How to choose the right eyeshadow colour to enhance your eyes – the ideal colours make your eyes pop and look brighter, and their colour more intense. In this video, you’ll discover my tips on finding the most flattering eyeshadow colours for your eyes and see my warm and cool eyeshadow palettes that I use with my clients in their personal colour analysis consultation.
Finding the Ideal Eyeshadow Colours
Use your colour palette (from a personal colour analysis) to help find the ideal colours – if the colours in the palette work with the eyeshadow colours – then they are likely to be a good choice. Eyeshadow and makeup is usually softer in intensity than the colours you may wear, so as long as the eyeshadow colours blend with the undertone of your colour palette (and if you haven’t got one, you can get one as part of my 7 Steps to Style program), then you’re on the right track.
Use the colour wheel and colour relationships (which I’ve written about here) to find colours that intensify or brighten your eye colour. Going across to the complementary and then around to the triadic colours from your eye colour (as demonstrated in this video) is a way to find colours that will make your peepers pop! Love to have your own version of the one I’m holding in the video? This is a tonal colour wheel and great for choosing makeup – you can find them here.
Warm Undertone Eyeshadows
Blue eyes: Bronze, Gold, Brown
Brown eyes: Olive Green, Gold, Bronze, Coral
Green eyes:Violet, Bronze, Camel, Brown
Hazel eyes: Mauve, Bronze, Camel
You can also use your eye colour in a dark version as an eyeliner. But be careful of using your eye colour as a shadow as often your eye colour will be softer and more muted than the shadow, and then the shadow overshadows your eye colour, rather than making your eyes pop -your shadow pops instead.
Cool Undertone Eyeshadows
Blue or Blue/Grey eyes: Pink, Cool Brown, Grey
Brown eyes: Blue, Navy, Silver, Pink, Forest Green, Teal
Green eyes: Lilac, pink, Cool Brown
Blue/Green eyes: Pink, Cool Brown, Navy or Deep Teal as an eyeliner
So there you have it – your cheat sheet for selecting the eyeshadow colours that will flatter your eye colour and make them pop – as the eyes are the window to your soul!
Great article! I think, though that you are missing some additional eye-popping colours. What does look amazing on me (as a blue-eyed gal) are the analogous colours (which for me are the aquas and blue greens, greens and purples).
Yes I specifically left them out as it’s easy to overwhelm your eye colour if it’s not a bright blue with similar colours – you need to look for a more muted version than your eyes).
Thanks so much Imogen, great article and video, now I understand why I’ve felt so uncomfortable using eye shadows in the past when they made my eyes look dull or just not right! I just stopped wearing any at all! (I’m a cool Green/Hazel eye person) I will be sharing this with my Blue eyed, light red hair female twin 16 year old’s. I do not have your colour wheel which I would love to purchase, is this possible? ( I have a colour palette from attending a course).
Ive been told I have a cool pallet but there is no list of cool eye shades for the Hazel eyed which I am. What so I do?
Hazel are normally warm coloured eyes – there are blue/green eyes that are cool (but I wouldn’t describe them as hazel).
Do you have suggestions for gray eyes and cool undertone?
Grey eyes are a version of blue – so use those recommendations.
Where can I get one of those color wheels you was showing..?
Sarah -they are hard to come by but I’ve found them here https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=10781&awinaffid=348763&clickref=&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etsy.com%2Flisting%2F200991820%2Ftonal-rainbow-color-selector
This is wonderfully validating! With my cool coloring and greenish eyes I’ve been wearing a very subtle pinkish rose-beige eye shadow with greyed-lavender-purple color as eye liner for the past few months and loving it. The colors are barely there and probably no one notices, but I think my eyes look greener, deeper, and more sparkly. Thank you for these detailed recommendations!
I have warm hazel/green eyes but a fairly cool overall coloring (skin/hair). It makes finding an eye-enhancer really hard! It’s like no color exists that both flatters my face and also makes my eyes pop.
I find the eyeshadows that look the best on me have to have some hint of purple or pink. Purples, pinks, and plums themselves are great, but even my browns need to be a little pinky or purpley to really look good.
This is quite an old thread now, but maybe someone will see it. What is recommended for someone who has heterochromia, as I do? I have one eye that is blue and brown, and the other is more green. Obviously, I’m not going to do shadow for each eye differently! But how do I choose?
Every eye colour can wear brown eyeshadow – so I’d work with that!