 In today's Monday makeup lesson, I'm going to show you how to create a really easy smokey eye, along with lots of tips and tricks on how to improve your technique, apply slightly differently, and also finish off your look. Because the one thing about a smokey eye is you kind of have to trust the process. But before we get into that, if you are new here to the makeup cheer channel and you enjoy tutorials like this, then I might suggest hitting the subscribe button below. It's totally free. And if you're already subscribed, then thank you and welcome back. Now let's get started. So the palette that we're using today is the Urban Decay Naked 3 Mini Palette. I love these mauve-y tones in this palette. I think it's just so beautiful. I'm not sure if it works with my skin tone. This is the first time using it, so I feel like I need to kind of work on it a little bit more. I think next time I use this palette, I'll probably put down some sort of a base with some shimmer or some color in order to help the shadows stand out a little bit more or work better with my skin tone. But today we're just going to be focusing on this palette. So as always, we're going to start off by applying an eyeshadow primer all over the lid. This is going to give our shadows something to hold onto, which I think is very important with this palette. As I said, I think for next time I'll probably be applying some sort of a colored base, maybe a mauve-toned base or a purple or a pink in order to help these stand out slightly differently. But for now we're just going to be applying a skin-toned base all over the lid from the lash line right up to the brows. And I like to use a damp sponge to blend out my primer. I feel like it creates more of an even application all over the eye. Now a tip that one of you shared in a previous video is that you like to set from underneath the brows to just above the crease using a translucent powder or a slightly lighter eyeshadow. And I loved this idea of keeping the crease and the lid slightly damp. So I just applied translucent powder in this area. And then I went in with a little bit of the lighter shade just underneath the brows. So we are going to be keeping the lid and the crease slightly damp for this look. And this is just going to add a little bit more grip. So I'm switching to a slightly bigger brush and I'm holding it quite far down on the handle. This is just going to soften the pressure to make sure that we don't have any drag. So by holding it quite far down, we're going to get a soft sweeping motion. We're not going to be applying too much pressure. And we're also going to very slowly build this up in the crease area. This is going to be our highest eyeshadow, obviously excluding the first shadow that we applied just under the brows. Apply a very small amount of this and build it up over time. That's a very important part when you have a slightly damp base. We don't want to be applying too much because it will grip hold of one area and it makes it a lot more difficult to blend. Next, I'm applying the darker shade using this tiny equal baby brushes with Blank Canvas Cosmetics E10. I love this brush for so many different reasons, but it's great for applying this slightly darker shade on an area that's slightly damp. And because this is a daytime smoky eye, I'm not going to be using a flat brush and pressing this on. I'm just going to apply a very sheer layer of this darker shadow. Obviously, for a nighttime look, you can definitely use that dampness on the lid to intensify it by applying this with a flat brush or even your fingertips and kind of pressing it on there. However, I want a really sheer look. I want it to be kind of deep and dark, but very sheer at the same time, which is pretty hard to do with a darker shadow. But this brush is going to do a lot of the work for me. So I'm focusing this mostly on the outer half of the lid. Then switching to a slightly larger brush, I'm going to take the middle shade. So this is somewhere between the light and the dark. And I'm just going to be applying this all over the lid. So it's going to go over the sheer dark shade that we applied. It's going to go over the rest of the lid. And it's going to then bring it up to the point where we already have our lighter shade in the crease area. Now, again, because the base is slightly damp, we are going to have to very slowly build this up. So apply a little bit at a time in order to get that really soft blend. Once you don't have too much on your brush, you can bring this up a little bit higher, meeting at the crease area and very softly blending. And then you should end up with something that looks like this. Now, if your blending hasn't gone to plan or maybe you just want to add a little extra something to this look, apply a little bit of shimmer. Shimmer covers any mistakes. So I'm going to focus this on the center of my lid using my fingertips. And if you're not great at blending, apply shimmer. I promise you, it kind of camouflages. It bounces light. It just makes everything look a lot more blurry and blended. I also applied the lightest shimmer just on the inner corner only because it was a beautiful shade and I just really wanted to use it. And you should end up with something that looks like this. But now we have to add our finishing steps, which are really important with a smoky eye. So the first step in our finishing steps is to apply invisible, slightly visible liner. This is a very thin layer of liner right at the lash line. Now you can wing this out if you want to. I just don't really suit it, but it's basically going to create a lot more definition. Think of it this way. Think of a picture that you drew on a piece of paper and then you put it up on the wall. Probably looks great, but if you created a border around it, it's just going to look even better. So that's what the liner is doing. And then your mascara and your false lashes, they're the frame around it. So between your mascara, lashes and liner is just going to create much more of a finished, more polished look and help your beautiful painting that you did or beautiful drawing that you did to stand out so much more. Another thing that will really help with a smoky eye is to make sure that the area around the smoky eye is nice and clean. So applying a little bit of concealer in a slight angle, working upwards and this is going to lift the eye shape, but also clean up all around the eye. This will add more contrast and then the smoky eye will stand out so much more. Now, before I apply mascara on my lower lashes, I had a question that came in from last week. It says, hi, Sinead, great tips as always. I have a question for you. My mascara runs on my lower lash line even if I apply it only on the upper. I usually prime my lids, set with powder, powder underneath the lower lash line and I use a tubing mascara. But after a few hours, I still need to clean up mascara smudges. Any tips? Please take care of yourself and thank you. Well, thank you so much for that. That is so sweet. And yes, I have some tips. So once I apply mascara on the lower lashes, I then make sure that it is fully dry. And then what I'm going to do is I'm going to take a clear waterproof mascara and make sure there's not too much on the brush. And one thing I like to do is I like to do a rolling motion underneath. What this is going to do is to coat the underneath part, which is usually the main culprit for me. Also, if it ends up touching my skin, it's no big deal because it's a clear mascara. And then do the upper lashes as well. And this will just seal everything in place for me so we're not going to have as much smudging. And any smudging that occurs is going to be a lot less or slightly lighter color as well. So I hope that helps. And if you give it a try, let me know. Now for underneath the eyes, I'm going to take a mixture of everything that we've already applied and use that little baby brush and just sweep this underneath. And then for a little extra something, something, I just saw this liner and just really wanted to apply it. It's an Aubergine liner. I know it's a little weird, but I kind of like it. I feel like it's a very fall appropriate liner. And there you go. That is the finished look. I really hope that you guys enjoyed this one. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. And as always, I am here to help. So if you have any questions, definitely let me know. They might end up featuring in a video, but if you'd rather they didn't feature, you can let me know and I can get back to you directly as well. But I am here to help, so just ask me anything. And I also just want to say a big thank you for all the support from the previous video I mentioned how I had a bad week and reading your comments just kept me going. And a lot of you were also supporting each other, which was so wonderful to see. I really want to make sure that I keep my channel at a really positive place because living with a chronic illness is hard enough. And if I can create like a really safe space to let people know that it's okay to have bad days and it's okay to have tough days. I spent last Wednesday crying so much, but it's okay to have those days. I was really unwell. I felt really sorry for myself, but then I picked myself back up and I managed to get through and it was really hard. But your support really helps me. So thank you so much. I only hope that I can extend that to you guys and let you know that I'm right there with you when you're having a bad day. I know how difficult it is and how lonely you can feel at those times, but you're not alone. I'm right there with you and I'm sending you lots of love. Be kind to yourself. You're doing the best you can. And I'll see you guys in a video really soon. Stay well.