A few weeks ago, I contacted makeup artist Amy Oresman, who was responsible for creating Hayden Panettiere's dazzling Emmy look. And here's a little gem that didn't make it into the original post.
"What can you say about the often-repeated beauty advice to match your eye shadow shade to your eye color?" I asked. Here's what she had to say: "Don't believe it! Matchy-matchy eye shadows compete with your natural eye color, making it look more muted and washed-out."
So, fill me in. Do you already follow this advice, or do you "break the rules" by color coordinating?
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Sometimes. I have brownish/greenish eyes and I wear a lot of different shades of brown shadows. I'll also occasionally wear green shadow. I don't match my eyes with the shadow exactly though.
1I find it works well sometimes and sometimes not. My eyes change between different shades of blue and green. The other day I did a coppery color all over the lid with navy blue in the outer corner, and it looked really good. Blue liner actually looks good on me too, as does a wash of light blue on the lid. Greens are harder for me to work with. Some shades look pretty, but others make my eyes look blah. I think you had to make sure that the shade you're using is different enough from your eye color. If your eyes are light blue, use a dark blue or a teal. If your eyes are greenish brown, and you want to use green, find one with more blue in it.
2Honestly, I have to admit I do sometimes. I have brown eyes with hints of green and I do wear brown and green eyeshadows. What can I say? They do look good on me!
3My eyes are sort of intermediate blue-green, and I find I can bring out one color or the other by picking similar shades of eyeshadow. The trick for me seems to be not matching, but complementing with close shades.
4My eyes are blue and I've always found that blue shadow looks very strange on me. I will do navy eyeliner though, that looks nice.
5I'm not a fan of blue eyeshadow.
6I have green eyes and I found that purple (nice purple not neon or anything) works the best. Really dark purple looks better for the smokey eye look then black. I'd never match green to green because I've never found a green shadow that doesn't look really garish on pale skin. Strangely enough metallic gold or bronze also works really well but silver makes my face look funny and doesn't match the green as well as it should.
7My eyes are hazel so nothing really matches exactly. When I wear browns or greens I make sure they're darker or lighter than the tones in my eyes. I usually wear shades that make my eye color stand out, like purples.
8Well, I got green/hazel eyes. I like to wear purple eyeshadow to pop out the green and rarely try to match my eyes color. Sometimes I wear green but mixed with brown, copper and gold, all shimmery, but is not that often.
9I wear whatever eyeshadow goes with my outfit and the look I'm trying to achieve. If it means brown eyeshadow (I have brown eyes), then whoop-de-do.
10If you want your eyes to pop, in contrast to looking muted. You need to use the complimentary color eyeshadow of your nature eye color for example, green=purple + plum, or a red based bronze/brown, blue=brown/gold/bronze, brown=blue/purple. I know it's not that simple, but it's a good quick assertive way to pick a shadow color.
11I have brown eyes and I do tend to wear a lot of browny-gold eyeshadows - but they look really good against my olive skin, while sometimes more colorful shadows look a bit too garish.
12i have blueish green eyes, but i love it when they look blue, so to bring that out i wear either brown or steel gray eye makeup. it makes my eyes look amazing!
13I rarely match my shadows to my eyes, which are green. But when I do, I find that darker shades work better.
14I have muddy hazel eyes, so no, I don't try to match. I generally wear greens, light browns, or purples.
15My eyes are a medium hazel, more brown than green, occasionally amber-brown, so it's hard to get an exact match. But I wear lots of browns, golds, greens, and olives - colors that are sort of in the same range but generally bolder/darker than my eyes. I really like the way golden-bronze shadows make my eyes look more green, though.
16Brown eyes look great with any shade but when you have lighter eye color you really shouldn't be matchy matchy. I have blue eyes that shift from bright blue to gray (depending on my mood and clothing). Blue eyeshadows just do not do anything for me. It competes too much. I will wear a dark navy eyeliner occasionally but that is as close as blue colors will get on my lids. I find that gray, brown (particularly bronze), some golds and some purples really make my eyes pop. I also never wear black eyeliner because between my light complexion and light eyes it looks way to harsh.
Its all about complimenting your color and not competing with it.
17My eyes are a gray blue green. I would never put that on my lids. I tend to go for lighter colors because I have such deep set, and dark areas around my eyes or I totally go for the smokey look.
18I coordinate my eye shadow more to my outfit or my other makeup, but i may have once or twice...but i am ashamed. lol
19My eyes are green with a blue ring around them, and I DO like to wear shades of blue and green sometimes. But I usually prefer colors like taupe, plum, or violet to really bring out the green.
20I have brown eyes and I go for coppers, browns, pinks, and blacks.
21Also gold works great for brown eyes.
22I have aqua eyes and I can't imagine pulling that shade of blue off on my lids, so no. I think they really pop with bronzy pinks
23I have really dark brown eyes; sometimes I uses a brown shadow with a little shimmer when I want to go for a natural look. I find that a brown shadow doesn't wash out my eyes a lot.
24i have dark brown eyes and i wear alot of brown eyeshadow, black, other colours occasionally, but mostly shades of brown and black ....it looks GREAT
25Never. I have medium-dark green eyes and I like to contrast them with various shades of purple. I also like champagne-toned shimmers. For liners I like brown, dark violet, sapphire, teal and grey.
26I have brown eyes and green is the color that works better with them. And my niece has green eyes and she looks beautiful with purple.
27I have brown eyes, so I do use brown eyeshadow sometimes. I mostly use grey and purple!
28Green eye shadow looks ugly on me, with my green eyes. It's better to go across the color wheel. Purple, plum, and raisin make my green eyes pop.
29The colour of my eyes changes between blue, grey and green a fair bit so I'm always swapping colours.
Green looks good if it's transparent, like a light shimmer. The rest of the time I stick with white, black or purple.
30Good God no. Matching your eye shadow to your eye color just makes you look like you didn't try and washed out. I stick with the rule about using eye shadow that is your eye color's opposite. Like a have blue eyes so I use a really sheer light gold shadow with black eye liner to highlight my eyes.
31Hazel green eyes CAN take olive eyeshadow if combined with a darker brown in the crease (no bright greens). Reddish bronze or plum ofcourse work great to make them pop.
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