Beautiful eye makeup in 3 easy steps

It's easy to enhance the natural beauty of your eyes with subtle highlighting and shadow. Following these three steps, you can create your perfect look, whether for a night out with friends, a holiday party, or simply because it makes you feel radiant.

Use your eyeliner of choice – pencil or brush – to frame your eyes.

1. Start from the outside corners of the upper eyelids and work inwards. Get as close as you can to the lashes.
2. Line under the eye, as close as possible to the lashes, starting only from the middle and working outwards.
3. Gently smudge this bottom line with a cotton bud so that it isn't too stark.

Next, apply a base colour of shadow that almost matches your eyelids.

1. Sweep the base colour across the lid from the inside out, and up to the brow bones.
2. Add a slightly darker shade to the lid only, not up to the brow bone.
3. Add the darkest shade in the crease at the top of your eyelid.
4. Blend the three shades into one another, to create a subtle grading effect, using a cotton bud or blending sponge.
5. Apply a dab of highlighter to your brow bone and blend from the mid brow outwards.
6. Brighten the eye by adding a dab of highlighter to the inner corner of each eye where upper and lower lids meet.

Mascara is what gives your look the finishing touch.

1. With your chin pulled downwards and your eyes looking up, brush the lower lashes of each eye with mascara. Remove excess mascara from the brush first.
2. Look down and stroke mascara onto the upper lashes, separating them as you work. Move the brush side to side at the roots, then outwards, so the lashes fan out.
3. Mascara looks best when applied in thin layers. Let each layer dry before building on it.

If the lashes clump, brush them out with a mascara comb once they are dry.

To get the right look, it's important to sit in front of a magnifying mirror in a good light and set out your palette: eyeliner, three complementary tones of shadow, highlighter, brushes and mascara. With a little time and some experimentation, you'll soon learn how to achieve the look you desire.