The Secret to Sexy Eyes: How to Choose the Right Eye Makeup

Okay, this is a question I get asked often: How do you do your makeup? It's great when that happens. You feel flattered, honored and obviously it means that you're doing something right. In fact it's a major compliment, considering I don't have the best skin, and I am not a cosmetology or makeup artistry graduate (yet!) but I have been toying with makeup and almost all the brands out there, for more than a decade. So when someone asks me that question, I give them the honest answer: practice, practice, practice. It takes a lot of trial and error, research from magazines (back in my day!) and research online. It also helps to practice on other people, so that you can try different skin tones and work with different palettes.

I won't drag on like I usually do; for this hub I need to get straight to the point, because if you're researching this, you probably have a mission to accomplish and that is to get some good tips quick, so that you can head to the dinner party/club/work function in a few hours, looking like a million bucks. I've got good news for you: you can. And it's not what you think. It doesn't involve spending a crazy amount of moolah on some department store makeup (unless absolutely necessary) and it isn't going to be super complicated and take you hours to do. The trick I have learned over the years, is that, and you're gonna laugh...well, less is more. You ladies know what I am talking about. Aren't you picturing your mom right now, standing outside your room, watching you get dressed for the night and she says to you in passing, "Less is more!". Boy, was mom right. Guys actually dig that. AND it's less work for us girls! Plus it's more flattering too. Let's get right to it; I'll show you how.

First step: Primer

This is important. I cannot stress how important this is. What primer does is it smoothes out the lids and prepares them for eyeshadow. Simplest explanation there is. You can go without it, but you're gonna wish you had it on by the time you're done dancing and taking your second break off the floor. You're at the bar, you finish your drink, your girls need to freshen up and you get into the ladies room and look in the mirror and the first thing you will see is your eyeshadow: glistening and shiny but worst of all, smudgy, cakey and a horrid sight. Yuck. Primer helps tremendously with this problem. Like I said, it prepares your lids for eyeshadow, so like a natural "glue" it makes your eyeshadow adhere to your lids better. So through all that sweating and dancing and smooching or whatever is going down at the party...you're good to go. Cos you came prepared. Target has a makeup brand called E.L.F., which is awesome. It basically means Eyes, Lips, Face. It's an extremely affordable brand and they have all the basics you need. They have a good eyelid primer for $3! No joke. That's the one I use, and it works perfectly fine for me. I know this because I've used it when I've had my salsa and bachata classes, and dancing and sweating can turn your makeup from "wow" to "eh" in a matter of an hour. But, the primer has helped lots of times and I've never had a problem with my eye makeup when I've used a primer. For $3 from E.L.F. there's no excuse not to have a primer! Go to Target and get one.

Next step: Eyeshadow

This is the fun part! Let me break it down for you:

Brown eyes: I have brown eyes, so I can speak candidly about the products I use. With the right products, you can bring out the deep brown in the iris. Here is my fave pick:

Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow Trio #10 Almond Truffles This is a really easy eyeshadow to use, and I'm going to tell you how to use this eyeshadow following the basic steps for applying eyeshadow: Brow bone, Lid and Crease. The lightest color goes onto the brow bone. This is the bone that is directly underneath your eyebrow, hence brow bone...haha. You want to pick up a good amount of this color onto your brush/applicator tip and sweep it on the brow bone, following the shape of the brow. This accentuates the eyes and keeps the eyebrows neat. Also if you look in the mirror, you will see immediately how much bigger your eyes have gotten just by tidying up the brow area near the lid just by adding eyeshadow in a lighter shade. Next is the lid. The lavender color goes onto the lid. It's such a pretty color and most brown-eyed people don't know this, but lavenders/pinks/mauves go so well with brown eyes. All you have to do is look in the mirror and see how much stronger and more dominant the brown in your eyes have gotten just by using a simple color like purple. It's hard to screw up with purple, and pretty much any shade of purple you choose should work with your brown eyes. Last but not least, is the crease. The crease is basically the part where the eyelid folds when you look up. If you take your index finger and touch the inner corner of your eye and start moving upwards towards the brow bone and complete the "semi-circle" to the outer corner of your eye, you've just touched the crease. When I do my crease, I usually forego the brush and just use my ring finger (which is the weakest finger of all five fingers and the purpose of that is to further prevent tugging of the delicate skin around the eyes, which causes wrinkles). So dab your clean ring finger onto the palette with the darkest color (in this case, a dark brown) and gently sweep the color onto the crease, working from the outer corner to about 1/3 of the way to the middle of the crease. What you should see is a clear definition of the eyes; the lids appear bigger thus emphasizing the eyes and the lavender actually brightens the brown in the iris. I love this palette because the shades complement each other so well. Depending on whether it's day or night, you'll want to use a light touch of the dark brown color on the crease if it's makeup for the day, but sweep on a bit more of the dark brown if you're applying makeup for the night.

Blue eyes: I have worked with blue eyes before and you can really reach for the stars with this eye color if you know what products to use. You can go from the soft look to piercing blue eyes for night just by switching up a few shades, but we'll get into that later on. For now, let's dive straight into what works best for blue eyes. Top pick eyeshadow for blue eyes:

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips, Bronze Collection What a beautiful palette! The perfect combination of colors in one palette; the people at Physicians Formula have a winner with the Shimmer Strips collection. I chose the bronze collection (they have three other collections for the Shimmer Strips palettes) because it had the best combination of colors for blue eyes, in my humble opinion. Make sure to get the palette for blue eyes. If you look at celebrities with blue eyes such as Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox, and you pay attention to what kinds of shades of eye makeup they are using, you will see a lot of corals, peach tones and an array of browns, perfect for blue eyes. Applying the same basic rule of thumb as I said above for brown eyes, you will use the lighter shade on the brow bone, a peach or coral on the lid and a darker brown or even a deep gold for the crease. The best part about the Shimmer Strips Bronze Collection is that the eyeshadows are somewhat metallic, so your blue eyes aren't just blue; they're piercing blue. And that's what you're going for with blue eyes.

Green eyes and hazel eyes: Green eyes, like hazel eyes, are very versatile. Although you'll want to be more picky when it comes to extravagant colors like turquoise or shocking pinks, people with green or hazel eyes are actually pretty lucky in the eyeshadow department, because you can carry off pretty much any shade you want. The way to make the eyes pop even more would be to choose eyeshadows with higher pigments, or something that glitters or is iridescent. When you use an eyeshadow that is iridescent, it plays on the colors of your eye and the angles at which someone looks at your eye and perceives the colors. In short, we are going for the "rainbow" effect, especially since people with green eyes and hazel eyes tend to have more than just one specific color in their eye; their eye color often changes and it is this chameleon effect we want to enhance. Here are two great picks for green and hazel eyes, starting with a more expensive eyeshadow followed by a money-saving drugstore pick; both are highly sought-after iridescent, high pigment eyeshadows.

Make Up For Ever Iridescent Eyeshadow This is truly the perfect eyeshadow for anyone. The eyeshadows are highly pigmented pressed powders, meaning they blend easily and are lightweight, not the cakey old school stuff a lot of us are used to. Makeup nowadays is evolving; the ingredients are getting better, the lasting power is improving and really all you have to worry about is which color do I want to use today? It's truly amazing. A little tip: After primer, you'll want to powder the eyelid before applying this eyeshadow, so that it goes on easier and it stays on longer. As for which color, the sky is the limit. I suggest you buy two colors first, one lighter shade and one basic shade, like a blue or a purple or a brown, to toy around with and use a few times, so that you can get used to how this makeup works on you. Once you've played around with it and are more experienced with it, the possibilities are endless.

Loreal HiP High Intensity Pigments Eyshadow in Flamboyant Two really pretty colors as a duo; this is a great combo. You've got an earthy gold, and then you have a deep purple. There is so much you can do with these colors, but let me give you one versatile example: Sweep the gold on the lid, right up to the crease. Take an angled liner brush (which is basically a thin, flat brush which is cut at an angle, used for eyeliner mostly) and pick up some of that gorgeous purple. Hold the brush like a pencil and and point it to the inner corner of your eye. Gently dab the brush on the eyelid as if applying eyeliner; remember you'll want to stay as close to the eyelashes because we are manipulating this color to act as a liner. Line the entire eyelid until you reach the outer corner of the eye.

Loreal HiP High Intensity Pigments Eyeshadow #828 Dynamic A beautiful champagne shade coupled with a hot chocolate brown. Champagne and chocolates are best friends indeed! To complement the Flamboyant duo, you can use the champagne shade in this duo to highlight your brow by sweeping this color onto the brow bone, following the shape of the eyebrow. Then pick up the chocolate brown with a blending brush or your ring finger and apply gently to the crease. Blend well to the outer corners of your eye. Take a step back and look in the mirror (not too close, stand as far as someone in a room closest to you would be standing) and gauge the intensity of the look. If it's a daytime look you're going for, chances are you've picked up just enough of the brown shade to intensify the eyes. For the night, you'll want to pick up more of the gold in Flamboyant and concentrate on the center of the eyelids, followed by more of the brown shade on the crease, dabbing more color onto the outer corners of the eye. Blend into the middle of the crease and voila...you're a million bucks.