Beauty Tutorial: Smoky Eye Make-Up For Gingers

It’s that time of year again when being super pale is beginning to feel normal again, and smoky eye make-up is back in style.

But, dear redheads, we have to make sure that we don’t cross the line between smoky eyes, and black eyes. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want to look like I just received a left hook from someone!

So, on that note, I’ve put together a tutorial for smoky eye make-up that doesn’t cross that line, and works for all occasions (scroll further down the page for colour variations).

Step 1

Start by applying eye shadow primer to your eyelids. Technically you can skip this step if you don’t want to pay around $18 for a good primer that works and actually keeps your make-up from creasing. I use Urban Decay’s primer, which I legitimately swear by.

Step 2

Line the inner rim of your eyelids with a black eyeliner. Revlon Colorstay eyeliner lasts all day and doesn’t smudge!

Step 3

Apply white eye shadow to the inner corner of your eye, and about halfway across your eyelid.

Step 4

Apply a light gray eye shadow across your eyelid, starting where the white eye shadow ends. I use the Rimmel London eye shadow quad because it has the white, gray, and black eye shadow you need.

Step 5

Apply a black eye shadow to the outer corner of your eye, the crease of your eyelid, and lower lash line. Make sure you blend the black eye shadow so it doesn’t look too hard and thick on your eyelid

Step 6

Line the top of your eyelid with black eyeliner. Here you can either just line halfway across your lid starting at the outer corner, or you can go the whole way. I like to go the entire way for a more dramatic look! Apply 2 coats of black mascara to your eyelashes, and you’re done!

And this is the finished product…

The Smoky Eye Using Colour

While most smoky eye tutorials only use black/gray eyeshadow, you can also swap the black/gray combination for other colors as well.

I’ve experimented with a few combinations and found that a light green/dark green combination, a gold/brown combination, and a purple/burgundy combination look best with red hair!

I recommend using the Rimmel London Color Quad in 003 (purple, burgundy), Rimmel London eye trio in 750 (green), and Sephora Microsmooth Eyeshadow Trio in Sunray (brown/gold).