Naked Smoky | Cut Crease With a Purple Streak

When I first heard about the Naked Smoky palette I can't say I was desperate to get my hands on it. Whilst I love the Naked range and I hold my original Naked palette close to my heart, I didn't think it would be very different. But then the swatches came tricking through the blogosphere and within minutes I was angrily refreshing the Urban Decay website like a woman possessed. The colours are as you'd expect, a little darker and more cool toned as well as having the perfect split between the different finishes. For my first play with the palette I decided to do something a little different from a smokey eye (yeah I'm not sure what I was thinking either...) and decided to create a cut crease using the matte shadows, my favourite. But that alone is still not enough for me, I decided to throw a pop of colour in too. 

Pick up the Naked Smoky palette here from the Urban Decay UK website

Can we also take a moment to appreciate how lovely the new packing is. What's not to love about smoke and embossed lettering?

Purple goodness courtesy of Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil, available here

I first applied Password all over the lid of the eye, blending lightly around the edges as this is the only colour that will be applied all over the eye. I then used Whiskey as my cut shade. To apply Whiskey I used a sharp, blunt edged brush and traced just about the natural crease of my eye out into a standard wing shape. It's much easier to start light and build the colour up. You could even start with a lighter shade and gradually apply a darker shade once you're happy with the shape and its position. Make sure to blend out both ends of the crease. One of the gems of this palette has to be the first shade, High. Apply this under the brown bone and everywhere and anywhere you wanted highlighted. It is so good. I then calmed myself down after the highlighting excitement and applied a black liner flick, trying to line up the wings of the shadow and the liner. Once happy with all the lines, so many lines, I applied some falsies. As I was going out when creating this look I went for high volume Eylure No 157 Texture lashes. You could stop here and keep it simple but I just can't help myself. I applied white liner first along the bottom eyelid to open the eyes up and then moved on to underneath the eye. I applied concealer and powder first to create a clean, final base and then applied the beautiful Urban Decay Eyeliner in Asphyxia. It's a gorgeous lilac-pink shimmery pencil of goodness. It applies so softly and is easily blended out along the lower lash line, to create the perfect pop of colour. 

Are you partial to a cut crease?

Summer Eyes | Lime Crime Venus: The Grunge Palette

My favourite palette for the last few months has consistently been Lime Crime Venus: The Grunge palette. Whilst I love a good Naked palette I also can't resist warm browns, oranges and reds. Sometimes you just need a break from the standard. The palette may look a little daunting at first but I was surprised by how versatile it is. Shades such as Shell and Aura make for a trustworthy shimmery light wash over the eye whilst Muse and Icon make for an amazing dark red super smokey eye. 

As excited as I am already for the autumn and winter months I realise it is still technically summer (I say on a standard rainy bank holiday) and fingers crossed a sunny September is coming up. This palette is perfect for something a little brighter and bolder to suit the sun, plus looks perfect with a little added glitter - why would any sensible person not add glitter? 

For this peachy sunset-esque eye look I first patted the golden pink shade Shell over the the eye lid. I made sure to only cover the immediate surface of the eye as this isn't the colour I want to take up to the brow bone. I then grabbed the shade Rebirth and lightly applied this is a sweeping motion around the upper edge of the eyelid blending as I went along with shell to create a seamless transition. This creates a lovely glowing ring of colour around the top of the eye, pulled slightly under the eye also. I then used some lovely bronze glitter (I've had my little pot so long I couldn't tell you where its from but lots of brands do a similar product). I patted this over the centre of the eyelid and under the eye up to the inner corner. For once I took the brave step and decided against winged eyeliner and went straight to the false eyelashes. Here I used a combination of Ardell Demi Wispies and Eylure Urban Tropics Concrete Jungle lashes.

Hopefully, one day soon we'll actually have some sun that lasts long enough to match this look!