When do "smoky eyes" become drag queenesque?

[tulpe]

Am going out tonight. Thought I would attempt a smoky eye makeup. DH wondering if I am auditioning for Madam Jo-Jos.........

Have copied the Max Factor smokey eye effect - sorry can't link as on iPad and can't find square brackets!!

Go for a more neutral lippy to avoid drag queen chic!

Btw, usually wear very natural or minimal amount of coloured powder as eyeliner when I go out in the evenings.

Hanks Molly. Yes have gone for nude lip gloss.

blend it a bit, what colour did you get they looked quite nice

Tell him to bog off. take a pic of yourself and look at it, you'll be more vritical than just looking in the mirror, if you like it, just ignore him!!!

I think too much under the eye as well as very heavy on top looks drag queen

I do a sweep over the eyelid, taper out to a cats eye, smudge it a bit with a cotton bud, then smudge a medium amount of kohl along the bottom. I don't draw it on, I sort of dab it then smudge with finger. Often eyeshadow on the bottom is too thick a line and looks panda-eyed.

Sometimes I take some off the top lid if I think I've overdone it, usually by sweeping a tissue or cotton wool ball over the top (smoky eyes aren't necessarily perfect).

However, if YOU like the effect, then it's probably right for you and it's just that your DH is not used to it

i've always loved the idea but they always look drag queenish on me. i'm blonde and have a very delicate complexion and somehow those dark colours just dont look right....i had it done professionally at the Bobbi Brown counter and i was pretty alarmed by my appearance and wiped it off as soon as i was out of sight!

As a blone sotough, I would use navy or matt grey instead of black/charcoal/brown. I also think the makeup girls go too high with the colour. A sweep on the eyelid into a cat's eye at the corner is usually enough for most people. It doesn't take much to get a smoky eye look and usually only teenagers can take truly heavy smoky eyes and still look good, on anyone over 25 it starts to look a bit tired/overdone.

I have never got this "base colour up to the eyebrow then heavy colour in the crease" thing that they do; unless you are on photographic shoot with lots of clever lighting it looks odd in real life.

Plus I often find nude (beige) lipstick is too harsh with black, in the sense that there's an overbalance of colour on top half of face and not enough on bottom half. Nobody has beige lips in RL so it's harder to wear than magazines would have us believe! It's much better to have a natural sheer flush pink to even up the smoky than a beige nude. However, beige nude looks very good with navy smoky. IMHO.

Thanks all :)

General consensus of girlfriends was that eyes looked v good. DH does have v conservative tastes so prob just not used to it. Also think there are minor jealousy issues as is first time I have been out since tummy tuck and was all heels and make up.

SEA - I have the Max Factor smokey eye set in the gold/bronze and it is gorgeous. Very easy to use. However, tonight I used a Mac shadow set that I have had for a while but never used. I think using the bronze cream based set a couple of times has given me the confidence to try the powder. So the colours were a silver grey coupled with a slate grey. I used a Bourgeois smudgey liner in grey beneath my eyes together with a smidge of the top lid powder colour and then half blended/half removed with cotton bud.

I will definitely be repeating the look. Felt fab rather than timidly applying a little :o

Oh and agree with Hankypanky re : beige/nude lips v pink/nude gloss. I used the pink rather than beige because it looked far more natural. The beige was definitely more draining to the complexion.

And only took base colour to the eye socket. Once had blended the darker shade, I did apply a little more of the base to the corner and a mm or so above the socket but no more than that.