Smoky eyes be damned. The halo eye look has become a force to be reckoned as of late. So much so, the dreamy look is nearly eclipsing smoky eyes as the signature of pro and aspiring makeup artists on Instagram (and beyond). It's basically become the epitome of Instagram makeup. Don't believe me? Search for its hashtag on Instagram. You'll find that #haloeye has been tagged almost 30,000 times, while #haloeyes has almost 25,000 posts of its own.

Because the halo eye doesn't have quite the same name recognition as the smoky eye — or even the palettes named after it (I'm looking at you, Naked Smoky and Holy Smokes) — I figured I'd give you a quick rundown on the look. Spoiler alert: the halo eye look's popularity was most likely spawned by how simple it is to execute.

So what exactly are halo eyes? "They frame the eyes with a soft diffusion of color, giving an ethereal effect," Ashleigh Ciucci, a New York-based professional makeup artist, tells Allure. A highlighting shade is, then, brushed onto the center of the lid to create light and dimension, she adds.

To create them, start by packing one shade of shadow onto the inner and outer corners of the lid with a stiff flat brush. (I'm a fan of the.) Next, blend that shade through the creases to soften the edges and sweep some along your lower lash line with a clean fluffy tapered brush, Ciucci says. You could stop here and have the abbreviated version of the halo eye look, which is confusingly also simply called a "halo eye." However, the particular look we're after right now is all about creating that glowing center of the lid.