The majority of celebrity lovelies seem to have eyes that simply draw you in and leave you mesmerised by their vibrant eye colour, be it vivid blue, rich chocolatey brown or rare radiant green. Is this Mother Nature's doing or a trick of the light? Well, most of the time it's neither. It's simply a fantastic make-up artist who knows which shades will complement the eyes. Laura Martin, make-up artist for Cosmetics à La Carte says, "Use colour opposites to make your eye colour really ‘pop' out". We asked some of the best make-up artists in the beauty business to tell us what eye shadow shades will really highlight our eye colour and which products to use to get the look.
My brown-eyed girl
If you're the owner of deep brown eyes like Keira Knightley and Anne Hathaway then you're lucky in that most eye shadow colours will suit you. To add some zing to your peepers Charlotte Tilbury suggests "experimenting with colours to recreate different trends". This season has seen some fabulous looks using bright blues and teals especially if it has a metallic finish. myface eyetouch blingtone in Bellbottom Blues is an amazing electric blue shade which gives a metallic blue stamp of colour to the eyes that works so well with brown eyes. Dab the highlighter shade in the inside corners of your eyes to give instant lift and finish with a swoosh of myface upload lashes mascara in Black for extra definition.
Ariane Poole suggests that if you don't want to ditch brown eye shadow from your beauty bag altogether you ‘choose coffee and cappuccino colours with a hint of shimmer to contrast with your brown eyes.'
myface eyetouch blingtone in Bellbottom Blues, £9.78, Boots and myfacecosmetics.com, myface upload lashes mascara in Black, £9.78, Boots and myfacecosmetics.com
Those baby blues
The blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl is often seen as the ultimate in girl-next-door beauty as seen on celebrities such as Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson but Natalie Imbruglia and Alexis Bledel also have vividly bright blue eyes. Blue eyes are often seen as the jackpot of eye colours but the wrong shade of shadow can leave eyes looking grey or worse, ‘blue eyes should avoid any pinky-toned shadows as they will make the whites of the eyes look red,' says Laura Martin. Not very attractive, I'm sure you'll agree. Instead take Charlotte Tilbury's advice for highlighting your baby blues, ‘blue eyed girls suit warm shades of brown and gold. Try myface eyetouch blingtone in Morococo - which is that perfect combination of peachy-gold shine and uplifting browny shades which are perfect for everyday and can be built up for a desk to disco glamorous look. The blingtone shades contain 75 per cent crushed pearl which gives the most incredible bedazzling eyes yet doesn't drop or crease.'
myface eyetouch blingtone in Morococo, £9.78, Boots and myfacecosmetics.com
Green with envy
Green eyes are a precious and rare commodity and every effort should be made to highlight rather than hide them, just look to Angelina Jolie, Hayden Panettiere and Lindsay Lohan for inspiration. "Rich purples and violets look just incredible on green eyes and make them sparkle with life," says Charlotte Tilbury. "Try a purple shade that can be built up for a more dramatic look. myface Purple Haze eyetouch blingtone contains just the right shades in a trio of purples which can be blended together to create a lighter or brighter eye, and can even be blended with myface high def eye pencil in Black to create a smoky eye that will make green eyes especially striking. Simply sweep the pencil along the top and bottom lashes and smudge with a cotton bud, don't worry if you are not confident using deeper shades as the eyetouch colours will always blend perfectly."
myface Purple Haze eyetouch blingtone, £9.78, Boots and myfacecosmetics.com,myface high def eye pencil in Black, £6.84, Boots and myfacecosmetics.com
Is it brown? Is it green? No, it's hazel
For the rare but beautiful hazel eye that seems to differ in intensity of green or brown depending on the light expert advice suggests trialling a range of shadows from the green and brown-eyed suggestions as it will depend on your very individual shade. And remember as Ariane Poole says, "Black and charcoal looks great on all eye colours," so if in doubt just smudge acres of black kohl along the lash lines.
Skin tone also makes a difference; black and mixed race skin tones can wear bright colours well and should try rich coppers, rusts, and shades of mulberry along with black eyeliner and lashings of volumising mascara. Finally, do not underestimate the difference the perfect eye shadow can make as Charlotte Tilbury says, "Choosing the right eye shadow for your eye colour can have a huge impact on your whole look." And a positive one no less. Now go forth and flash those peepers!
Check out M·A·C eye shadows for one of the widest collection of shades.
Read all our tips and advice on how to get the best from your make-up here on handbag.com.
Choose the right make-up to match your skin tone.
