Smokey eyes are a dramatic kind of makeup; therefore they're best used for a night out, rather than a day look. Although makeup rules were always made to be broken.

When using dark colours, it can be best to apply your eyeshadow before the rest of your makeup, so you can use makeup remover to tidy up your eyeshadow without worrying about removing your face products. Alternatively, you can brush a thick layer of white eyeshadow or face powder on the tops of your cheeks under your eyes. Make sure it's thick and loose, then apply your eyeshadow, any flakes of dark powder that fall will land on the white layer of powder and can afterwards be brushed lightly off with a powder brush, leaving you stain free.

Now for the eyeshadow itself. A smoky look can be achieved with a variety of dark colours, brown and black are the most popular. You need around three separate shades of eyeshadow to really go for a good look. For the black look, you will need black shadow, grey, and silver or white. You can of course do this with just a blending of white and black shadows; it's up to you. For the brown look, dark and light shades of brown, plus gold or copper for a metallic shimmer effect that really adds to the overall look. You could also use dark green, metallic blue or indeed any dark colour such as these to use on the highlights of the actual eyelid. I will explain more below.

Begin with a light application of foundation to your eyelid; this will give the eyeshadow something to cling on to, as well as bringing out the best colour of your eyeshadow.

Once the foundation has been even applied and has dried, use a medium sized eyeshadow brush (MAC or Smashbox brands are quite good) and apply your darkest shade to the natural hollows of your eyes. These are places that would typically cast their own shadow. These places are the inside and outside edges of your eyelid (the part that covers the eyeball) sweep in from the corner about a centimetre, leaving the very middle part above your Iris (if you were staring straight forward) bare. You're going to put the highlight here to draw attention to your lovely eyes themselves. Another part that needs shading is under the brow, feel your skull beneath your eyebrow, the beneath the outer edge your eye bone sweeps down, beneath this bone is where you need to shade.

Then, preferably using a clean medium eyeshadow brush, apply a shade in a few tones lighter than your darkest colour. This goes over the whole eye, leaving about

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