$11, L'Oréal Paris
After the prolific explosion of colour-blocking in the ’80s — from Cyndi Lauper’s hair to Boy George’s, well, everything — is it any wonder that the ’90s beauty motto was: less is more? Well, that attitude has now been adopted by 2012’s smoky eye: the typical tri-colours have been paired down to just one hue. We choose L’Oréal Paris’ La Couleur Infallible Eyeshadow in Pebble Grey. The semi-loose powder is highly pigmented so not only does a little go a long way, you can easily manipulate how much eyeshadow you want to wear. Apply with a heavy hand along the lash line, build the colour to a medium intensity across the eye lid and then fade the product out so that it’s barely there at the brow bone and voilà, an edgy, modern-looking smoky eye. Now who said that makeup had to be complicated to look good?
2012 beauty guide: Check out all 100 of our favourite expert-approved beauty products
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