Beauty School Tryout speaks to The Makeup Box Studio

We were lucky enought to get some tips from makeup artists Karen Loraine and Paula Rixon from The Makeup Box Studio.  Here's what advice they gave us for when using black and brown eyeshadow (but you can use other eyeshadow colours to match your clothes!) to achieve one of the big trends for Autumn Winter 2011; smokey eyes;

• To start, apply concealer and any other products that you normally use. My recommendation is Maybelline's Instant Age Rewind concealer. Curl eyelashes before getting started with this look. Also, make sure to apply your eyeshadow primer, to make sure that everything stays on and doesn't run.

• To get started, grab a small makeup brush and some white eyeshadow. Get some eyeshadow from the inner corner of the eye to the bottom of the brow bone. The idea with this is to create a fading pattern from white to black, with white near the center of the face, and black on the outside, at the ends of the eyelids.

• Using the same brush, apply grey eyeshadow to the middle of the eyelid, slightly overlapping the white eyeshadow from the last step. Finally, apply black eyeshadow to the outside of the lid, overlapping the gray eyeshadow. You should now have three bands of eyeshadow, lightest nearest your nose and darkest at the outside edges of your eyes.

• Use a blending brush to blur the transitions between the three eyeshadows, pulling the eyeshadow into any creases in your eyelids as well. Move the brush back and forth across the eyelid to make a smooth, seamless blend. You now have a nice fade pattern across the lid, and you just need to add a bit of natural colors to complement it.

• Add a brown shadow above the eyelid crease. Apply lightly, blending as you go. The brown should extend slightly outside of the black shadow on the outside of your eyelid. Use your blending brush to smooth the brown into the black, gray, and white eyeshadows below. If you don't blend everything smoothly, it ends up looking awkward!

• Contouring makes this look stand out even more! Grab your white eyeshadow again and apply to the brow bone, smoothing as you go. This makes the smokey eye even better, as it draws attention to your eyelid makeup.

• Apply black eyeliner to darken the eye, and then add mascara to complete the smokey eye look. It's important to use the brown (or some other color) because using just black, gray, and white ends up looking too monochromatic and unnatural. The brown helps the outside of the smokey eye blend into your natural skin tone.

• When you're done, you should have a nice gradient across the eyelid, again with white toward the center of your face, and black on the outside edges of your eyelids. With the remaining colors defining a contour for your eyes and brow, you'll have a very polished, beautiful look.

• You can also match this look to the clothes you're wearing, by switching the black and white for colors that match your clothes. For example, if you're wearing a bright blue dress, you could use blue for the outside color, and a skin tone for the inside, creating a dramatic look that highlights what the dress.

K x