Beauty + Health

Glittery Pink Smokey Eye – Valentine’s Day Makeup Tutorial

I know, I know. Many of you requested a more simple Valentine’s Day makeup tutorial. And I swear, I had all the plans and intentions on doing a simple makeup look. But then, I got the new Stila Glitter and Glo eyeshadow and I don’t know what happened. Before I knew it, I had this rather dramatic, glittery pink smokey eye look and I loved it so much that I’ve recreated it at least 5 times. And then, when I shared a shot of it on my Instagram, the response was OVERWHELMINGLY positive. Ya’ll wanted a tutorial! Soooo, here goes. Also, please enjoy the various faces that come with shooting a makeup tutorial – I’m convinced there’s just no way to take flattering photos while applying makeup.

Products Used:

Start with the Eyes:

1. Start with priming the eyes. I actually used concealer as a primer because my eyes are a little veiny and uneven in skin color. A regular eye primer doesn’t do a very good job of giving me an even base, so using concealer works better for me. I always set down my concealer with translucent powder or a skin-colored eye-shadow to help all the other shadows blend better and to prevent the concealer from creasing.
2. I first start out with my transition shades. Transition shades are pretty necessary for smokey eye looks because they help those darker colors blend softly out and prevent harsh lines. I dipped into my favorite transition shade in the Jaclyn Hill X Morphe palette Silk Cream. This is literally one of the best universal transition shades EVER and it blends out like a dream. I placed this all over my crease, down into my lid and up towards my brow bone.
3. Since I’m going for a pink smokey look, I decided to use my Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renisicanne palette. This palette is full of bold pinks and reds, so it was almost a no-brainer to use it for this look. I first used the shade Love Letter on a more pointed blending brush and blended it into my crease, but didn’t take it as high as the transition shade. After building Love Letter up to the desired color, I then dipped my brush into Venetian Red. I placed this color in the same place but kept it lower in the crease than Love Letter. I also built the color up more on the outer v of my eye.
4. Next – the good part! I took a synthetic shader brush and dipped it into the prettiest pink/silver shimmer color in the Jaclyn Hill palette, Faint. After getting some of the product on my brush, I sprayed it with some setting spray. This helps prevent fall out and gives the shadow a more foiled, metallic look. Additionally, I find that it gives me more control over where I’m putting the eyeshadow. I packed this shadow all over the first half of my eye-lid.
5. Next, I dipped my brush into the dark purple shadow called Soda Pop from the Jaclyn Hill palette. I used this strictly on the outer corner of my eye to smoke out the look and add more dimension to my eyes.
6. I dipped my big fluffy brush back into my transition shade (Silk Cream) and gently brushed it over the top part of the eyeshadow to blend everything out again and to make sure I had no harsh lines.
7. Finally, we get to the star of the show: The Stila Glitter and Glow. I decided to use the shade Kitten Karma since it had a beautiful silver/pink color to it and would layer perfectly over the shimmer shadow I laid down. This glitter shadow is BOMB! I love that it is SO sparkly but that the glitter doesn’t get everywhere. Plus, it dries down on the eyelid REALLY fast, so it stays put and doesn’t crease. It’s everything any girl could ever want in a glitter shadow.

Next, the face:

1. Now that the eyes are done, it’s time to prime the rest of my skin! I used my trusty Nivea Post-Shave Balm (yes, this is a men’s product and yes, it’s an amazing primer) and pressed that into my skin. I’ve been using this as a primer a ton recently because my skin has been dry and this adds a lot of moisture to my skin.
2. Since this was a more glamorous look, I decided to use my Make Up For Ever Ultimate HD Foundation Stick for the foundation. This is one of my favorite full coverage foundations and I love how easy it is to apply. I just do two swipes on each cheek and one on my forehead and then blend out with a buffing brush. Since this foundation is a little too dark for me right now, I did add a couple drops of the NYX Total Control cover drops in Vanilla to lighten it up so it would match my current skin color better.
3. After buffing out my foundation, I went in with the holy grail of concealers – the Tarte Shape Tape, of course. Nothing new there!
4. I set my concealer with the Wet-N-Wild megaglo Contouring Palette (I have mine in the shade Dolce Cabana.) This is my favorite drugstore contour and highlight and the eye setting powder is incredibly brightening.
5. I have my eyebrows microbladed but I decided to fill them in a little with some powder to make them a little more strong (since this is a strong look!) I followed it with some brow gel by Maybelline and SPOILER ALERT: It’s not as good as the Essence Make Me Brow Gel. #sorrynotsorry but it just is not.
6. Time for the contour! I used my trusty Kat Von D Shade and Light contour kit for this. I started using an angled blush brush for my contour recently and have been loving the results. I find that it blends out the contour really nicely, but still gives me a lot of control over it. Highly recommend (my favorite is a Sonia Kashuk blush brush!)
7. After blending out the contour, I used my Physician’s Formula Butter Bronzer to warm up my complexion. I placed this over the contour and brought it up along my forehead and my jawline. P.S. this stuff smells so yummy and it’s also the best drugstore bronzer in the world so I highly recommend it.

Time to finish the Eyes:

1. Time to go back to my eyes! I lined my eyes with my new favorite liquid liner: the Wet N Wild Super Skinny liner. I have a whole series of stories saved on my Instagram profile, but this is an amazing dupe for the Stila Stay All Day liquid liner. it’s so inky black, has amazing staying power, and applies very similarly. PLUS! It’s only 3 bucks. Sooooo long story short, it’s the best.

2. After lining my eyes, I got brave and decided to apply my magnetic lashes. Again, there is a WHOLE epic adventure saved to my Instagram stories of me trying these things out and how I figured out how to apply them. I was able to get these on within 2 minutes total, which is a huge improvement for me. I really loved how they opened my eyes and brought this eye look together.

3. I smoked my lower lashline out with Love Letter from the ABH Modern Renaissance palette and applied a coat of mascara to my lower lashes. I also took the Colour Pop super shock cheek highlighter in Lunch Money and smudged that in the inner corners of my eyes to help brighten them up and make my eyes look even bigger.

Finishing Touches:

1. Back to the face! I popped on some Too Faced Love Blush in the shade How Deep Is Your Love. I figured since this was a Valentine’s Day makeup look, it would be appropriate to use the heart-shaped blush that had “love” in the name. But, I also love that this color gave my cheeks a rosy glow!
2. HIGHLIGHT TIME! My favorite part of my makeup routine, hands down! I wanted to go with something super stunning and glamorous since my eyes were already glittery. I mixed the shades Daylight and Skylight in my Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Skin Twinkle V2 palette and it was PERFECT. Also, I seriously think that if I was on a deserted island and was only allowed one highlighting palette, that would be it. I reach for it almost every day and the powders are just so soft and blend out so beautifully. They aren’t chunky or glittery and they have amazing glow power.
3. Time for a lip color! I went with the NYX Powder Puff in the color
4. Finally, I set my makeup with my e.l.f. Active Cool-Down Mist to help melt the powders into my skin and keep everything into place.

Ta-DA! Glittery Pink Smokey Valentine’s Day GOODNESS! This eye look is a little more advanced, but I promise if you take your time and really blend it out your eyeshadows (and be patient in building them.) Here are some final thoughts to leave you with:

1. The Stila Glitter & Glow eyeshadows are the bomb. I love them so much. But, they are expensive – $25.00 a pop. BUT! Sephora has an amazing trio of three smaller sized Glitter & Glow shadows that they sell as a set for $25.00. Literally, the best bang for your buck and you get more than one color!
2. I’ve been trying out the NYX Powder Puff Lipstick for a couple weeks ago and I’m still undecided how I feel about it. It’s a really pretty color and it dries down to a comfortable velvet finish, but it goes on kind of patchy. Also, it definitely transfers (just ask my co-worker who rode down in the elevator with me a couple weeks ago and didn’t tell me that I had it ALL OVER my face. Ugh.) So, I guess it’s not that great of a product – I definitely would recommend one of the new Pixi matte liquid lipsticks over this product.
3. Both the Modern Renaissance Palette and the Jaclyn Hill x Morphe Palette were mentioned in my 40 BEST BEAUTY PRODUCTS TO TRY IN 2018. In fact, they were the two out of the three eyeshadow palettes that made that list. So yes, I highly recommend both of them! If you’re looking for more help picking out new makeup to try, definitely check that post out!

PHEW! Let me know if this was a helpful tutorial and what other looks you might want to see. I had so much fun putting this one together! And hey, if you liked this tutorial, I’d SO appreciate it if you would pin this to Pinterest!