Blue Smoke

I've mentioned before how all the effort to keep one's eyes look young and bright doesn't necessary go well with the smoky eye look, especially if you're trying to use black as the base color. This is why I save the black liner for the cleaner brighter look of natural and brown shadows, and look for alternatives for creating a smoky look.

One that works really well for me is combining Lancome Artliner in Smoke with their Color Design eye shadow in Garment.


Smoke, despite its name has way more blue in it than grey. It's pretty much navy color (something that's been missing from this line in a while. Their blueberry color, while very pretty, is way too light and bright for non-blondes. It looks garish on my skin and does nothing for my dark brown eyes), less dramatic than black, but still dark enough to define the lid nicely.



Garment is one of their Intense series. Strongly pigmented color that isn't shy about it. It is surprisingly wearable, though. It's not shimmery and the blue, while unmistakable is elegant and lady-like. It's not screaming 80s, that's for sure. The texture is soft, blends well with other shadows, responds nicely to different brushes and can play a part in many looks, depending on the brush and the amount of color you're using. The only complaint I might have is regarding it's staying power- though it didn't crease on my lid, it faded significantly when I didn't use a primer underneath.


I created a lovely evening look by combining these shadow and liner with just a touch of Bourjois' silver eye shadow (applied with a soft, thick eye contour brush).