I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but beauty “rules” are becoming more passé by the second. In fact, I believe (and many experts I’ve consulted agree) that the only beauty rule right now is that there are no rules! Watch a red carpet, scroll through Instagram, or spend time on TikTok, and you’ll 100% see what I mean.
However, remember learning about the color wheel when you were in grade school? If we want to be technical about it, there will always be certain colors and tones that are more complementary to other colors and tones. For instance, if you have blue eyes, like me, wearing certain eye shadow shades will make the blue pop 10 times more than other, less complementary shades. Sure, you can choose to ignore said shades and wear whatever color eye shadow you feel like, but since my blue eyes happen to be my favorite feature (and one that others often compliment me on), I want to do everything I can to enhance them.
I love to play with makeup—it’s a big part of my job, after all—but I’m no expert. So to find out what hues and specific eye shadows would make my blue eyes shine their brightest, I reached out to two celebrity makeup artists: Jamie Greenberg, whose clients include Kaley Cuoco, Joey King, and Brittany O’Grady, and Jillian Dempsey, who works with the likes of Kristen Stewart, Leslie Mann, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Below, they’re not only sharing the all-time best eye shadows for blue eyes, but they’re also lending some helpful pointers and application advice along the way. Keep scrolling!
“Any complementary color on the color wheel is going to make your eye color pop,” explains Greenberg. Blue’s complementary color is orange, so she and Dempsey both recommend prioritizing eye shadows with warm or blue-based tones: ruby-rose, peach, apricot, coral, copper, bronze, and even something like a beige-pink shimmer.
If warm eye shadows aren’t your vibe, Greenberg says the next best shades will be something similar to your actual eye color, like blues or a light purple. Her fave tip? Do a little bit of both! “I love to use a complementary color like coral on the lids and then line the eye with a blue eyeliner. It’s like a double trick to make the eyes pop. Or you can use blue mascara instead of blue eyeliner.”
Dempsey is also a fan of enhancing blue eyes with a dose of eyeliner and is a big fan of rich brown: “I love to use my Rich Brown Khôl Eyeliner. It has the perfect amount of warmth in it to really flatter blue eyes. I have blue eyes, and it’s my number one makeup staple and smudges nicely for extra definition.”
Do like Gisele and stick to those bronze shades! “Yellow and green hues really don’t do blue eyes justice,” Dempsey shares. “Some metallic shades too, like bold purples and yellow-gold, tend to make blue eyes look washed out.”
Greenberg adds that grays can also dull the look of blue eyes, and bright reds (that look opaque, not sheer) can also look a little off.
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