The smoky eye look has been around since before Pat Benatar made Love Is a Battlefield an instant hit but making eyes look smoking rather than a big black mess takes a little bit more skill than it looks.

So to help with making your own smoking eyes look current and on trend we're bring together some great how-to videos, instructions and tips.

How to Create Smoky Eyes in 7 Easy Steps

1. Create a base on the lid for the eye shadow. This can be done simple with an eyeshadow base - primer - or foundation and stops eyeshadow from melting into the eyelid crease. Let the primer dry.

2. Start at the top. This is done with an eyeliner along the upper eyelash line on the eyelid. Make the line thicker towards the middle of the eye. This can be smoothed, smudged or evened out with a cotton tip. Traditionally a black, brown or gray eyeliner is used but with the vibrant colours available you can venture into purple, blue or dark green. Trying out different colour effects with different outfits can create a great impact.

3. Apply the eyeliner. It's easier to smudge and blend to the thickness of line you want on the bottom eye lash line. Eye shadow can also be blended in with the eyeliner for a more dramatic effect.

4. Start with a light base colour. The key is to smoky eyes is blending different layers and colours so start with a light eyeshadow to help give depth. Apply a light and shimmering tone across eyelids to the browbone.

5. Blend in the darker colours for effect. Starting at the eyelash line, starting blending upwards in your chosen darker eye shadow tones with an eyeshadow brush. Be sure to blend the eyeshadow with the eyeliner so it's seamless. The dark colour only goes to the eye crease.

6. Be sure both eyes match. This is really important so take time to check and use a cotton tip to blend or smudge as needed.

7. Finish off with mascara. You can use coloured mascara that matches your eye shadow, your favourite mascara but the key is being sure to make the eyelashes curl and are dark and thick.

5 Top Tips for Creating Smoky Eyes

1. Blend, Blend, Blend - it's all in the blending of the eye shadows so it's all smooth and seamless.

2. Use a light and a dark eye shadow colour so they compliment each other - try a golden base with a deep purple top, pink/peach base with dark green top, champagne base with a peacock/blue top.

3. It's most common to use a black, dark brown or charcoal colour range for your dark tones but these can be harder to blend to show a tonal range - so can be easier to look like a nasty black eye.

4. Make a girls night of it when trying out new looks so you can have honest (and kind) feedback about the new look you're creating and share a bundle of laughs as you share make up stories from your teenage days!

5. When eyes are the focal point keep lips neural so they don't compete. When lips are the centre attention keep the eyes neural

How to do Smoky Eyes Video Tutorials

How to do Smokey Eyes with Mia Quynh - Make Up Artist introduction

Sephora How To's: Get the Perfect Smoky Eye - layering colours and blending

Beau Nelson's Essential Make-Up Tips: Easy Smokey Eyes - ideal brushes and more

How To Create A Smoky Eye Effect - very American make up video tutorial but has some good tips

How to Get Smoky Eyes: Best Colors For Blue Eyes - ideal for lighter coloured eyes