The Eyes Have It! The Shadows That Suit You!

by BR Kellie

I'm the first to admit that I'm no makeup artist, I'm simply a makeup enthusiast. There's nothing I love more than buying and trying different products. Some are resounding successes (tubing mascara is amazing and why have I not used it before now!?), others are big time fails... I'm looking at you any powder foundation that's ever touched my face. 

Overall, my favourite product to play with is eyeshadow. I adore it. The textures. The colours. Its ability to open my eyes right up with a few swipes of a brush. However, one thing that's struck me on my makeup journey is how little I know when it comes to what colours work on my hazel eyes. Technically, you can put any colour on, there's nothing stopping you, but I'm a fan of emphasising in a way that enhances my natural eye colour, but where to begin with that? How is it that a deep, rich blue can look gorgeous on my daughter who has dark brown eyes, but terrible on me, who has hazel eyes that tend to be on the browner side?

Naturally, being the beauty geek that I am, I did a deep dive into the colour basics of eyeshadow and eye shade and discovered the key to finding the eyeshadows that will work best with your iris' colour is to take a look at our old friend, the colour wheel, and head over to the opposite side, then lighten or darken the colour so that it resembles an eyeshadow shade that you'd wear... Because while hot pink's fun, it's not for everyone, but a light pink can be super pretty.

Image: Wikimedia

So what colours will make your peepers really pop? Read on...

Brown

You know how when you were a kid you'd splodge a bunch of bright, primary colours together and always end up with brown? Well, lucky for the brown-eyed beauties out there, that means you get to play to your heart's content with eyeshadow, as your eye colour is the equivalent of all the primary colours blended together. Blues, greens, pinks, oranges, purples not to mention basic browns can all be embraced. You lucky, lucky ducks.

Blue

Want to give va-va-voom to your blue eyes? Golds, coppers, and champagne shades will create gorgeous contrast and give a truly vibrant, head-turning look. Like to keep things more laid back? Embrace warm, brown tones. 

Hazel

Purple for the win. I speak from experience. No one was more surprised than I when I bought a purple eyeshadow palette on a whim, placed the colour on my lids then took a step back ot see my peepers popping like never before. Other colours that can look absolutely gorgeous on hazel eyes are golds, bronze, and rich green shades.

Green

Much like hazel eyes, green eyes can take a dip into the realm of purple, as well as gold and bronze shades to bring out the golden flecks in your eyes. You can even play with light and dark shades of orange and pink to futher enhance your green-eyed gorgeousness.

Grey

Warm, orangey tones emphasise grey eyes, as well as warm brown tones and beautiful, rich bronze shades. A grey iris can also rock a dark, smokey look, and diving into metallic silver shades can really play up your eyes.

Of course, it's not just eyeshadow that these 'rules' can apply to, if you're using eyeliner or coloured mascara you can use the above to pick colours that will further enhance your look. And if you hate the look you create? You can wash it off and start again... because such is the beauty of makeup.

So, my lovelies, what colour eyes do you have and what eyeshadow shades do you prefer? Will you now be switching up your shadow game? Or have you nailed how to make your peepers pop? Chat away!