Makeup Technique - Smokey Eye Tips

Everyone loves a good smokey eye... and everyone seems to be searching for better ways to do them. Here are some of my thoughts that hopefully will be helpful.

What is it?
First off, what is a smokey eye? Generally speaking, it's a dark eye shadow on the eyelid whereas regular application would be a medium or light shadow. It usually evokes a vamp look. Essentially, your eye will look like there's smoke around it... hence smokey. ;)

Note that, if you're not used to doing this kind of makeup, it might take some getting used to, not so much in how to apply but more in getting used to the look on your face.

Alternative to black
When we say smokey eye, people will generally think of applying black. And while that's a good choice for it, there are other alternatives that may work best, especially if you have pale skin (I know all about that). Really, it just needs to be a darker eye shadow. So consider playing with other colors like dark blue, dark green, dark brown. It will open up a whole new set of possibilities and may actually look better depending on what you are wearing as well as your eye color. For example, I have blue eyes and, when I use a dark blue, it makes my eyes look paler (sort of icy blue) whereas, when I use a dark brown, it makes them look more intense.

If you're going to use black...
If you are going to use black, consider going for anything but a matte finish. The reason for this is that matte will make your eye look like it's receding, especially if you will be using this for a stage makeup under bright spotlights. My favorite black to use for a smokey eye has gold sparkles in it and it makes for a very nice shimmery effect. So it's still undeniably black but has a nice richness to it.

Fallout management
Whenever you apply a dark color all over your eyelid, there will be more fallout than a medium or light color... or so it seems b/c of the intensity of the color. There are several options to take care of this. One way is to wipe the fallout with a soft fluffy brush, using a light touch. DO NOT USE YOUR FINGERS! It would only embed the dark eye shadow more in your skin. Another option is to apply more loose powder after your eye shadow application, which is a similar principle as just wiping it off with the brush. You also can simply apply your foundation after you have done your eyes: it will simply erase any trace of fallout.

Don't forget the brow bone highlight!
Since you will be using such dark eye shadows, definitely remember to apply a pale, shimmery eye shadow at your brow bone to create a nice highlight. It will take your eye from looking closed to opening it back up again. It's like magic!

What about the crease?
That was something that bugged me for a bit: what do you do with the crease? Well, I do either of two things: either I will bring that dark eye shadow in the crease as well, generally using a lighter touch when applying so it sort of feathers out or I will use a medium eye shadow to have a gradient of color. Typically, I do the former if I use black whereas I'll do the latter if I use a different color. But it depends on my mood too. Just experiment and see if you prefer one or the other option.

Eyeliner
I still line the upper and lower eyelids (usually on the waterline for the lower lid) with a black liner, even if I use black. It just makes for a nicer finish as generally the eyeliner will be a more intense black. But you could skip the eyeliner as it's dark enough as it is.

Another option entirely
If you don't like using dark eye shadows on your eyes because you don't like the look or you want to keep your eye looking open, there is another option entirely. One of my favorite makeup looks that looks like a smokey eye and isn't exactly one is the one in the below picture. I applied a silver eye shadow on the eyelid and black at the crease but I made my crease bigger/more prominent than I normally do, which is yielding this smokey eye look (you can see the instructions for this makeup here). Essentially, this could be done with whichever shadow combination you want, just making sure you have a dark shadow at the crease and making said crease more prominent.

Stage Makeup Problems - No contouring

This is a less well-known thing for stage makeup: contouring. I won't spend much time here mentioning how exactly you do it as I'll cover that in-depth in a separate entry. However, if you've ever watched yourself in pics and wonder why you look like one solid shade of whatever skin color you have and that it's like your face is in 2D (instead of 3D), then that'd be because you haven't contoured your face.

At a minimum, you should wear blush on your cheeks. That will help somewhat with defining your face a bit more under the bright spotlights. That being said, it won't be enough: you'll need to do more definition. Just the blush will be a stripe of color in a sea of same color.

Contouring involves using shadowing and highlighting to essentially redraw your face.  And, yes, you can modify your features that way. If you've ever seen drag queens, they will modify their jaw line and make it less square (so less manly) by shadowing it.

At a high level,

• for shadowing, you'll want to use a dark color (browns or bronzers work well for this) and apply it under your cheekbones, along the sides of your nose, under your jaw line. Essentially, you're putting shadows where shadows would normally be on your face.
• for highlighting, you'll want to use a pale color, generally a bit shimmery (it can be a beige or a mellow white) to highlight above the eyebrows, on top of your nose, the top of the cheekbones, maybe even the tip of your chin. Essentially, wherever you catch a sunburn, that's what you would highlight.

Doing all of this will help you look less like one color overall and get back to a normal 3D look. Now, it's especially important if you will be under bright spotlights and if you will get your picture professionally taken. If it's a performance setting without bright spotlights, you won't need to do this nearly as much but, with the distance between you and the audience, your face will look a little flatter so it's not bad to do it... you just would contour it a bit less since people would see you from closer.

Stage Makeup Problems - Foundation issues

There are really 2 major issues with foundation for stage makeup: 1) not wearing any at all and 2) wearing the wrong shade.

1) Not wearing foundation
This is a common mistake as some folks don't like to wear foundation. Let me tell you, though, that it shows when you're not wearing any foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to even out your skin tone. Under the bright spotlights of the stage or even with distance, while you'd think that the little flaws in your skin would disappear, they tend to actually come to the forefront (for example, the red spots on your face will be even more prominent).

There are a number of foundation formulations available so, surely, you can find something that you'll like better. The key is finding it. If you go to Sephora or MAC, they can apply foundation for you and you can see whether you like it or not. Otherwise, you can take a chance on some products.

Foundation is definitely not something that you want to skimp on: good foundation goes a long way and you'll like it much better than a cheap one... and it will be better for your skin too.

2) Wearing the wrong shade
There are a few things about this. I think that, nowadays, most people know to check the exact foundation color on your face vs. the back of your hand. The latter used to be how people were selecting foundation but the exact shade of the skin is different between the two.

The little known fact, though, is that you should use a foundation color that's one shade darker than your skin shade. This is especially true if you will be under bright spotlights. The thing is that the brightness will make you look a shade paler... so if you're using your regular shade, you'll look a bit ghostly.  I personally play with that: I often want to have an eerie look on stage so using my regular shade (or one shade paler) will have the ghostly effect without needing to use any actual white. ;)

So if you're looked at pictures of yourself from stage and thought that you looked oh so pale... that's what happened: you needed a foundation that's one shade darker.  While you may think that a darker shade will look odd, it actually won't if you truly go just one shade darker. A good foundation brand will have minute variations that will allow you to choose something that will a drastic contrast to your natural shade.

Stage Makeup Problems - No eyebrows

(This post was given away by a friend on Facebook but here are my thoughts on the topic.)

Another issue that I often see about stage makeup is dancers appearing to have no eyebrows.

It's a little known fact but eyebrows are VERY expressive and will convey the emotions from afar. Just stand in front of a mirror and do different facial expression and notice how your eyebrows change.

I'm naturally blonde under this mane of black hair so I have to color my eyebrows or else it looks like I have none. So I'm covered in that I HAVE to work on my eyebrows every day.

Now, if you have your natural hair color (or a color close enough to your eyebrows anyway), you may feel like you don't need to do anything to them. But that is where the pitfall is: even when I would have my eyebrows dyed, I needed to fill in my eyebrows... and everyone needs to!

Given the amount of makeup that we were for stage, the eyebrows, being fine hair, will just virtually disappear from your face. I'll do a full blown entry on eyebrows (which is an area where I'm still improving my skills on) but, at a high level, you just need to fill them in. You can use an eye shadow color and an angled brush (works the best to not apply too much) or a pencil that is in a shade close to your hair color and just apply the color over your eyebrows.  That's all that you really need to do and then your eyebrows will be visible again.

Stage Makeup Problems - No lipstick

I've seen this time and time again: dancers who either aren't wearing any lipstick or a shade that makes it look like there is no lipstick.  Lips are one of the very expressive features on your face so having them stand out is necessary to convey the emotion.  I've seen a few pieces where the dancers made the conscious choice to appear as if they didn't have lips because it went with the concept of their piece and, obviously, that's fine. However, for anything else, please have lips!

Make sure that the color that you are using is contrasting enough with your skin color.  There should really be only a few shades that would be off limits.  If you're in doubt, you simply can apply the color and pull back from the mirror and see what it looks like. If you don't see clearly that there are lips, then the shade is not the one that you should be using. ;)

Note: I talk about lipstick here but it could be a lip gloss. Lip glosses actually may be bigger culprits than lipsticks for this phenomenon.

Stage Makeup Problems - Not enough makeup

I will do a series about "stage makeup problems" that I've witnessed in my travels. Now, the easiest thing for these would be to show you pics... but that would mean showing specific individuals and I don't think that's fair. Also note that, while I do travel a lot for belly dance and see a lot of shows, these entries will not be about specific shows but just general things that I have seen on my travels.

Now onto this first entry...

I dare say that the #1 problem that I see in stage makeup is not having enough on. You need way more than you would for an everyday look to be visible on stage. There are multiple factors that are contributing to this.

1. Distance
   Just by the sheer fact that there is some distance between you and the audience (generally a good 5-10 feet at a minimum), you will need to have more makeup on to have it seen.
2. Bright lights
   If there are actual stage lights, then they will make your face look instantly several shades whiter than you normally are and it's like your makeup has just washed away/vanished. So, again, you'll need to have more.
3. Dim lights
   Dim lights are the opposite effect in the sense that it will make everything appear darker... but, again, if you're barely wearing anything, you'll just look like you're wearing nothing.

I love to joke that you need to look utterly unnatural to look natural on stage and in pictures. For all that I say it jokingly, it actually is very true.

So, when you're wondering whether you have enough makeup on your face, chances are, it's not enough. One tricky thing is that, when you're putting on your makeup, you'll be very close to the mirror and, therefore, it will seem strikingly excessive... If you've reached that point, then you probably have just about enough... or maybe you could have more. It all depends on what you're used to.  Most people wear very little to no makeup on a regular basis... so if I'm asking you to put on makeup like you're a drag queen, of course, it will feel ridiculous and like it's way over the top. But that's what you need to look polished on stage. Seriously. 

I've had people laugh at me when they see me apply makeup on a friend and I'll pull away a good 5 feet before deciding whether I need to apply more or not (and whether it's even or not). I know, it looks like I'm an artist painter... but, really, it's the same thing: that painting won't be seen from nearly as close as the painter is... same with the makeup. What you can do yourself (and I do that a lot) is pull away from the mirror by at least 5 feet and see what it looks like. You'll be surprised at how quickly the makeup that you thought was good ends up vanishing.  So do make sure to do that "silly" step as it will be a good indicator of what it will look like on stage.

Now the cool thing about distance and lights and all is that it will hide a host of sins... so if, while you're close to the mirror, you think that you've messed up grandly and the makeup is uneven, look at yourself from 5 feet back... it's probably fine. If not, you'll likely not need to correct the makeup by nearly as much as you'd think. ;)