Basic & Budget-Friendly Smokey Eye

One of my most requested makeup tutorials is the basic smokey eye. This look is versatile and can vary in intensity, style, color, etc. Once you get the basics down (and with a lot of practice), you can smoke out almost any look. I mentioned in my video that it took me a lot of practice to finally achieve the look that I liked, so although I would call this a basic tutorial, I still recommend sitting down at your vanity and practicing. You can always learn something new!

This tutorial is a basic smokey eye tutorial using mostly drugstore (or drugstore priced) products and brushes. The higher end products that I used can all be easily duped (duplicated) by drugstore products. The products used for this look are listed below:

Note: Because I have so many allergic reactions to products, once I find a product that I like, I stick with it. So the face products are not drugstore products, but as I said earlier in this post, you can find dupes for almost anything!

Brushes:
Sonia Kashuk Multi-Purpose Nylon Brush - blend NYX jumbo pencil
EcoTools Shade Brush - all over lid color & crease
Essence of Beauty larger crease brush - Outer V
EcoTools Crease brush - blending & transition color
EcoTools Blending brush - highlight
Essence of Beauty smaller crease brush - lower lashline
Sonia Kashuk Bent Eyeliner brush - upper lashline, tightline, waterline
Essence of Beauty angled blush brush

Face:
MAC Studio Select CoverUp Concealer in NW25
MAC Mineralized SkinFinish Natural in Medium Plus
NYX Mauve Blush

Eyes:
Lid: NYX Jumbo Pencil in Slate
Lid/Lower lashline: NYX Smokey Eyes Palette - medium silver/gray shade
Crease: NYX Smokey Eyes Palette - dark silver/gray shade
Outer V/lower lashline: NYX Smokey Eyes Palette - matte black
Transition: MAC Soft Brown eyeshadow
Highlight: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural - Medium Plus
MAC Fluidline - Blacktrack (upper lashline, tightline, waterline)
Andrea Modlash - #45 Black
Shu Uemura eyelash curler
L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara

Brows:
Trucco Eyeshadow - Rootbeer
Maybelline Great Lash Clear Mascara

Lips:
EOS Summer Fruit Lip Balm
Revlon Colorburst lipstick - Soft Nude
MAC Viva Glam V lipglass

This is what the end-result was:




To see how I put this look together: