A wearable smokey eye and and nude pink lip combo.
A brown smokey eye is like the jeans and T-shirt (or little black dress…or pencil skirt and crop top, depending on your style) of the makeup world for those with fair all the way up to dark medium skin. Add a nude lip and and some blush, and you’ve got a look that works for anything from Happy Hour to a black tie event.
Amber Heard rocked this look, and you can too. Here we go.
Foundation: Medium coverage with a glow. Armani Luminous Silk would work well. See how the center of her face looks highlighted? You can get that effect by using the foundation shade that matches your skin around the edges of your face, and one that is two shades lighter on the center of your face.
Powder: Powder all over to set. MAC Mineralize SkinFinish Natural Powder would do the job. Rimmel Stay Matte would work too, and is easier on the wallet.
Highlighter: It’s tough to see from this camera angle, but I suspect there is some on the cheekbones. I would use Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow for this. It’s meant to be used as a primer, but I like it for subtle cheekbone highlight.
Contour/Bronzer: Contour under cheekbones, below hairline and possibly under jawline. I’m a big fan of the Make Up For Ever Sculpting Kits for this.
Cheek Color: You know, I can’t tell if the color I’m seeing is from her contour or blush. I think it might be the contour, but this look would benefit from a muted peachy or pink blush, depending on your skintone. I think MAC Melba would be a good choice.
Eyebrows: Taupe brow powder to fill in sparseness/add shape where needed. It also looks like the ends of her brows were extended, or at least defined. Go with whatever color matches your brows.
Eye Makeup: MAC Eyeshadow in Mulch, a red brown with bronze pearl, looks similar to what Amber is wearing on her lids and slightly into the crease (just make sure to blend that well). Her shadow is softly angled into a wing shape, giving the illusion that the eye is elongated. The key is to use a shimmery brown shadow that is several shades darker than your skin and makes your eye color pop. That’s why this look isn’t great for those with very dark skin, as choosing a shadow darker than some skin tones either means using a black shadow or not having any to choose from. (For example, using a dark brown shadow on someone with a skintone like model Nykhor Paul wouldn’t have the same effect.) I spy a chocolate brown pencil liner at the top lashline, blended into the eyeshadow. Bottom lashline has a soft wash of the same shadow from the lid, likely applied with a pencil brush.
The beautiful Nykhor Paul.
Mascara: Yes, top and bottom lashes. Bobbi Brown Eye Opening Mascara is a good choice for this look.
False Lashes: Yes, strip lashes on just the outer third of top lashes. They might have come like that, or her makeup artist cut a full strip lash to that size.
Lipliner: Yes, same color as the lipstick. MAC Subculture Lipliner would work.
Lipcolor: MAC Patisserie (it looks way more pink on the website than it is in person) or Tarteist Lip Paint in Birthday Suit.
This is solid go-to look for the skintones I mentioned. You can change it up easily by doing a petal pink lip to make it more girly, or adding black liner to the waterline or using a darker eyeliner at the top and bottom lashlines to make it more sultry. If you master this one–and you can–you’ll have a versatile look that doesn’t require a ton of time.
Have a beautiful day 🙂
Leave a Reply