I’m not hugely in love with mustard-like yellows all-over on my eyes, but I’m pretty much game for anything else, so discovering something I didn’t like was something I stumbled upon after using a mustard shade once. Even the mustards I dig with other shades, like plums, reds, oranges, etc.
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Trial n error comes in much more with eyeshadow I think. I will try any color. I have learned through experimenting, I’ve discovered purples and mushroomy taupes do not look good on me. MAC Satin Taupe (if I wear it on the eyelid) makes me look like I’ve been punched in the face lol. Shame bc it really swatches pretty. I can kind of work w it in the crease but on the eyelid, it’s a big no! Also MAC Expensive Pink just does not work on me and any color like it. It should bc I can wear gold. I love peaches and corals but for some reason it looks so flat on me. Really muddies a look. I tend to look best in bronzes, greens, antiqued golds, rusts. A lot of preference comes into too. And then my wardrobe does too.
The same way I pick what clothes look good on me – compliments from other women! Through the decades I’ve learned that when a woman tells you she likes something physical i.e. clothes, makeup, hair, that means it looks good on you 😀 When a man tells you they like something, they are just trying to keep you happy and you could look like a street worker or a construction worker and they wouldn’t know the difference 😉
? Yep, I definitely place more value on compliments from other women.
Yes to EVERYTHING you just said, Ariel Riley! I always trust either a woman’s opinion or a male who is not interested in me *that* way!
Lol! So true. Don’t ask my hubby is like asking an alien. No clue.
With my blue eyes, golds and bronzes almost always work well. I find that purples have always looked good on me, and, recently, I discovered how wonderfully potent a bright red eyeshadow can be in making the blues in my eyes pop. I’d say I’ve discovered what works well and what doesn’t through trial and error, but I also don’t necessarily avoid colors that don’t work well. Greens are kind of hard for me to pull off, but I still love wearing them!
Colour theory. I have hazel eyes with a deep green base which can look muddy and dull with certain eyeshadow colours. I find reds, burgandies and cool taupes and browns to be my best colour choices. I‘ve become very narrow in my selection. I’m not as terribly attached to change and variety as I used to be so I stick to what I know works well.
Definitely trial and error.
The biggest surprise I ever discovered that really brought my eyes to new life was 100% totally accidental! I was 18, Punk was in full force and its influence was being felt as the deeper, smoker hues began to show up in mainstream brands. Like Revlon! Yep, they came out with a series of very rich dark mattes, I quickly scooped up the deep dusty indigo, khaki and burgundy shades. When I used the burgundy, it was an instantaneous epiphany! Even though my parents hated my dark style, they both fawned over how this very dark burgundy made my blue-green eyes pop like Go lights on a signal. That same year, I also received a satiny shimmer dark burgundy-brown eyeshadow from a now extinct beauty subscription service from the French brand Orlane. Used that one and the one by Revlon till nothing left! Obviously, color wheel theory works, because I also slowly but surely would also find that plums, purples, violets, warm or rusty browns, even deep teals and greens make my eyes look shiny and bright!
On the other hand, gray blues and many very cool or duller yellow browns make my eyes look flat, lifeless and an oddly dead looking shade of dull sage green/grayed yellow with a darker outer ring of stormy sea blue-gray.
Oh, and yes, my eyes DO change color depending on colors worn and type of lighting I’m in!
I think I discovered what I didn’t like first and that was grays and silver leaning colours after that I got into a happy warm brown xone with my naked palette and then began venturing into color. Color looksw really good on me especially blues, greens, pinks and purples. now I just mix it up depending on my mood but absolutely no greys. i think I may have one grey in my stash.
Ugh the typos just killed me. sorry I was on my phone. loet’s try it again.
I think I discovered what I didn’t like first and that was greys and silver leaning colors. After that I got into a happy warm brown zone with my UD Original Naked palette and then began venturing into color. Color looks really good on me especially blues, greens, pinks and purples. Now I just mix it up depending on my mood but absolutely no greys. I think I may have one grey in my stash.
Working out the best eye shades for me has been a tricky affair. My hair shade suggests that I am warm toned, but my eyes (blue/grey) and face (porcelain) are cool toned.
For a long, long time I just wore shades of grey and navy blue.
But then I discovered the Naked range, holding off for a long time because I didn’t think it would suit me, but then I found out that the neutrals work well with my colouring – taupes, olives, golds, greens etc.
Now I am into coppery gold shades and love them. Same for plum shades too.
Pinks, reds, oranges and most purples are still shades that just don’t work for me.
Trial and error. In this case, my mom wasn’t helpful. Her eyes were brown and mine are hazel green, and after the 1970s, the only eyeshadow she wore was some shimmery white on her brow bone. (She focused on her brows and black liquid liner.) Growing up with my parents painting hobbies taught me a lot about color, which gave me a head start. I colored and drew a lot as a child and had a good sense of color.
I was allowed to wear eyeshadow by the time I entered high school. Unfortunately, I followed the “rule” of about not matching your eye color, which I regret. If I’d not done that, I’d have realized that olive, khaki, and most other greens look great on my eyes. I didn’t try those colors till I was in my 40s when I started getting into makeup again after raising my kids.
I learned cool browns will often go muddy on my fair skin. My eyes are yellow, pale blue, and gray in the center (appearing green). The outer part of the iris has brown, amber, and red shades, with a dark gray ring around the outside. I find I can wear most eye colors except matte pure grays (I need shimmer and/or a tinge of purple, pink, blue or green to them), and matte pale blues and minty greens (shimmery ones are OK as an accent color, just not the main crease or lid color).
I’ve found my best shades are violets/purples, pinks/fuchsias, reds/burgundies, navy, olive/khaki, greens, teals, coppers, yellows/golds, warm browns, and pinky- or peachy- nudes.
Again, it was mostly intuitive. There’s a few warm or warmish shades that look good on me-most reds, some golds and coppers, and the acid greens in the UD Electric and Huda Beauty Sapphire Obsessions palettes-but the colors I’m mostly attracted to are the cool ones that look good on me.
Easy! Nude or very cool colors made me look like a Zombie.
Bring on those warms, rustic shades and these hazel eyes really pop out! Also purples, plums, dark greens, taupe, bronze, golds. Love those babies!
Cool colors make my eyes look like a lizard, a chameleon something like it. Lol!
Trial and error, but if it doesn’t work as a base colour a lot of times it can be used in the crease as an accent. I love colour so it’s fun to play with all of them.
I think i just played. As you said Christine, combining colors can make a not so flattering shade look stunning. I’ve admired the looks you create with the yellow and greens or yellows and warm red browns.
Complete accident — I tried a matte gold/mustard/brown shadow by MAC (the name of which escapes me right now), and saw my eyes magically go clearer and blue-r in an instant. I now know that my best eye neutrals fall into the gold category (the color, not the metal), but that doesn’t stop me from wearing pretty much every other color under the sun.
I should add that the absolute best product to brighten my tear duct area is the Banana Powder from ABH. I’ll even use it as a base to neutralize the color of my skin in that area before I use another product as a not-skin-color inner corner highlight.
Well, I had some training on the color wheel, but truly, I use whatever I want on my eyes. And perhaps having born, but not too dark nor too light, eyes help (as I’ve read and been told that brown eyes can take more varieties of colors, though I don’t really believe that to be true color wheel wise).
Also, I simply enjoy color and duochromes! And though I rarely choose colors that absolutely don’t work, it has happened, and I simply redo my eyes (and try, try, again, as the saying goes).