The Best Makeup for Your Eye Colour
26 May 08
A question often asked of makeup artists is “what colour should I wear on my eyes to make them stand out?” A common answer is “wherever your eye shade falls on the colour wheel, the opposite colour will enhance it.”
What, don’t have a colour wheel stashed in your purse? Amateur.
Brown eyes look sultry with green or blue, blue eyes look brighter with brown, and green eyes glow with purple or plum. Hazel eyes combine brown, blue and green; choose colours depending on the tone you’d like to emphasize. I actually love purple and coppery bronze for every eye colour. And heads up: pale eyes will look pretty with mid-tone shades; dark eyes will pop with richer tones.
Almay and Physicians Formula make this spotlight-my-eyes thing easy, too. The Almay Intense i-Color Play Up collection offers four colour-enhancing trios of shadows in a work-friendly, subtle-sheen formula ($9.95), plus co-ordinating liquid liner and mascara ($9.95 each). Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips also come in four eye-colour specific palettes, each featuring nine shimmery shades divided into “natural”, “playful” and “dramatic” trio options ($15.79).
IMPACT-BOOSTING TIPS:
1) My usual first answer to “what colour will make my eyes stand out” is “concealer.” Seriously. A creamy concealer, such as M.A.C Select Moisturecover Concealer ($18.50) that matches your skintone hides shadows in the inner corners of the lids and circles under the eyes so your eye colour can become the focus.
2) If you’re lash deficient, as I am, you want to add definition by making your lashes look thicker. Run a deep brown or black waterproof eyeliner along the inner rim of your upper lashes, at the underside of where the wee sparse hairs (so unfair) meet the lid. Try GOSH Velvet Touch waterproof eye pencil, $13, Lise Watier Waterproof Eyeliner, $16, or Revlon ColorStay Eyeliner, $9.95. Then use an angle brush to apply coloured shadow at the top side of where your lashes meet the lid.
3) For more eye-colour-specific makeup tips, click on the following:
Enter to WIN: Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Makeup for Your Eye Colour
F is for Fill ’er Up
Smoke it Up
Makeup for Your Eye Colour: Suggestions from Makeup-Pro Carmindy
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Jessica Biel’s eyes photo courtesy of Revlon. See the full effect of her eye makeup here.
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Geek FYI: This post knocked on my brain at a birthday BBQ held recently for my new friend Julie Petendra. I spotted the most beautiful and unusual eyes I’ve ever seen — Patty Cusik’s eyes are an amazing citrus-green, and one day I’ll get a photo of her so you can see them too. In fact, I saw more gorgeous light-colour eyes (shades ranging from pale blue to smoky green) at that one shindig than I’ve seen in some time. Patty, Tania, Tara, Connie, Mary and Debbie, your striking eyes made me very jealous.
02 December 08 at 12:13 am
i am soo confused bc i dont knowwhat to wear on my eyes. i love to wear make-up but nothing looks good. i have deep dark forest green eyes.what colours do you think will make my eyes pop?? can you help??
love cass
02 December 08 at 12:33 am
Sounds like your eyes are so gorgeous, it practically won’t matter! Seriously, though, on the colour wheel, the opposite of your eye colour is deep tones of purple, plum and brown (deep green looks good on dark brown eyes; deep brown should look sultry on dark green eyes, yes?). Copper and gold should also look gorgeous. These are all colours that look pretty with dark, forest green.
Could you e.mail me a photo of yourself, please? I’d love to see your skintone and hair colour as well. I’m at j9falcon@gmail.com.
Thanks for your comment!
11 January 09 at 7:44 am
hello i have stress becouse i dont no how to wear my liqued eyeliner ,, my eyes are like the olive shape. would you be able to tell me in steps how to wear my eyeliner?
11 January 09 at 12:10 pm
Hi Amani,
If you’re stressed by liquid liner, try something else! Makeup is fun; shouldn’t cause stress. Try a waterproof pencil liner instead. If you’re determined to master the liquid liner, though, start by applying a fine line of pencil liner along the base of your upper lashes, then trace over it in short strokes of liquid liner.
Also check out Canadian Beauty’s post on this very subject — Henna is skilled at liquid liner and shares her own tips, the first of which is practice.
You could also consider heading to your favourite makeup counter for a liquid-liner lesson. Best to choose an artist who seems to wear liquid liner well, of course! Good luck, and have fun!
04 April 09 at 7:11 am
I am also just wondering what colour eye shadow would look with my eyes. Im confused because I am a hazel-green, so I have light brown in the center, then yellow in the middle, then dark green around the outside of my iris. I would like to bring out the green and yellow with eye shadow. Could you help??
06 April 09 at 7:23 am
Hi Arie,
Your eyes sound so pretty! You have a number of options to play up the green in your eyes: plum, burgundy, lavender, eggplant and amythest. You’ll find each hue will make your eye colour look slightly different — totally cool.
You might also like to try a dark green, the same shade as the dark green around the outside of your iris, or deeper — that should enhance the glow of the light brown and yellow in your eyes.
Choose shades that are more intense than your eye colour — framing eyes is a lot like framing photographs. Pretty as a picture (or two). *grin*