I’ve always wished that I could recreate the perfect smoky eye. Attempts in the past have left me looking less like a glamour puss and more like a depressed panda – so when I recently interviewed top make-up artist Melissa Evans, I was keen to steal a few tips…

Together, we have compiled an easy step-by-step guide to smoky eyes – so that we can all look as red-carpet-ready as her celebrity clientele.

1 “Normally I’d start with foundation, but creating a smoky eye can be messy,” explains Melissa. “So I suggest you start with your eyes, to avoid having to mend your foundation afterwards.”

2 “Begin by sweeping a neutral eye shadow over whole the eye area, from lid to brow,” she says. Pick an eyeshadow that matches your skin tone – I recommend the wonderful Clarins Single Eye Colours each, in either Vanilla Beige or Chestnut Freeze.

3 Melissa continues: “Then take a soft kohl pencil and line all the way around the eye using short, messy strokes. Be sure to line the inside of the eye too, for added depth. Then take a cotton bud and blend the line so that it becomes a softer shadow all around the eye.” As far as I’m concerned, the softer the kohl the better – I love Dior Crayon Kohl, which boasts the deepest black colouring and the softest, easy-to-blend texture.

4 “Next, create extra definition using a charcoal shadow,” she says. “Use a soft brush to blend the grey up over the bottom half of the lids up to your crease line and blend well so there are no hard edges. Take the colour all round the eye, following the liner that you have already done. Blend, blend, blend so it looks soft and subtly fades out away from the eye.” Dior 1 Couleur – Ultra-Smooth High Impact Eyeshadow in Flash Black,  is ideal for this step due to its highly pigmented, beautifully dark colour. Team the eyeshadow with the professional-quality Dior Backstage Medium Eyeshadow Brush, which will make appliance easy and effective.

5 Finally, Melissa recommends: “Curl your lashes and finish with lashings of mascara!” There are few products that create such an impact as Givenchy Phenomen’Eyes Lengthening Mascara – the innovative spiky wand reaches every single lash, even the shorter, harder-to-reach lashes at the corner of eyes.

Voila! Glamorous smoky eyes – watch out for the paparazzi!