Soft Brown Winged Eyes (feat. Lancôme Hypnose Star Eyes in ST1 Brun Adoré)
It’s not surprising that the “neutral” palettes from brands like Urban Decay, Too Faced, TheBalm, NYX, and scores of other brands are almost always bestsellers around the world. They are perfect “fall-back” colors for when you can’t really think of what you want to wear, and a great investment because they pretty much complement any outfit, skintone, hair color and eye color, and go with most blush and lip shades too.
Out of the newly-launched Lancome Hypnose eye palettes, there are a number of “neutral-themed” brown/beige ones. But my ABSOLUTE favorite is the Star Eyes palette in Brun Adore because:
- it’s very pigmented. Most of the Lancome palettes are pigmented anyway, but this has possibly one of the richest payoffs in the bunch, which means it will be easy to build up and blend
- it’s not too cool and not too warm. Some brown palettes are a bit peachy (warm) or grey (cool) toned. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re going to invest in just one expensive palette, pick the browns that are neutral because they will go with any color or outfit, and flatter most skintones.
- it has 2 deep shades so it’s extremely versatile, and will show up beautifully on darker skins as well. You can use the softer shades on their own for work or school, or throw in the 2 darker shades for your own sultry Victoria’s Secret bombshell look.
The tutorial…
As always, you can substitute similar shadows you have for the ones I used! You also don’t need to match all the shades in order to pull off the look.
First, I used the black-brown matte liner shade shown and applied it to the upper lash line like an eyeliner.
Tip: I do this as a first step because I want a softened effect. (If you apply it as a last step, you get a stronger more defined line.
Next, I used the 2 lid shades in the palette, a soft Irish cream color, and a latte on the lid, with the lighter on the inner halves and darker on the outer halves.
Tip: When you’re applying the light browns, overlap the black slightly, but don’t go right down to the lash line. You want to retain a soft gradient, so it’s darkest at the lashes.
The last color you want to apply is a smoky brown. This is a definer shade that will add some contour and drama to your eye. You just want it to be deeper than the lid shades but not quite as dark as the liner shade you applied first.
Tip: Use a pointed pencil brush or a firm and flattened brush to apply the color with precision.
Then you blend it out so the color fades into the paler shade and out toweards your brows. Just use a clean, soft shadow brush to sweep back and forth along your socket line in a wind-shield wiper movement, until the color becomes soft and fades out to nothing at the edges.
Tip: At the outer ends, pull your brush straight outward instead of going down all the way. This lifts the look and gives it a sexier, cattier shape.
To increase the drama, you can opt to apply a little black liner to the waterline on upper and lower lashes. This completes the “smoky lash line” effect and really emphasizes the shape of the eyes.
Tip: If you have mono-lids or hooded lids, just apply it to the lower waterline and don’t worry about tightlining at the top.
Product used: I used Maybelline Master Drama in Midnight Drama.
You can wear a set of falsies if you want, because they complement smoky brown eyes perfectly. I just went for mascara.
Product used: VDL Eye Bomb mascara
