Smoky taupe for this week?s #mbbinstachallenge

It?s week three of the #mbbinstachallenge! I was really excited about this one because it?s totally in my wheelhouse. The theme: smoky taupe.
Funny? When I was digging through my makeup drawers looking for makeup to use for this look, I grabbed a whole bunch of golden taupe powder eyeshadows that I thought might work with it, like Urban Decay Dark Horse and Secret Service. And Mushroom, in particular, was one I thought would totally work.
Oh, and I also tried this old MAC Starflash shadow called Smoke & Diamonds from 2009?s Love That Look collection, which is golden taupe perfection incarnate.
I tried all of them in various combos, but they just didn?t read quite like the inspiration picture below?
My inspiration for this week?s look

The gal in the picture has a hint of glossiness on her eyes, and I couldn?t get that same effect with those shimmery powder shadows I grabbed, so I ended up going with some cream shadows, like this one from Tom Ford called ?Spring 2015? (yes, that?s its actual name, and I love it so much that I stocked up on it). It?s a fan-friggin-tastic dark golden taupe. And another TF shade called Platinum.
I used the dark golden taupe all over my lids, hit the outer V with dark matte brown MAC Brun (a powder eyeshadow), and then I smoked out the lower lash line and the edges with satiny golden brown MAC Soba.
So I did end up using some powder shadows for depth and to transition, but the glossy eff...