Hi everyone,
First of all, have you joined my latest giveaway sponsored by Skintritious yet?
Lately, I have seen a couple of pictures and YouTube videos with claims of doing "the new smokey eyes." We all know this technique is very popular, especially now with the recent launch of MAC x Carine Roitfeld. However, people tend to confuse smokey eyes with its cousin, the cut the crease technique. And I don't blame them! On certain eyes, these two can look eerily similar until the wearer closes her eyes, of course!
The purpose of this post is no other than to distinguish these two techniques. In the past, I already wrote posts with detailed explanations on how to create smokey eyes as well as how to cut the crease. It's safe to spend a couple of minutes to click through these links before we move on :)
The thing about smokey eyes and cut the crease is you don't have to use black or nudes to create them. In fact, they don't relate to a color family at all. They are just techniques. However, people tend to think of black as the color for smokey eyes and nudes as the color group for cut the crease. Therefore, I decided to use these techniques on my eyes using a different color family altogether: blue. With cut the crease, I added a pop of pink for drama :)
And now, for the fun part: which technique was used on which eye?
Of course, this is easy to tell since it is a close up. But how about this?
A little bit harder, yeah? I guess this is where people makes mistake in distinguishing the techniques, especially when the model has deep set monolid eyes like mine. But once you take a closer look at the close or semi-close eyes, the distinctions are more palpable:
Let's see:
This is a blue smokey eyes look. You expect to see a gradient with the darkest color closer to the eyelashes and the lightest color blended upward and outward to the eyebrows.
The only brush I use for this look is MAC 217 blending brush. In fact, I think it's the only brush you are going to need for smokey eyes.
And this is a cutting the crease technique using blue and pink:
Because I wanted to emphasize the technique, the cut was a lot deeper into the inside of the eye and a lot less blended. For the other looks I did in the past, I blended the line a lot more and emphasized the darkest color on the outer-v area.
I used the angle liner to cut, the slanted eyeshading brush to add more color to the crease line, and the blending brush (MAC 217) to blend. In the past, my cutting the crease brush trifecta used to be MAC 266 (angle liner), MAC 219 (pencil brush), and MAC 217 (blending.) But I found the first two to be ineffective for this technique and the ones I am using now are much, much better.
To me, smokey eyes are more seamless and romantic than cutting the crease eyes. You can do it quite haphazardly and it still comes out right, as long as you blend the colors together. Cutting the crease requires more control but the result is a much, much more emphasized and dramatic look that smokey eyes do not have. Both techniques require practice but once you get a hold of them, the results are lovely.
Oh, btw, I took the pictures at around midnight. Hence, the bad lightning and my face was duller than butter!
That's all for now, y'all! Have fun!
Love,
Dao xoxo
P.S: Please show your support by following my blog and
subscribing to my feed. Thanks a lot!
First of all, have you joined my latest giveaway sponsored by Skintritious yet?
Lately, I have seen a couple of pictures and YouTube videos with claims of doing "the new smokey eyes." We all know this technique is very popular, especially now with the recent launch of MAC x Carine Roitfeld. However, people tend to confuse smokey eyes with its cousin, the cut the crease technique. And I don't blame them! On certain eyes, these two can look eerily similar until the wearer closes her eyes, of course!
The purpose of this post is no other than to distinguish these two techniques. In the past, I already wrote posts with detailed explanations on how to create smokey eyes as well as how to cut the crease. It's safe to spend a couple of minutes to click through these links before we move on :)
- Smokey eyes: my first tutorial on the smokey eyes and another one that's a bit easier to create, all from 2008!
- Cut the crease: the first FOTD with instructions (not quite a tutorial but it's not that bad!) and Jessie J inspired makeup using this technique with orange and brown.
The thing about smokey eyes and cut the crease is you don't have to use black or nudes to create them. In fact, they don't relate to a color family at all. They are just techniques. However, people tend to think of black as the color for smokey eyes and nudes as the color group for cut the crease. Therefore, I decided to use these techniques on my eyes using a different color family altogether: blue. With cut the crease, I added a pop of pink for drama :)
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| Colors I used: First row: MAC C-shock, Pink Blossoms pigment by the same name company, Steamy Second row: Cool Heat, Warming Trend, Flashtrack |
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| Brushes I used: (L-R) MAC 217, ELF eyeshading brush, EcoTools slanted eyelining brush |
Of course, this is easy to tell since it is a close up. But how about this?
A little bit harder, yeah? I guess this is where people makes mistake in distinguishing the techniques, especially when the model has deep set monolid eyes like mine. But once you take a closer look at the close or semi-close eyes, the distinctions are more palpable:
Let's see:
This is a blue smokey eyes look. You expect to see a gradient with the darkest color closer to the eyelashes and the lightest color blended upward and outward to the eyebrows.
The only brush I use for this look is MAC 217 blending brush. In fact, I think it's the only brush you are going to need for smokey eyes.
And this is a cutting the crease technique using blue and pink:
Because I wanted to emphasize the technique, the cut was a lot deeper into the inside of the eye and a lot less blended. For the other looks I did in the past, I blended the line a lot more and emphasized the darkest color on the outer-v area.
I used the angle liner to cut, the slanted eyeshading brush to add more color to the crease line, and the blending brush (MAC 217) to blend. In the past, my cutting the crease brush trifecta used to be MAC 266 (angle liner), MAC 219 (pencil brush), and MAC 217 (blending.) But I found the first two to be ineffective for this technique and the ones I am using now are much, much better.
To me, smokey eyes are more seamless and romantic than cutting the crease eyes. You can do it quite haphazardly and it still comes out right, as long as you blend the colors together. Cutting the crease requires more control but the result is a much, much more emphasized and dramatic look that smokey eyes do not have. Both techniques require practice but once you get a hold of them, the results are lovely.
Oh, btw, I took the pictures at around midnight. Hence, the bad lightning and my face was duller than butter!
That's all for now, y'all! Have fun!
Love,
Dao xoxo
P.S: Please show your support by following my blog and
subscribing to my feed. Thanks a lot!
