If you’re an eye makeup newbie looking for quick easy ways to do your eye makeup, this post’s for you! Best yet—each eye look should take no more than 5 minutes to complete. Sweet! Plus each look works for you no matter your skin tone or eye color. Even sweeter.

1. Simple cat eye (like Zoe Saldana shown above). Practice makes perfect with a cat eye so don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it right the first few tries. I love a liquid liner for this type of look (used only on the upper lash line). Try Urban Decay Liquid Liner or Wet N’ Wild Liquid Eyeliner. Both have a great applicator that makes applying your line as thin or as thick as you like totally achievable.

To do: With a steady hand, start from the inner corners of the eyes (or wherever feels more comfortable for you) getting the applicator as close to where your lids and lashes meet. You might find it easier to apply if you use your other hand to slightly hold your eye lid taut so you have a flat plane to work with as opposed to the curve of your eye. Let the liner extend just a tiny bit outside the outer corners of the eyes. Hold the liner brush/applicator parallel to your eye at the outer corners to apply the ends thicker.

If you make a mistake, grab a Q-tip and a tiny bit of baby oil or eye makeup remover and wipe it away. Try again.

2. Shimmering nudes (like Minka Kelly above). Neutral eyes work wonders for those who love some eye makeup but are in situations where bolder colors are considered “inappropriate”. To add glamour to the look, use a shimmery nude eye shadow.

To do: Grab three eyeshadows: one about the same color as your skin tone with a shimmer finish, one about 2-3 shades darker than your skin tone with a matte finish, and one about 2-3 shades lighter than your skin tone with either a matte or slight shimmer finish. With a shimmery look it’s important to add a matte shade to even out some of the shimmer. Too much shimmer can look child-like (like you were playing in mommy’s makeup) and can read as “greasy” in photos.

Brands that have a good selection of “nude” eyeshadows for a wide variety of skin tones include MAC, Bobbi Brown, and Make Up For Ever.

Start with either a colorless eyeshadow primer like Urban Decay Primer Potion or an eyeshadow base close to your skin tone like MAC Paint or Paint Pot to keep your shadow in place and help it last for hours.

Next, take the darkest eyeshadow and using a firm bristled brush like MAC 252 apply the shadow into the crease. The shape of the brush allows for a nice precision application. Then using a fluffy brush like MAC 224, apply the shimmery shade closest to your skin tone on the bottom of the lid. Then use your ring finger or a tapered brush like MAC 222 to apply the lightest shade to the area directly under 0your brow bone. Finish with liner and mascara.

Note: MAC brushes are used as a guideline here, so if you like another brand just use the MAC ones I mentioned to see the difference in brush shapes and bristle density. If you’re on a budget, check out Crown Brush. They make some very decent brushes at a lower price point.

3. Smoky eyes (like Iman above). There’s about a gazillion ways to apply a smoky eye (see more tips here), but for this look we’re going to keep it simple. First to get the eye super black, start with a black eyeshadow base like Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Black, MAC Greasepaint Stick in Slick Black or use a black eyeliner pencil and apply it all over the lid going no higher than the crease. You can technically stop at this step as your eye will look “smoky” at this stage, but if you want to make it last longer, apply a black powder shadow on top like MAC Carbon, NARS Night Clubbing (if you want a little gold shimmer in your look), or Black Radiance makes a great black eyeshadow duo available at Walmart. A fluffy eyeshadow brush with densely packed bristles like MAC 217 is great for blending shadow in a smoky eye look.

To add dimension to the eye, apply a matte eyeshadow (or creme concealer) about 2-3 shades lighter than your skin tone to the brow bone area. Finish with a few coats of mascara.

4. Flirty lashes (like Jennifer Lopez above). Flirty, fluttery lashes can really make your eye makeup stand out more as well as open up the eyes.

To do: Do your eye makeup as usual (fake lashes look best with some sort of eye makeup on even if it’s just liner). Then grab some lashes Ardell Demi Wispies Fashion Lashes and cut them to fit the length of your eye. Then wrap them around your finger to get a bit of a curve to them similar to the curve of your eye. Dab some lash glue (white for lighter hair, black for darker hair) on the strip and wait a few seconds for the glue to get tacky. If you have butterfingers, use a pair of tweezers to hold the ends of the lash and then apply them to the area where your lids meet your real lashes. Gently secure them down with the opposite end of your tweezers (or use the other end of an eyeshadow brush).

If you use lash glue and have noticed sometimes the container can push out too much glue, try Revlon Precision Lash Adhesive as it has a skinny brush-like applicator that is perfect for applying glue to strip lashes.

5. Perfectly manicured brows (like Cassie above). Great brows really frame the face and are imperative for great eye makeup looks even if you have on very little. If you’d like to fake perfect brows, grab a spooly (like MAC 204 Lash Brush), a pair of tweezers (I love Tweezerman slanted tweezers), brow pencils (like MAC Eye Brows), or powder (you can use a matte eyeshadow slightly lighter than your hair color), and some concealer. Then check out this video tutorial I really like:

Tools of the Trade:

More M·A·C…

Images via StyleBistro.com