Color Theory: My Eyes & which Color?

Ever wander through aisles of eyeshadows in Sephora and wonder which color would look best on you? Do you spend painstaking time staring blankly at the wall of eyeshadows only to come home and find that the color you picked doesn't look good on you? Wonder no more! Here is a comprehensive list of colors that will look great, look yours up by iris color! Colors that are always out of the question are red and yellow, these two colors will make you look like you have pink-eye or jaundice, so regardless of your iris shade, stay away from these.


Brown-eyed beauties
If you're in this category, you're pretty lucky... not just because this is also my color, but because you can get away with wearing a lot of different options. Purple, violet and mauves are by far the best looking on this color because they just make your eyes stand out and have an understated elegance. As with all colors, don't choose something that is extremely saturated, or if you do, make sure you apply it little by little. Anyone can look like a clown even using the colors that are best suited for them if they go overboard with pigmentation. Another great alternative is metal colors - golds, coppers, bronzes, and even silver all look wonderful. If you want a warmer look, you would stick to the gold, copper and bronze, but if you want a smokey, colder look, opt for silver and pewter-tones. Green and blue can work, if done in the right way, otherwise they tend to look a little out of place and will bring out redness in your eye. Consider using green and blue eyeliner or opting for more washed-out versions of the colors, or maybe pairing up these shades with browns along the contour of your eye. If you contour your eye with the same color as your iris, you can pretty much pull off any of these colors. Very pale vanilla and ivory tones work well as highlighters. You should wear black or mauve mascara as the mauve is a naturally enhancing tone for brown eyes.


Striking hazel
Good on you, if you have this color, you must be pretty smug about yourself, and if you're not, you should be. This color is absolutely breathtaking and your makeup should reflect the beauty of it rather than detract from it. Don't use any colors that compete with the color of your eyes (so if you have a hint of a color and you can see it in your eye, do not use an eyeshadow that appears to be that color). Apricot and pink are great highlighting tones that bring out the light in your eyes. You can use light jewel-tones, champagne, mauve, and green colors to accentuate your eye color. Try to stay away from extremely black eye-liner because it will overpower your eyes and create stark contrast, you should use brown eye-liner and consider lining your eyes with mauve or green, as well. Dark brown and black mascara are the best choices for you, as they will make your eyes pop and make your lashes look like they go on for days!


Gorgeous green
Green eyes look vibrant and alive, they are the color of all things natural and support earthy-colored makeup. Various kinds of browns, such as chocolate, or wood tones enhance your eye color naturally. Your eyeshadow should be the background of the picture you are trying to paint with your eyes as the focal point. Choose colors that will not detract from the natural beauty of your color. Dark greens work well because they will not compete with your lighter-toned eyes, metallics such as copper or gold can look very elegant and sultry with your eyes. Apricots and taupes work well and will bring out the color in your eyes, as well as deeper purples and plumes to create a luxurious, glamour-filled look. You should wear dark brown eyeliner if you have vivid green eyes, but if the green is more subtle, you can opt for black to make the color pop. You can also choose to wear green eyeliner as a continuation of your natural eye hue. You can wear purple, dark brown or black mascara, this is really a matter of preference, you will look great in either. Highlight colors should be light apricots, champagne, and vanillas. You should stay away from blues because they will compete with your eye color and make your green eyes pale in comparison (because the eyeshadow is likely to be a more potent pigment than your eyes). You may look great or awful in pink, so I suggest trying a light frosty shade and if you think it looks good, then work your way to a more saturated pink.


Bodacious blues
Last, but definitely not least, the eye color that is considered the highest echelon of beauty, born of the nordic gods of olden times: blue eyes. Almost all hues of brown will complement blue eyes, except for copper because of the red-tones that will compete with your own color. You have very many options because a wide array of colors tend to look great on your eyes. All neutrals will look great, plumes and purples, and metallics will give you much opportunity to play with eyeshadows and combinations. You can wear blue eyeshadow to accentuate the color in your eyes, as long as if your eyes are greyish blue, you pick out the blues that tend to have that similar slate tone, but if your eyes are bright blue, you should wear colors that remind you of the ocean, such as aqua, sea-foam, and sky blues. You can wear eyeliner in purples, blues, brown and black, but try not to go for the blackest black because it can overpower your eyes. Try to stay away from green tones because it will compete with your eye color, detracting from the natural beauty of your eye color. You can highlight your eyes with gold, cream, vanilla, ivory and almost any of the lightest colors. Mascara can be worn in purple, blue, brown, dark brown, and black.

How to Simply do the Perfect Smokey Eye

Following a few simple guidelines, you can create a simple smokey eye and tweak the various steps to create a look that is truly unique and beautiful; truly you.

First you will want to, as always when applying eye makeup, prime your eyelid with concealer or a primer, in my case I used MAC's NC20 concealer to create a flat surface to which the eyeshadow can adhere. Then take your favorite black pencil eyeliner, in my case Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliner in 'Zero', and draw a line overtop of your lashes. Continue this line and smudge it up over your eyelid and even in the crease. Use a brush to smujdge it out and create this 'smoked' effect, don't worry about being too clean about it, the fabulous thing about a smokey eye is that it's supposed to look uncontrolled and sultry. Make sure to color in between your lashes so you don't have patches of skin that show underneath the smokey eye; fill in your lashes. Then use a black eyeshadow or a dark eyeshadow (in my case it is MAC's 'beauty marked') and apply it liberally over top of the smudged black liner. I suggest that if you have lighter skin like I do, you stick to a darker shade of a color rather than going with black. This is simply because you will have huge contrast between your eye makeup and your skin and might end up looking like a raccoon if you overdo it! That being said, you can truly use any eyeshadow for this as long as you blend, blend, blend it in!!!

The next step consists of taking a shade lighter than the shade used to cover the eyelid and contour the shape of the eye, I used Urban Decay's 'Last Call' eyeshadow also available as 'Queen' from the Alice in Wonderland palette. Accentuate the arch of your eye, this is where you can play with scale and shape and give yourself the desired shape you want. Some people choose to not blend in their shadow here but, as you can see, the color will look very potent and this may not be appropriate for wear during the day or at work. I choose to continue blending it in. I also apply a highlighter, usually just a white eyeshadow or a very light neutral, lighter than my skin-tone. I blend the contour color and the highlighter together thoroughly until no edge can be seen. The final step is an application of liquid liner, I used Stila's liquid liner and some black mascara to give it that polished look. Finally, you can line your waterline (underneath your eye, above your lower lashes) with one of the colors used and apply an eye pencil on top just to make the colors pop. This last part is entirely optional in the look, some people prefer not to do it because their eyes are too sensitive.

I chose to go in a purple/plum direction with this smokey eye look, particularly because purple makes brown eyes pop really nicely as it is a complementary color. However, this same look can be done using any color, or any neutral you'd like, just remember that the base color should be the darkest and anything you apply on the contour should be a shade or two lighter. Experiment with your looks and let me know what creative ideas you've come up with!

How to take care of your face

I've devised a few easy steps, which come from my experience giving makeup tutorials for sensitive skin at the hospital, and my personal love-affair with makeup over the past decade. I will not be posting about expensive creams that promise to perform wonders, because I don't really believe that they do, and the beauty industry can be extortion a lot of times, using very similar, if not the exact same, chemicals in creams of all price-points. Don't believe the hype, nothing will make you look younger if you abuse your face, the best way to keep looking fresh-faced is to maintain a logical regimen that revitalizes and hydrates your skin.

Cleanliness is very important, washing your face with Dove soap or cold cream can drastically reduce your breakouts and proves to be moisturizing for your skin. The purpose of using soap when washing your face is to mostly remove the dirt and grime that inevitably build up in your pores from day-to-day dust and grime, as well as makeup. Also, it is important to be using brushes or makeup sponge wedges when applying your foundation and concealers, you don't want to be putting your hands on the product and transferring your bacteria onto the bottle or your face. For this reason, it is also absolutely essential to discard your  sponges after a few uses (use your common judgement, for me they last about a week) and to wash your brushes once a week. 

Morning

Do you suffer from puffy eyes in the morning and have to cover those bags up with tons of concealer? My trick to getting those down is a mixture of drinking plenty of fluids every day, getting the right amount of rest in (8 hours of sleep per night is ideal), andClinique's de-puffing serum in the form of a rollerball (retails for $26). It's great because it is hypoallergenic, the rollerball promotes the movement of fluids and stimulates circulation underneath your eye and it has a refreshing, cooling sensation that will cause your blood vessels to constrict. Ultimately, for all of these reasons it will bring puffiness and dark-circles to a minimum. I have this listed under the morning category, but you can be using it at night also.

Before applying your makeup, you should ideally use a daily moisturizer such as Clinique's dramatically-different moisturizer or Nivea's moisturizing cream. Either one will work, or you can use whatever is tried, tested, and true with your skin. If you are in a colder climate, you should opt for even more moisturizing in your cream (such as this Nivea). Apply just a dollop so that it will absorb into your skin before you put your makeup on (in the meantime, just get dressed, make yourself a cup of coffee, and let it seep into your skin).

 Then, for the ultimate morning-pick-me-up, use a pure Aloe Vera gel, all over your face to substitute for a face primer (be careful not to put it on your eyes, though, that can sting). It is a very inexpensive alternative to a facial primer and is not jam-packed with chemicals, but rather protects your skin with a sheer coating of the all-natural Aloe gel (you can find it at Wal-mart in a 12oz bottle for just under $4.00). This is a trick I discovered many years ago and I have been using it every day. If you apply this all over your face, you will have a flat, even surface to apply your foundation onto and it will act as a barrier for your pores so that your makeup does not clog them up. Try it once, and you will see a major difference in the way your foundation and powder sits on your face.

Night-time
Once a week, you can use a soft exfoliating facial wash, or use a silicon-face brush to slough off any dead skin cells from your face, but do not be too aggressive when doing so, or you will irritate your face and cause it to release more oils to protect itself and this will make you break out. Do not exfoliate every day, or even every other day, it is aggressive on your skin and you should do it sparingly.

More importantly than anything else is removing your makeup that you have been wearing all day before you go to sleep. You can do this with makeup wipes (although they tend to be alcohol-based and will promote drying your face), cleansing wash, or soap and water, but please do not fall asleep with that makeup on! I think it's pretty self-explanatory... you don't want all that gunk to be in your pores and on your eyes, the makeup will settle in your wrinkles (yes, even if you're a teenager) and will continue to wedge them in and make them even bigger!!! Nobody wants to give themselves wrinkles!

Before going to sleep, you should apply a night-repairing facial moisturizing cream and a night-repair eye serum, because you won't be able to keep hydrated at night (who drinks in their sleep?) and these will help your skin from drying out. I've found that Lancome, Estee Lauder, and Clinique make good products, so really here I use whatever I can get my hands on. It's a good idea to change these up, as your skin will get used to the active ingredients and their benefits will be decreased. However, if you are allergic to most creams and you know of one that does agree with your skin, then stick to it!

If you follow these rules, you will stay youthful and beautiful looking for as long as your wonderful genetics allow you to. Take care of yourself and your face will thank you.