I am frequently asked how one can go about enhancing one’s natural eye colour with make up. You need to decide whether you wish to compliment your eye colour subtly, or whether you want to dramatically enhance your eye colour in a way that makes them ‘pop’ or stand out. If this is the case, choose shades that are on the opposite side of the colour wheel to contrast with your eye colour. These rules work well, but obviously skin tone needs to be taken into account.
Blue eyes: For daytime, shades of brown, camel, taupe and peach enhance blue eyes, but be mindful of your skin tone when choosing. Stick to warmer shades of brown if you have warm undertones.
For evening, a smoky eye, lots of black eyeliner and mascara will make them pop, especially the lighter shade of blue eyes, or those rimmed with a dark band.
Brown eyes: For daytime, peachy tones work very well, and gold shadow can really ‘lift’ brown eyes. The contrast of certain shades of blue and navy, artfully applied, are also good. Smoky eyes in warmer shades of chocolate work well for evening.
Hazel eyes: Hazel eyes can wear a wide variety of shades because the dominant colour in hazel eyes can vary greatly from gold to brown to green. Look closely at your dominant shade. Silvery neutral tones work well here for daytime. Deep purple and soft violet shades compliment hazel eyes with gold flecks.
Those with mainly green in the hazel suit plum and coppery tones, as seen on Scarlett Johansen here..
and those with brown as a dominant colour suit gold tones and blue tones. Rihanna’s recent look below is a good example.
Green eyes: Plum eyeshadow, liner or mascara all enhance green eyes beautifully, as do gold, rust and copper tones.
Grey eyes: Mossy greens and deep purples are good for grey eyes, and even shades of grey itself work well.
If you really aren’t confident in choosing the correct shades for your eyes and skin tone, it’s worth buying one of the cheaper palettes of eyeshadows you can pick up from places like Superdrug. That way you can experiment with all the different shades inexpensively until you’ve worked what suits you best. Then you can invest in better quality, blendable, individual colours from the many great make up brands available.
And of course finally, one of the simplest ways to really enhance your eyes is to make the most of your lashes. There are countless lash serums and conditioning treatments available on the market now (I am currently testing some for review so watch this space) to help boost growth. Make sure you change your mascara regularly as clumpy lashes are a definite no-no, and invest in a metal lash comb to separate them out. If you weren’t blessed with lots of lashes, consider false strip lashes (available EVERYWHERE!) or the semi-permanent individually applied lashes at salons like Jinny Lash.
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Thanks for this Aly. Very useful indeed. I shall be purchasing some new colours over the weekend in accordance with your theory and shall get back to you with the results.
I think the pictures you have used to illustrate your point are excellent too, makes it all really clear.
Loving this Ali! xx
I have hazel eyes, and you’ve just explained why I seem constantly drawn to taupe eyeshadows. Great clear explanation.
This is SO useful thank you! Seeing that colour wheel really helps to make sense of your instructions. I’m going to get busy experimenting. x