A smoky eye with hints of purple is fast becoming my “summer makeup look”. I have no idea why, because usually I can’t stand purple shadows! I think that perhaps it’s because the purple has been mixed with quite a warm, rich brown and so it makes blue eyes bluer – I’m never going to argue with that kind of result. What do you think?

I’ve used (once again!) the YSL Marrakech Sunset palette, mixing the two darkest shades and applying them to the outer corners of my eyelids and then underneath the lower lashline. I’d like to say that I have a set application technique, but I don’t: I just clart around with a few of my Real Techniques brushes until I achieve my desired effect! However: I will say that there’s one brush that I find indispensable and that’s the Deluxe Crease Brush. You can get it as part of a set at Boots.com. It’s a large-headed shadow brush that’s very good for creating a smoked look – I just place it in the crease of my eye at the outer corner and kind of twiddle it around and around in that general area until it creates the desired depth of tone. I then blend the same shadow over the lid but only really on the outer third or half and I use a lighter shadow on the part of my eyelid that’s closest to my nose. This seems to work for me and it’s my quickfire way of getting a bit of shape going on in the eye area! (I’ve blatantly oversimplified this, and of course it’s not just luck, but I will say that a lot of experimentation goes into my eye looks! It can be very hit and miss.)

Here’s that beautiful YSL palette again. It is strange that I’ve gravitated towards the purple when all of the other shades are so “me”, but I like the change. No doubt I’ll be back to taupes and bronzes and pinky-golds next week, but for now I’m enjoying my violet-eyed alter ego!

The Marrakech Sunset palette is here online and the brush set that contains the crease brush is here.

*PS: my most sincere apologies for the grammatical errors in yesterday’s Daily Fix email. That’s what happens when you spend too long staring at words on a screen – you completely forget how to write. I actually published “Saturday’s” as the plural of “Saturday”. Someone please put me out of my misery already…