Make Brown Eyes Sparkle! Complementary Eye Color Tutorial

Choosing eyeshadow complementary to your eye color will
always bring out your best and make your eyes appear to sparkle. This is an easy-to-achieve look that can be adjusted for any eye and skin colors. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a complementary color scheme for my eye color, dark brown. However, it is quite easy to adjust these techniques for your personal eye color.

Complementary color schemes are created by choosing colors
that are directly opposite on the color wheel, such as yellow and blue or green and red. To find which colors are complementary to your eye shade, find three colors that represent your eye color (such as red, orange and yellow or blue, blue-green and lime green) and draw a line directly from those colors to the color opposite them on the color wheel (green, blue and violet or orange, red, and red violet). Choose eyeshadows in the palette of the three complementary colors you’ve just found.

Examples of complementary colors:

• Blue eyes: gold, copper, peach, warm browns
• Green eyes: plum, violet, wine, pink
• Golden brown eyes: eggplant, lavender, royal blue, magenta, lilac, sky
• Red-orange brown eyes: turquoise, navy, emerald, seafoam, aqua
• Almost black eyes (like mine!): bronze, coral, sand, terra cotta

Start with a clean, dry face. Apply either eye primer or foundation to lids from lash to
brow. Dust lightly with powder, then apply a matte eyeshadow in sand with a large fluffy eyeshadow brush from lash to brow.

Using a large crease brush, blend a copper shadow from just below the
crease to the peak of the browbone.

Using either a small crease brush or a small rounded eyeshadow brush
(whichever you prefer), add a dark, warm brown to just the outer crease of your eye. Drag the color over onto the outer corner of your lid in a slight cat-eye shape.

Using a small eyeshadow brush, apply a reflective champagne shadow to the inner corners of your eye and to the browbone.

Curl your eyelashes, starting at the base and stopping to
squeeze gently outwards.
Apply a line of black pencil eyeliner to the lashline and the upper inner rim, then use a pencil brush to smudge it slightly.
Flick a clean spoolie or eyelash comb through your lashes to remove any excess shadow, then apply two coats of black mascara.

Voila! Try this yourself with colors that suit you or use the color wheel to create your own unique combination.