it with a setting spray. Take a bronze shadow (Penny Metal), and using that damp, flat brush pack it onto your lid. I like to really make sure the shadow is opaque to give some light to the center of my lid. Use that same brush from step one and two to go back into your crease and take away any harsh lines.
STEP FOUR
If you have a small, pencil brush, use that for the next step. If not, a cotton bud will work just fine! You are going to use the same dark shadow from step two to smudge along your lash line. I like to really pack some color on the outer portion of my top lashes to fake a cat eye effect. Run it along your lower lashes and bring the whole look together!
FINISH THE LOOK TWO WAYS
Keep your blush simple with this easy bronze smokey eye. You want the focus to be on your gorgeous eyes! My all time favorite that I keep repurchasing is the Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed. It is the perfect, go with anything blush. You can wear any lip, any color clothing. And it won’t clash, guaranteed. It is also fail proof, so doesn’t deposit too much color too quickly, so messing up isn’t going to happen!
For lips, you could pretty much go any direction that suits your mood, since this is a super neutral eye.
- Go nude – A nude lip is my current go to. It keeps things a little more subtle and more day time appropriate. Makes dropping your kids off at Grandma’s a little less conspicuous. Dolce is by far my favorite long wear nude!
- Be bold – Since the shadows in this look are pretty neutral, you can totally rock a bold lip. Red is an obvious choice. But a bright pink or even a deep, purple would look fabulous.
If you have an extra five minutes, go for the gold and add some feathery false lashes!
We celebrated over the weekend, so we will be cozying up on the couch with a bottle of wine on the actual day. But don’t worry. I will be rocking this same easy bronze smokey eye and a bright red lip!
What is your idea of the perfect Valentine’s date?
