Five Minute Face and Smoky Eye Makeup Tutorial

This week, I did the thing that I somehow manage to do every time I have to be anywhere or do anything; I ended up rushing. If I know I have to be somewhere at a certain time in the morning, I'll get up early, have my clothes chosen the night before, and feel confident that I'm organised. Somehow though, I seem to waste time pottering about and end up panicking with my pyjama bottoms still on ten minutes before I have to leave.

I had a fancy work related dinner this week - I knew that we were meeting in the hotel lobby at half seven. So I get into the bath at six, have a read of the paper, look at my phone, and it's SEVEN FIFTEEN! Much running about in crab formation to 'air dry' ensued, while I had to discard my planned makeup look, and figure out what I could do in ten minutes that wouldn't look too sloppy.

Naturally, in the panic, I put my dress on backwards, but STILL had time to put it to rights and get my makeup on before belting myself out the door. I went for a slightly smoky look, and was honestly, genuinely stressed and rushed. So if I can get dressed and made up and take pictures in less time than it takes to make tea and toast, so can you!

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Step One 

  • Because I was in an almighty hurry, I opted to freshen the foundation I'd been wearing all day rather than reapply it. Much of it had wandered during my overly relaxed time in the bath, so I spritzed with a facial mist, then reapplied concealer with a fluffy brush and filled in my brows again with Illamasqua brow gel in Awe, then bashed on some Clarins Multi-Blush in Grenadine.
  • Because the careful liner I had planned wasn't an option in the six minutes now left to me, I grabbed the first palette in my travel bag (which was Chanel's admittedly splendiferous Autumn Palette; Les 4 Ombres in Tissé d'Automne).

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Step Two

  • Grabbing a flat shadow brush, I quickly patted the pink shade (top right in the above photo) all over the lid, and then buffed the bronze shade (botton left in the photo) along my lashline, blending it gently up and out so that the lashline and outer edge of the eye were slightly darker than the rest of the lid. I then ran the same shade quickly along the lower lashline too.
  • Checking my clock all the time, and making little squealy panic sounds, I took five seconds or so to add another layer of the same shade, then grabbed a black kohl liner (this one, from YSL) and smudged it along the upper lashline as in the top right of the above photo.

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Step Three

  • Next, I went over the bronze shadow with the dark brown in the palette, then traced along the upper and lower waterlines with the same black liner.
  • Finally, I dabbed some of the green shadow along the centre of the lid and under the eye, then whacked on some mascara - just on the top; no time for the bottom!

And now, so that you can appreciate the totality of the transformation, see below. (I wore the turban because I only had time to dry the front of my hair. Oh, don't you judge.

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Have you ever had this rush and panic? And do you like a quick smoky eye? To the comments!

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