My makeup routine consists almost entirely of eye makeup and nothing else. I have really big, dark brown eyes, so I like to accentuate them as much as possible with a liquid liner cat eye, layers of mascara, and some Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow (I swear by her Luxury palette in Dolce Vita).
But my love for elaborate eye makeup has led me to struggle a bit with what works at work. Not to say you can’t wear an intense red eyeshadow look to your desk (I do—often), but some looks just feel out of place during the day, like a great smoky eye.
Leave it to the queen of the smoky eye, makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, to solve this issue and create a gorgeous, easy, and subtle eye look that’s made for 9-to-5. “Eyes have been my signature for 25 years; I really understand the power of the eyes to hypnotize and mesmerize the world. I know how to lift, elongate, make them look more awake, more alluring, more sophisticated, put lights back in them,” she tells me before adding, “I always say smoky eye till I die!”
The sophisticated peachy caramel, dusky chocolate is universally flattering. Her new Instant Eye Palette consists of four looks with three shades each: Day Eye, Desk Eye, Date Eye, and Disco Eye.
Each color has also been pressed to only release a certain amount of formula on your brush from the first stroke. The pressure-pressing technology helps control the finish so it isn’t overloaded for the day, which is how Tilbury was able to create a “desk eye”–perfect for your desk and the disco after.
Here are Charlotte’s tips for creating the best sultry look that’s work-approved:
1. Using the blender brush, swish backwards and forwards in a windshield-wiper motion using the Prime shade.
2. Follow with the Enhance shade in the same way.
3. Create light definition using your Smoke shade.
4. Using the Barbarella Brown, lightly define.
5. Finish with lashings and lashings of mascara.
