I'm Rick James B*tch!

I'm You Tube gun-shy.  I just finished my most recent video on how to take your day makeup to a nighttime look, and I have a tickling urge to post it, and all my future videos, for the world to see on the Tube.  It's like the ego-business savvy part of me is saying "post it!  Who cares about the pervs and the mean opinions that may get thrown at you"; but the girl that grew up afraid of strangers is saying "that's a whole world of windowless-vans-at-the-playground you're getting yourself into!"  I'm gonna do it...  It's time to expand my reach and Théa-fye by the masses.  How else do I expect to get on Oprah?

The said Video is here...

The colours I used to darken the eye from a Day to Night look, were a sparkly black, a matte brown, some smudgy black eyeliner, and an off-white highlighter.  However, there are so many other colour combinations you can use!  A couple of my favourite colour combinations, using the same technique as the video include:

• A Smokey Bronzed eye
• Dark bronze smudged into the crease of the eye, and under the lower lashes
• I like a deep bronze with some Copper undertones
• Blend with a matte dark brown over the crease and under the lash line 
• By mixing matte and frosted shadows, you can build a sophisticated smokey eye, instead of a drag-ish smokey eye (not that there's anything wrong with that - DAMN those Drag queens do some amazing makeup - just not good for "drinks on a Friday night"...  A bit much)
• Add some Gold to the centre of the eye to add some further dimension
• When you look down and there's a pop of Gold, it draws attention to your pretty peepers
• Smudge a Dark Brown eyeliner along the top of the upper lash line
• Line the inner rim of the eye with the same dark brown eyeliner
• Highlight under the brow and into the corner of your eye with a light Champagne colour
• Highlighting can help with blending in a major way.  If you've gone a little crazy and are looking slightly Racoonish, get out your highlighter, or just a lighter coloured eyeshadow and start to blend/tone things down.
• An Intense Carbon Grey Smokey eye
• Matte Black eyeshadow smudged into the crease of the eye and under the lash line
• I like the pigment of MAC Black eyeshadow, as well as Makeup Forever eyeshadow
• Further blend the crease and under the lower lash line with a dark carbon grey eyeshadow
• I like a little bit of a frost in the carbon grey colour to add some dimension to the eye
• Smudge some intense black eyeliner along the top of the lash line, extending the liner out past the outer corner of your eye.  Blend the eyeliner with some of the matte black eyeshadow and smudge it up into the outer crease
• Make sure the eyeliner you use can be smudged easily, and has a rich black pigment
• Line the inner rims of the eyes with black eye liner
• Add a highlight of silver to the inner third of the eye
• Add a champagne highlighter under the brow bone, and blend it into the silver shadow at the inner corner of the eye.

** All the colour combos that I mention above can be used with any brand of makeup you have on hand...  Just remember that the key to a successful smokey eye is BLENDING!!!


Hmmmm, perhaps some additional smokey eye video tutorials are in order...  There are just SO MANY awesome smokey eyes that you can do...  Once you learn the essential parts of the eye and eyelid that need to be accentuated, deepened, and highlighted, you can use the smokey eye principles to create a pretty neutral eye as well.  Y'all are well on your way to becoming makeup and beauty experts!

Let me know of any particular looks you need help with, and I would be happy to create a video tutorial on it!  In the meantime, I'm gearing up to expand the reach of my already long-ass arms, and you tubing it starting NOW.

xo T

PS.  I have a surprise in the works...  But I'm not sharing yet tehe

PPS.  I've decided I have the coolest readership, and because I'm not a huge high-five fan I give y'all a low or side-five.  "What did five fingers say to the face??!! SLAP!!!" --Rick James