This one was total experimentation — I fell in love with eye makeup first, so I wanted to wear EVERYTHING and loved putting together new combinations so there was never any color that was off limits.
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For myself, I find eye shadow colors to be the most forgiving. I think that since they are used on a relatively small area of the eye you can get away with colors that you might not think would work for you. You can put colors that work with colors that don’t, just using the color that doesn’t work so well, in a small area. I really prefer the look of cooler toned shadows on me and in this day and age when warm shadows are the rage it is difficult to find palettes that have even a couple of cooler toned shadows. I have been experimenting with my daughter’s Naked Heat palette and have found a couple of eye looks that I like a lot. I have used a brown or black pencil to separate the warmer shades from my actual eye and that seems to work well. I actually didn’t own any of the UD Naked palettes until Sunday when we started out to take a Sunday drive and ended up 3 hours away in
Couer D”Alane, Idaho, where there is an Ulta. My daughter had told me that she thought I might like the Naked 2 palette so I swatched a few on my arm and there were a couple of cooler shades so I purchased. I used it today and have to say that the colors that I used were nicely pigmented and blended really well. So I am happy with it and look forward to using it. I have very brown eyes and so I also try to use shadows that compliment my brown eyes, deep navy blues, greens and pinks. When I was younger darker eye shadow looks were my staple eye look but I have found as I have gotten older that if I do a really dark, smoky eye it seems to bring out the dark circles that I have and makes my eye area look like a big black hole. Not an attractive look.
I also think that eye shadows are a place to throw caution to the wind and really do some fun things whether the colors work for you or not.
It’s lovely that you and your daughter share a common love of makeup. I have the Naked 2 palette and just love it…..
Let’s see, I went from having just 3-4 shades of eyeshadow at my disposal when I was 13, I now have hundreds. Back then, there just weren’t the shade options, nor the avant garde or more detailed looks of today! What I have found is that I can get away with quite a few different shades and shade combos, despite my having lighter eyes than might be expected on a med. olive, dark haired person. Although, I do know that there are certain tones that just don’t do anything for my eyes at all,is; most grays, very cool toned blues. Lucky for me, that also leaves a veritable plethora of shades that do work! Especially; purples/plums, all warm neutrals including red and yellow, and teals/warm blue/greens.
I am still figuring it out. For example I swore that blue would never work for me and yet here I am,mwearing a lot of blue hues on my eyes this year.
This is such a process for me. I haven’t worn any eyeshadow, just straight eyeliner for 2 years when I first dabbled with makeup because I purchased a too faced nine color shadow box (the smokey one) and the instruction in it made my eyes look like panda’s. Until two years ago I just bit the bullet and bought a tarte face palette (showstopper) and it came with six shadows. I find those colors lighter and more forgiving and then I started to experiment with shadows. I found that western bloggers’ makeup tutorials aren’t helpful because of our different eyeshapes so I exclusively looked up monolid makeup. That helped me a lot and now I’m totally hooked.
I also think that I don’t necessarily have to wear warm eyeshadow colours just because of my yellow undertone. I like cool tones as well and incorporate them into my routine. Although I do agree that straight up grey shadows do look odd.
It’s still a work in progress. I know I look best in warm colors, but being able to differentiate warm and cool is still a little difficult for me. I mess up A LOT and have eye looks that end up looking like mud, or the contrast is too different for my liking. I fall back on old face charts when all else fails.
Also experimentation (does anyone actually figure these things out any other way?). I was really, really (really, really, really …) bad at makeup when I first started wearing it and tended to pick “pretty” colors like blues and purples, not knowing they really (really, really) wouldn’t work for me (at least not straight from the “4 shades of purple from pastel to grape” quads that I used to get). The final effect kind of turned me off to makeup for a while, but after I eventually decided to give it another go, I went almost exclusively neutral and found the warm to very warm neutrals were more flattering to my blue eyes and yellow/gold skin.
Might have been some stiff competition for the really really (really really really) bad…category
I think my issues were threefold: was steered towards warm neutrals/browns while they do not do much for my green hazel eyes or my complexion. I completely sucked at application. I didn’t understand hooded eyes.
so yes, trial and error all the way…excruciating!… painfully slow! Eye makeup represents my most drawn out and difficult lessons.. my makeup kryptonite, if you will.
I guess in that respect I’m lucky – because I wasn’t steered toward anything. My mom wasn’t into makeup, hair, fashion, nails, any of it so I was on my own. Magazines were my guide, and I never cared what they said I should or shouldn’t use. I tried every look Teen magazine had to offer, regardless of whether the model was a pale skinned blond or a dark skinned African American.
You’re here, at Temptalia, so you’re probably better than you think you are.
I’ve been loving reading the questions and answers lately, so I think I’ll break my creeper/solely reading ways. I was purely only aware of purple working well on my green eyes as a teenager. But when my interest re-emerged about two years ago I end started slowly with my purples (again), the typical browns and gold. But my interest was intense and quickly I was trying alllllllll of the colors. So basically also a lot of experimentation. I have found myself liking colors I didn’t even consider being my favorites on my eyes- pinks, oranges and reds.
I like them all and will experiment with all. Although I’m a cool toned girl I do prefer more the warm color and palettes having hazel greenish eyes I love all bronze shades, rose gold, taupe, olive greens and purples! I’m drooling with the UD Naked Heat and Yes Please from Colourpop gorgeous fiery tones! I also like shimmer, glitter and all that fun stuff but wear few times. I think eyes is one I can experiment with than comparing with blush which covers a much larger area ir lipsticks. Eyeshadows are thrilling! Well, so are lipsticks and blushes. Adore them all! Lol!
I met a terrific MUA through my hairdresser years and years ago. She gave me the 10 minute story of what colors would work best on me. Best free beauty advice I’ve ever been given. Whenever I’ve veered off track, I’ve regretted it.
Again, trial and error. I was also mostly into eyeshadow when I started becoming interested in makeup, so I tried a lot of styles and colors. I didn’t find that the classic tricks that say which shades you should wear based on your eye color didn’t work very well. I have green eyes, but I learnt that deep browns, greys and blues work as well as, if not better than purples to make my irises stand out. Plums are supposed to be great for green eyes, but the very warm, reddish or berry ones make me look ill.
I always thought cooler colors, darker ones looked better on me on my eyes. I could wear a bit of gold sheer sparkle and some warmer in the summer as I get very tan even with sunscreen. I’m neutral undertones but dark eyes and hair being mistaken for Italian or a Spanish person a lot.
I am getting more experimental trying pink from Viseart Boehme palette and the tangerine color Flipper from Colourpop.
I’ve tried reddish Browns and a very hint of red but overall oranges and reds don’t look good on me. I look like I have an eye infection or I’m a vampire.
I always thought a darker color looked better on the (is it crease?) above the upper lid and below the browbone. I guess I’m semi hooded which I recently discovered. As I get older the hoods are getting bigger.
Really dark, black or blackish colors look like too much on me. And when I try a bunch of colors, like Christine does, it looks like a muddy mess. But I can wear lighter colors on my upper lid.
Being dark I like bright colors as eyeliners but using all one color like green in different shades looks odd on me.
I’ve always loved eye shadow, and back in the day, the only ones on offer were frosty affairs from Rimmel and Revlon. So my first experience was with frosty blues…
For a long time I would just wear shades of grey and navy blue – not spending much money on either of them until I started reading this blog and found a whole world of eye shadow palettes….
Now I wear all shades of neutrals, olives, golds, greens and still blues and greys.
I have hazel/green eyes: The inner ring has brown and reddish-amber shades, the middle ring has yellow, blue, and green-gray tones, and the thinner, outer ring is dark gray. From a distance, they appear olive colored.
When I was first starting out with makeup in the early 80s, there was no internet, so I relied on fashion magazines for information. My mother wasn’t a help here, as she has brown eyes. I got some good advice from magazines, such as purples would look great. And one piece of bad advice: Never wear the same color family as your eyes, as it would just distract. This was LAW back then. So I didn’t touch greens until I was in my 40s. Imagine my surprise that the olives and golden greens I was warned off actually enhanced my eye color. And many other green shades look great.
I knew color theory from art, and I’d always had a good sense of color. So I had a good start, and the rest was trial and error. I started in the 80s, so I experimented with some pretty wild eyecolor combinations. I continued to experiment, as new shades and better formulas came out, making it easier to wear everything.
Now makeup blogs and vlogs help, too. I used to avoid all blues except navy. Now I know shimmery blues will work on me, as well as teals. I learned only about a year ago that bright yellows bring out the yellow shades in my eyes and looks really gorgeous. So yellow got promoted from accent color to main color. Red and orange eyeshadow is so much easier to get now, and they really bring out the green tones.
I avoid most cool, mid-toned browns, as they tend to go muddy on my fair skin. If I wear them, they have to be a great formula, preferably satin or shimmer, and I wear them with warmer browns or brights. Grays don’t look bad, but they don’t do anything for me either. I’ve learned grays are much better on me if they are tinged with pink, lavender, or violet, or lean more silvery. Really bright matte greens don’t work as a lid color: I think those do compete with my eyes. I can wear them as an accent color in the outer crease or lower lashline.
I think my best colors are anything in the purple/violet/plum family, anything in the red/pink/burgundy/berry family, anything in the orange/peach/yellow family, chartreuse, warm neutrals and browns, coppers, golds, olives and khakis, anything in the blurple/navy/midnight blue range, and teals.
I have green eyes and hair color changes often. I wear neutrals and prefer a sheen to my look. I’ve loved makeup of all kinds (except lips-got into that in my 20’s) from my young teens.
It’s experimenting with different shades that does it for me. I have dark brown eyes tinder are smaller, but i have colored lenses when I want to have a different look and wear different shades. I have become much more “addicted” to makeup in the last few years. I’m over 50, and when I was in my 20’s, the choices were SO limited, so I really appreciate all of the new lines, shadows, techniques, etc. I tell people that off I could wear makeup 24/7, I would, lol. But I also take good care of my skin and give it a good rest.
As a teenager, I experimented with lots of different colors, sometimes all at once! My eyes are green and I used to think that meant green shadow. One day, when I was in my 20s, I was wearing an orangey brown eyeshadow and several people throughout the day commented on how my eyes looked so green. After that, I started to learn how to play up my green eyes. I moved towards warm neutrals. Nowadays, my favorite palettes are UD Naked 3, Too Faced Sweet Peach, and ABH Modern Renaissance. I use the colors carefully, sparingly, keeping them subtle, in order to keep the focus on the green color of my eyes. I judge my looks pretty harshly sometimes, but I’ve always liked my eye color.
I think all colors work for me, and for anyone really. It’s just a matter of figuring out what works together to give you the look you like. I have never met a color I can’t wear, in any colored makeup. Only colors that don’t work well together or with certain looks. How do you figure that out? Develop your own eye, sense of style and self, and confidence.