Why the 90s Smokey Eye Is Back (and Worth Trying)
The 90s smokey eye is a soft, smudged eye makeup look built around diffused liner and shadow that frame the eyes with lived-in depth, giving a cool, slightly undone finish that feels both nostalgic and modern. It has gone from old music videos to front-row trend again, with a surge of nineties nostalgia and celebrity campaigns pushing it into every feed. Smokey eye make-up is now one of the most searched beauty looks of the season, with interest jumping by 1,522% on visual search platforms. Hailey Bieber has added fuel to the trend by wearing a brown 90s smokey eye in her recent Skims underwear campaign, which channels the mood of classic nineties billboard ads, complete with a moody grey backdrop and bedhead hair. If you like makeup that feels sultry but not fussy, this is your moment.
What You Need for a Hailey-Style 90s Makeup Look
Before you follow any smokey eye tutorial, it helps to have the right tools ready on your table. For this 90s makeup look, think neutral and charcoal tones, a creamy liner or stick shadow for definition, and at least one blending brush to soften everything out. One reliable option is a self-priming eyeshadow stick, like Charlotte Tilbury’s Exagger-Eyes Easy Eyeshadow Sticks, which come in 12 warm-toned shades and two finishes, Matte Blur to sculpt and Satin Glow to highlight, and glide onto lids with high-impact colour before setting to a budge-proof finish. Because the formula is self-priming, you can skip extra base on the lids and move straight to colour, which keeps the process quick and less intimidating. Add a mirror, cotton buds for clean-up, and your usual base, bronzer, and soft pink lip to echo Hailey’s bronzed skin, faux freckles, and pillowy lips that let the brown smokey eyes take centre stage.
Step-by-Step Smokey Eye Tutorial: Hailey’s 90s-Inspired Version
Think of this as a friend guiding you through your first serious eyeshadow blending technique. Work one eye at a time so your product stays soft enough to move, and keep a light hand—you can always add more depth later. The goal here is definition around the lashes that diffuses outwards, rather than a harsh graphic shape.
- Start on clean, dry lids. If you are using a self-priming stick, you can apply it straight onto bare skin; otherwise, add a thin layer of your usual eye base so everything grips evenly.
- Take a Matte Blur shade in a neutral or brown tone, like Cocoa Cherry Sculpt or Chestnut Sculpt, and scribble it along your upper lash line, focusing on the outer two-thirds of the eye.
- With a small blending brush or fingertip, softly smudge that line upwards through the eyelid, keeping most of the intensity near the lashes so the colour diffuses as it moves toward the socket.
- Repeat the same Matte Blur shade along the lower lash line, then run a brush back and forth to create the smokey, diffused effect that makes the look feel lived-in rather than sharp.
- If you want more drama, run the same liner or stick across the waterline to dial things up, taking short, gentle strokes so the pigment goes on evenly without tugging.
- To add brightness Hailey-style, switch to a lighter Satin Glow shade and apply it to the inner corners and the first third of the eyes, which helps them pop against the deeper smoke on the outer edges.
- Finish the rest of your face with bronzed, sun-kissed skin, a hint of faux freckles if you like them, and soft pink lips so your brown smokey eyes stay the main focus of the look.
The hidden trick is to keep blending brushing upwards and outwards instead of dragging too far toward the temples, which preserves the slightly undone but still polished shape that feels wearable. As one makeup icon put it, there is something effortlessly cool and confident about this lived-in smokey eye, a little imperfect in the most beautiful way, and it is a speedy, easy way to define the eyes that anyone can do.
Modern Ways to Wear Your 90s Smokey Eye
Hailey’s Skims campaign shows how a 90s smokey eye can look modern when paired with clean skin and unfussy hair, echoing those nineties-style billboard adverts while still feeling current. Once you have mastered the basic eyeshadow blending technique with your Matte Blur and Satin Glow shades, try switching the depth: keep daytime versions softer by sticking to mid-tone browns, and reserve deeper charcoal tones for night so the look stays flexible. You can also adjust how far you smudge along the lower lash line—lightly smoked for everyday, heavier for a moodier, rock-and-roll energy. The big advantage of this trend is its speed: self-priming, budge-proof sticks that can be scribbled and smudged mean you are not juggling multiple powders and bases. The takeaway is that a 90s smokey eye can fit into a regular routine without feeling costume-like, as long as you balance the rest of your makeup so the eyes stay the star.
