The Best Eye Shadow for Your Eye Color

Many women don't know where to start when they sit down to do their makeup (or to have their makeup done). There are several factors in determining the best makeup for you - but a big one (and an easy one to learn about) is that your unique eye color can be "brought out" or emphasized based on the color of eye shadow that you use. Now please whatever you do, don't lather on a single eye shadow across your entire eye area based on this post! In a different post I'll talk about where exactly you want to put the eye shadow. Here, we're just going to discuss the general colors that will make your eyes pop. The cool thing about having a background in art, is that I already knew makeup color theory before I learned about it.

The best way to learn about makeup color theory is to look at a color wheel. Like this one:

The basic principle with color (if you have any background in art, you'll know this) is that the colors directly opposite of one another are the most contrasted and complimentary. The colors closest to one another can also create a nice "matching effect" but they will not create a contrast. What you want to do with your eye makeup, is create a contrast in order to highlight your eyes and make that color "pop." Let's talk specifics...

BROWN EYES

Figure out more specifically where your brown eyes are on the color wheel. If they have a gold or yellow tint we would put them around the "rust" color on our wheel above. If they have a green or blue tint we would put them around the "olive" color on the wheel. Then look directly across the wheel and see where you land. Now obviously, you're not going to want to cover your eyelids in neon red. But if your eyes are around the "olive" color, burgundy and reddish brown shadows will look amazing with your eyes. Let's check out some celebrity examples:

Jennifer Lopez has brown eyes that have a very orange (almost red) tint (let's place her eyes near "rust" on our color wheel). Her shadows are cool-toned (blues and silvers). Natalie Portman's eyes are cooler, they have a violet (purplish) tint (let's place her between "maroon" and "plum" on our color wheel). Direct contrast for her are warm tones. Her eye shadow colors here are orange and brown. Now obviously the subtle difference between these two women in eye color is so slight that they would both look amazing in one another's eye shadow. But for the sake of this post, I'm pointing out tiny differences to make a point.

GREEN EYES

Again, find which side of the green spectrum your eyes are and look directly across. 

Drew Barrymore is wearing purple shadow with a slight burgundy tint. The clever stylist in this ad even added a purple piece of fabric to further highlight her green eyes (and purple earrings too).

Scarlett Johansson's eyes are a bit bluer on the green spectrum so she's wearing yellow tinted shadows (peach and gold).

BLUE EYES

Blue is fun because you can kind of make anything work. Let's look at the celebs for tips:

                                                                              

Blake Lively and Megan Fox are both wearing warm-toned makeup (browns, gold, peach) which is directly across from blue on the color wheel. It's the classic contrast for blue eyes and always works. If you look closely, Blake's eyes are greener and her shadow is slightly redder, while Megan's eyes are more violet and her shadow is slightly yellower. Tiny differences, but they make a difference.

Ok ladies! So find your eye color on the color wheel and find the shadows that will make your eyes pop. I hope this was helpful. Have a wonderful day!