For this look, I brightened up a deep teal smokey eye by applying a true gold eyeshadow on the inner part of the lid.  Using a lighter, shimmery shade on the inner lid adds some contrast when using deeper colours elsewhere on the lid.

Here’s how to re-create this look:

Click here to read my article ‘Parts of the Eye’ for help on where to place eyeshadow colours.

Products

Base: MAC Paint Pot in Cash Flow (gold)
Lid: Urban Decay Loaded eyeshadow (dark blackened greenish-teal)
Outer Corner: MAC Plumage eyeshadow (dark matte bottlegreen)
Inner Lid: MAC Barefoot eyeshadow (medium shimmery true gold)
Highlight: MAC Ricepaper eyeshadow (light shimmery cream-gold)
Lower Lashline: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliner in Honey (bright honey-gold)
Black mascara (upper and lower lashes)
Cheeks: Illamasqua Blusher in Sophie (soft coral with gold sparkles)
Cheek Highlighter: The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer (light champagne-gold) (click to read more about this product)
Lips: MAC Huggable Lip Colour in Fresh and Frisky (light coral-peach)

Steps

1. Apply Cash Flow all over the lid as a base. You can either use your fingers or a flat synthetic brush (e.g. MAC 242).  If you don’t have a gold eyeshadow base, you can also use a clear (e.g. Urban Decay Primer Potion) or skin-toned primer in its place.

2. Take a crease/blender brush (e.g. MAC 127) and gently pat Loaded on to the eyelid.  I used a crease/blender brush instead of a flat shader brush for this step as I wanted to keep the colour very soft and diffused (flat shader brushes generally make a colour look more dense and packed on).

3. Lightly pat Bottlegreen in the outer corner using a windshield wiper motion (e.g. MAC 217).  Take Bottlegreen very slightly into the crease.  This step adds a little extra depth to the eyes.

4. Take a small eyeshadow brush (e.g. MAC 228) and pat Barefoot onto the inner part of the lid.  This step adds a little extra brightness to the eyes when using smokier shades on the lid.  You can use a crease/blender brush for this step if you want to stick to only using one brush.

5. Using a crease/blender brush (e.g. MAC 217) or a pointed crease brush (e.g. MAC 226), sweep Ricepaper on to the browbone to highlight and blend out the edges of the crease colour.

6. Take Honey (or any other gold eye liner) and lightly draw a thin line along the lower lashline.  Use a clean finger (or a pencil brush like the MAC 219) to soften the line.  If you want to make the look smokier, you can run Loaded eyeshadow along the lower lashline (with the MAC 219 or MAC 266) and then lightly trace over it with Honey.

7. Apply black mascara to the top and bottom lashes.

8. Take a blusher brush (e.g. Real Techniques Multi-Task Brush) and apply Sophie blusher to the cheeks.

9. Take a small contour or highlight brush (e.g. Real Techniques Setting Brush) and dust Mary-Lou Manizer on to the top of the cheekbones.  This step helps to highlight the cheekbones and make them look more pronounced.  You can also apply a little of Mary-Lou Manizer lightly at the top of the cupid’s bow (on your lips), lightly across the forehead and down the centre of the nose to further brighten the face.

10. Apply Fresh and Frisky to the lips.  I love combining peachy or coral-toned lip colours with green and teal eyeshadow looks.

Here are some full face pictures showing the complete look: