Today I wanted to share a tutorial using none other than the totally sexy Urban Decay Smoky Palette which I previously reviewed here. Although there are a variety of looks that you can create with this palette, I thought it would only be appropriate to share its namesake look: the smoky eye.

This smoky is very red carpet glamorous but not too over-the top so I consider it more of an everyday smoky you'd wear on a date night or going to a special event.

Yes mom, you can wear red lips with a smoky eye! *teenage angst*

I bet you didn't know you were applying your lipstick wrong!

Well, okay, maybe there's no wrong way to apply lipstick but I didn't realize that there was a technique until I was recently helping my lipstick-novice friend try a dashing new shade of scarlet and she asked "How do I apply it?"

Woah. Lightbulb moment. Bright lips take some serious planning to make application look perfect. After years of experimenting with every lipstick shade under the sun, I took this fact for granted and completely glossed over the fact that there indeed are steps that make the process way easier!


Therefore, my Lipstick 101 tutorial was born. (If you haven't seen the rest of my 101 Basics series, you can check them out on youtube or on the blog here.) Some of you might be like me and usually apply it straight from the tube but then need to amp it up on date night so I shared two different ways to have the perfect (and easy) lipstick application. Check out the video & swatches below!