Traditional smoky eyes are great and all, but sometimes I need a to flip things around a bit to keep life interesting. This is where under-eye smoke comes in—a bare, silky lid with warm, smoky colors swirling underneath. You get the look and feel of a smoky eye, but none of the calories—or clichéd tutorials.

The perfect quad for this look is Chanel's Les 4 Ombres in #234 Poesie, though understandably if you don’t want to scour eBay for a discontinued palette, any deep, metallic plum eyeshadow and Champagne offering will do. Tom Ford’s Eyeshadow Quad in Orchid Haze is pretty close. The lightest Champagne colors will go on your top lid, blended from your brow to your lash line. Then blend two shades of purple—one light, one dark—under your lower lash line, applying generously in swiping motions with a brush to create a haze-effect.

Then, take a deep, plummy pencil and line your lower water line. Emphasize the look with a bit of black pencil eyeliner on the corners of your bottom lash line. Finish the look off with a violet mascara like Yves Saint Laurent's Volume Effet Faux Cils Mascara in Fascinating Violet, which is softer than black but adds a surprising vibrancy to the whole look. It's mystery de-mystified, if you will.

—Stacey Nishimoto

Photos courtesy of the author. Next up: Stacey's guide to contouring with anything at your disposal.