Welcome to Beauty School, the corner of Dazed Beauty dedicated to learning. From guides to temporary histories, that is where we make clear past subcultural movements and educate our readers on current trends and various goings-on.

Witches, goths, daring glam girlies, indie-sleaze band groupies – the smoky eye has transcended all subcultures and allegiances to grow to be a logo of universal sultry confidence. The final word in grimey glamour, in movies the characters who wear their eye make-up smoky are strong, daring and sexy. They could possibly be the recent and manipulative femme fatale, or the mystic with intuitive old soul qualities. But they’re never modest or innocent – the smoky eye shouldn’t be for the girl round the corner.

Eyeshadow and eyeliner stem back to precedent days, when women would use charcoal or soot – often created by burning cork or some sort of wood – and smudge it on their eyes. Firstly of the film industry, especially in silent movies, actors would line their eyes with kohl to assist them stand out in black and white (you may see images of Charlie Chaplin with eyeliner on). German actress Marlene Dietrich famously took soot and mixed it with Vaseline to create a dark grey eyeshadow. 

Within the late Nineteen Fifties and 60s, Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot’s dramatic cat eyes became vital beauty trend. Movies including And God Created Woman, A Very Private Affair and Arabesque were, and still are, huge beauty inspirations. Within the 70s and 80s, characters like Foxy Brown (Pam Grier) and May Day (Grace Jones) cemented the smoky eye because the make-up of selection for strong, powerful women, while goth icons Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston) and Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) brought a dark sexiness to it.

Within the 80s and 90s, the matte smokey eye reigned supreme because of the influence of make-up artists like Kevyn Aucoin and Alexis Vogel who created Pamela Anderson’s trademark beauty look which was on full display within the 1996 film Barb Wire. Anderson’s look combined the grimey aesthetic of grunge with the high glamour left over from the supermodels of the 80s, to create a glance that was high-voltage sexy and powerful.

Currently we’re seeing a shift from the sparkly, dewy and precise make-up that Euphoria popularised to more grimey, sleazy, matte looks with smudged eyeliner and distinguished dark circles. It-girls akin to Gabriette (who takes inspiration from the Latinx Chola community), Julia Fox and her graphic eye looks, and Aoife Cullen on TikTok are leading this, in addition to the Pamaissance. The smoky eye is back, and it seems like it never really left.

SIREN OF THE TROPICS (1927)

The 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics stars the famous cabaret dancer and bisexual spy Josephine Baker as Papitou, a girl from a Spanish colony who falls in love with a Frenchman and follows him back to Paris. Amongst many other firsts, with this film Baker became the primary Black woman to star in a significant movie. When you ignore the blatant racism, misogyny and creepiness of the plot, you may notice a phenomenal glossy smokey eye that just glows on the screen. An it-girl on the time, Baker was famous for her avant-garde costumes and make-up in addition to her “tanned” complexion – a lot in order that she went on to release Bakeroil, certainly one of the first ever tanning oils in the marketplace.

ARABESQUE (1966)

Hollywood’s smoky eye queen, Sophia Loren famously did her own make-up on set and for events. Her signature look consisted of lipstick on her cheeks, brushed thick eyebrows and white liner within the waterline dragged out under her cat-eye to make the eyes look greater. She would use black eyeliner and water the product right down to use as eyeshadow, as allegedly her eyelids were too oily causing normal eyeshadow to melt, and would complete the look with a full-set of lashes. 

Wearing an iconic pink body and hair towel set in her 1966 film Arabesque, she is the epitome of sexy and fabulous. The comedy crime thriller follows a professor (Gregory Peck) uncovering a scheme against a Middle Eastern politician. The plot is riveting, the performances are avant-garde, the costumes are designed by Christian Dior – it’s a classic Hollywood picture price trying out.

FOXY BROWN (1974)

A part of the “Blaxploitation” wave of movies (akin to Shaft and Dolemite Is My Name) that were created to capitalise on a Black audience, Foxy Brown is one of the crucial influential. The film became the poster child for the Black women’s power movement, making a latest sort of character: the strong, independent woman who doesn’t accept victimisation.

Foxy Brown is a tale of revenge as Foxy (Pam Grier) goes on a quest to search out her boyfriend’s murderers. Along with her luscious afro and leather jacket, Grier wears this airbrushed, classic smoked out matte shadow with fluttering eyelashes and a nude brown lip. She’s powerful and unstoppable in each attitude and appears, a real boss. 

CET OBSCUR OBJET DU DÉSIR (1977)

That Obscure Object of Desire, the critically acclaimed Spanish-French film from the Nineteen Seventies, explores the dark side of desire. It’s an erotic melodrama of a widower, Matthieu, who’s being tortured by his lust for a young flamenco dancer named Conchita.

Director Luis Buñuel made the obscure decision of using two actresses for the role of Conchita, and using them interchangeably in scenes. With separate approaches, temperaments and costumes, the actresses delve into surrealism. Angela Molina’s version of Conchita is more earthy and warm, with sultry smoky eyes that invite you in. Carole Bouquet’s look and performance then again was deemed more cool and enigmatic. Is it the duality of the character or is she just two-faced? Watch to search out out.

A VIEW TO KILL (1985)

Along with her opulent Nineteen Eighties disco glam vibe and gender-bending aesthetics Grace Jones has never didn’t serve. Within the James Bond film A View To Kill, she portrays May Day, a fierce bodyguard and assassin. One, if not the, most iconic Bond girl, Jones’ performance and her looks are daring and powerful. Wearing Azzedine Alaïa with a pointy pink and black smoked-out cat eye and a rich-red lip, she has not shied away from experimenting with strong looks – each on screen and in her music profession.

Her character in Nineteen Eighties horror film Vamp can be price noting: her wig, graphic eyeliner and white-painted face are strikingly sinister to say the least. 

ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK (1988)

The cult comedy horror based on the Nineteen Eighties TV program Elvira’s Movie Macabre sees TV presenter Elvira quitting her job due to sexual harassment in her workplace – typical. She inherits her great aunt’s home in a more puritanical community, who all consider her to be a foul influence. Elvira brought us the enduring line “How’s your head?” “I haven’t had any complaints yet,” which has grow to be an ongoing reference in RuPaul’s Drag Race. Her wig is poofy, her smokey eyes are graphic, her lipstick is shiny red and her cheeks are a popping pink. It’s all very camp and gothically fabulous. 

THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991)

Originally conceived by cartoonist Charles Addams, macabre matriarch Morticia Addams has taken many forms in almost a dozen adaptations. But Anjelica Huston within the 90s dark family comedy movies stays essentially the most iconic of all of them. Along with her cynical humour, long black hair and daring glam of all-black all the pieces, blood-red lipstick and airbrushed black shadow on her crease, she’s giving us the last word goth matriarch fantasy. “I’m just like all modern woman attempting to have all of it,” she says within the film. “Loving husband, a family. It’s just, I wish I had more time to search out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade.” Don’t all of us. 

SHOWGIRLS (1995)

The Nineties erotic drama thriller that infamously destroyed Elizabeth Berkley’s profession follows an aspiring dancer who hitchhikes to Las Vegas, hoping to grow to be a showgirl. Nomi Malone (Berkley) starts out at a strip club called the Cheetah and we see her fucking her approach to the highest as a showgirl at Stardust Hotel. It’s all very Lana Del Rey vinyl. The costumes are glamorous, the make-up is theatrical and experimental with plenty of rhinestones and glitter. You may see the influence of Showgirls on new-gen popular culture, akin to the make-up in Euphoria. It’s exploitative and over-the-top, nevertheless it’s intrinsically pure camp. With quotes akin to “Nice dress” “Thanks I purchased it at Vers-ayce!” Showgirls has rightfully grow to be a cult classic. 

BARB WIRE (1996)

Since last yr we have now witnessed the return of the thin brow, matte skin and smokey waterline, all because of Pam and her powerful comeback. A futuristic remake of Casablanca, Barb Wire was presupposed to be the enduring 90s bombshell’s big Hollywood breakout, but tanked within the box office and received bad reviews. Regardless of that, it has gained a cult following since.

Within the comic book-based film set in a dystopian 2017 in the course of the second American civil war, Anderson plays bounty hunter and club owner Barb Wire. She’s wearing a hot leather catsuit and gloves, big tousled blonde hair and her signature smoky eye. Alexis Vogel, Pam’s personal make-up artist who followed her through most of her profession, did the make-up on set, and is answerable for the enduring vixen eye that Pam is understood for today. Fun fact: during filming Pam got a barbed wire tattoo on her arm in order that the make-up artists didn’t need to paint it day-after-day.

THE CRAFT (1996)

Witches in film might need started off as ugly, old hags, but in the course of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties the witch got a cool makeover – see Practical Magic, Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. And, obviously, (oc)cult film The Craft. The blueprint of the whimsigoth aesthetic, director Andrew Fleming wanted a gothy, punk element within the costumes. 

“Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk) was possibly essentially the most damaged character within the film,” said costume designer Deborah Everton back in 2016. “Her clothes were like armour to her – she would scare people off.” The identical might be said for her make-up – dark vampy lips and smudgy eyeliner with brown eyeshadow on a Tuesday morning English class? Yes, please. It has a striking and almost aggressive effect, which contrasts the fresh faces of the opposite girls at her school.

VELVET GOLDMINE (1998)

Cult film Velvet Goldmine stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a bisexual pop star Brian Slade who fakes his own death. Ten years later he’s tracked down by a journalist who wants to put in writing an article about his life. The film is partly inspired by David Bowie’s life and persona, and you may see his influences and the Nineteen Seventies glam rock in the colorful make-up and outfits. In certainly one of the looks, wearing a glittery and feathery catsuit and a blue spikey wig, Slade has this beautiful, modern dark brown smoked shadow, which is mixed with a terracotta color under the eyes – much like the dark circle make-up trend on TikTok today.

ALFIE (2004)

The 2004 remake of the classic Michael Cane film, starring mid-noughties power couple Jude Law and Sienna Miller, very much pays homage to the rockstar girlfriend, Bardot look of the 60s – a glance very much coveted by all of the British it-girlies of the era (see Alexa Chung). It’s giving indie sleaze in essentially the most authentic way. The mid-noughties boho bombshell look that Miller became known for consists of a minimal base, frosty lip gloss, a smudgy cat eye and a teased up, perfectly messy fringe (we are able to assume that they used plenty of dry shampoo on set).

LADY VENGEANCE (2005)

Red represents all the pieces that a smokey eye stands for: passion, strength, anger, and on this case: revenge. A red smokey eye doubles the symbolism. From Park Chan-wook, the director of cult Korean motion movie Oldboy, the gory and darkly funny Lady Vengeance is about, well, vengeance. After being wrongfully imprisoned, protagonist Geum-ja Lee is released after 13 years in prison and goals to take revenge for the murder she didn’t commit. Throughout the film, actress Lee Young-ae has this very editorial red eyeshadow. “What’s with the blood-red eyeshadow?” she gets asked within the film. “I don’t wish to look kind-hearted,” she replies.

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2009)

What’s relatable about hacker Lisbeth Salander, AKA the girl with the dragon tattoo, is her emo fringe, nose piercings, and the indisputable fact that she’s not wearing another make-up on her face other than a smudged eye pencil all the way in which into the waterline. You may call it a 2009 time capsule. And in contrast to the English version, which portrayed Lisbeth with an equally minimal but more editorial look (think Balenciaga), the Swedish one looks more realistic, like she did it herself. Set in Stockholm, the murder mystery thriller hunts down the murder of a young girl from 40 years ago, it’s eerie and it’s gripping – it’s the last word Scandinavian noir. 

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