Charcoal walked so aubergine could run. 🖤 If the classic goth smoky eye has always felt a little too sharp, a little too midnight-at-a-crypt for a Tuesday, we have very good news: the softest way into goth this summer is a bruised, berry-toned haze. Think smouldering purple through the socket, a whisper of wine at the outer corner, and edges so blurred they look like you've been awake for centuries (in the most flattering way possible).
Dark romantic makeup searches have climbed around 160% year on year, and 2026's soft goth palette has quietly swapped razor-sharp black for espresso, aubergine and black cherry. It's moody, it's grown-up, and it suits absolutely everyone. Here's how to do it — step by cheeky step. Every product below is vegan and cruelty-free, obviously. 🦇
Step 1: Set your canvas
Berry shades are pigment-packed, and pigment loves to travel. Prime your lids and set with a touch of powder so nothing creases or slides into the socket. If you tend to go bold, sweep a little translucent powder under the eye too — it catches any fallout so you can dust it away without wrecking your base. A clean, matte canvas is what makes the blurred edges later look intentional rather than smudgy.
Step 2: Build a berry base through the socket
Reach for the Tainted Palette — it was practically made for this look, with smouldering purples and wine-toned reds sitting alongside deep blacks. Using a fluffy blending brush, windscreen-wipe a mid-tone aubergine through the crease, keeping the colour concentrated in the socket and hazing it up towards the brow bone. Don't stress about precision here; this is a smoke, not a stencil.
Step 3: Deepen the outer corner with wine and black
Now build intensity where the drama lives: the outer corner and along the upper lash line. Pat a deep wine-red into the outer V, then take the tiniest amount of black and press it right into the lash line, wiggling it in so there's no gap. Blend the two together with what's already on your brush — you want the black to melt into the berry, not sit on top of it. For extra depth without going full gothic-blackout, the Spellbound Palette has gorgeous dark-and-light shades that let you fade the colour out beautifully.
Step 4: Smoke out the lower lash line
This is the step that makes soft goth soft. Take your aubergine (and a touch of the wine) along the lower lash line with a small pencil brush, then smudge until it's diffuse. Tightline into the waterline with black if you want that haunted, black-rimmed stare. Wonderfully undone is the goal here — a little mess is exactly the point.
Step 5: Soften with a neutral, and add a wet-shimmer centre
To keep things wearable, blend the harshest edges out with a soft neutral. The Til Death Palette is full of aged-lace neutrals — greige, taupe, espresso — that buff the berry into your skin so there's no hard line anywhere. Then, if you're feeling it, dampen a flat brush and press a shimmer from the palette into the centre of the lid for a glossy, wet-look pop. Optional, but very 2026.
Step 6: Lashes and a berry-adjacent lip
Coat everything in inky mascara (or reach for a fluttery set from our lashes collection) to frame all that smoke. For the lip, keep it in the same family: Haunted is a dusky mauve that reads soft and romantic, while Incantation — a deep purple with a magenta undertone — turns the whole look up a notch. Want barely-there? Everlasting, a muted rose, lets the eyes do all the talking.
Make it yours
The beauty of bruised berry is how far it stretches. Blend it out sheer for the office, or pack it on opaque with a tightlined waterline for the pit at your next gig. Fancy exploring more shades to smoke? Our full eyeshadow and lips collections are waiting — all vegan, all cruelty-free, all a little bit witchy. Now go be gorgeously undone. 🌙🤘