One of the most popular eye looks in the makeup world is the “smokey eye;” an effect you can do with eye shadow to create more definition on your lids. This eye look is versatile for any type of event that you’re going too. It’s also really easy to customize the look to your taste, by picking and choosing your own colors. Although this eye look is rather easy to create, it’s just as easy to mess it up.  Here are five easy steps to creating the perfect eye look.

1. Start out with an eyelid primer to create an even, smooth base for your shadows. Primers also help to keep your shadow on for a really long time. It prevents any type of smearing, melting, or creasing.

2. Use a regular eye shadow brush, take a neutral skin color shadow and shade your lids with it. This will also help to create a clean base for your shadows. Then, take a smaller shadow brush with a bright cream/white color, and shadow your inner corners. This helps to brighten up yours eyes and make you look more awake.

3. Next, take a more fluffy crease brush and dip it into a taupe brown. Lightly work the brush into your crease in a windshield wiper motion. Focus on the outer corners of your lid — you want the outside to be a bit darker.

4. With an even darker color, use an angled crease brush and work that into the outer V of your eye. The outer V is the outside corner of your lid that is closet to your ear. This creates a really pretty contrast between the bright white between your eyes and the darkness of the corner.

5. BLEND! This is absolutely the most important step to this process. You want to blend it all until there are no harsh lines or weirdly dark parts. Blend it to your liking, and finish your look off with eyeliner (if you don’t know what eyeliner to use, check out this Makeup Monday).

See, not so hard right? This is a perfect look for Valentines Day, or any other holidays that are coming up. If you’re going to pick and choose your colors, there is a format you need to follow to make sure your colors coincide. The lid color has to be the lightest, the crease color needs to be dark and the outer V needs to be the darkest. If any of you try out this look or any other Makeup Monday advice, take an Instagram pic and hashtag #nwnmakeup.