To make your brown eyes appear brighter, go for colored eyeliner in contrasting shades. For instance, think shades of midnight blue and teal, shades of olive and emerald green, shades of vivid purple and soft purple for a regal look, and even grey and charcoal to bring out any gold flecks in your brown peepers.
“Swap your black eyeliner (especially for day) for brown, navy or plum. Sometimes black eyeliner can be very harsh on mature eyes and draw attention to dark circles and lines around the eye. Experiment with colour for a softer look that compliments your eye or hair colour.”
Make Brown Eyes Look Bigger and Brighter with Nude Eyeliner
One of the best eyeliner colours for ALL eye colours, including brown eyes, is a nude shade that helps the eyes to look BIGGER and BRIGHTER!
While brown eyeliner is always a match for brown eyes, deep blue tones can look especially amazing. Want to highlight the lighter accents in brown eyes? Light or reddish-brown eyeliner can bring out new dimensions in brown eyes.
How to make brown eyes pop. With rich brown eyes, the contrast of shades like cobalt blue, teal and turquoise will make your eyes instantly pop. While coppery golden tones are great for highlighting and enhancing your natural brown eyes, particularly when paired with a neutral base.
Julep Gel Eyeliner Pencil
It's ophthalmologist-tested for 10+ hour usage, making it a safe option for aging, sensitive skin. "I have been using this brand for about a year now. It is the ONLY brand of eyeliner that does not make my eyes itch or smudge when using it."
Mistake #04: Using black eyeliner
Applying a thick, black eyeliner makes your eyes appear really small and beady — making you look older than you are. An easy solution to this problem is to switch your back eyeliner with a brown one for a softer and more youthful appearance.
Gently hold lids taut to get a smooth line
There's a great trick to this. Look straight into the mirror and gently pull your eye taut (but not tight!) at the outer edge while applying the liner to your upper lids. This decreases the lids enough so you can draw a sleeker line without bumps and wiggles.
Also, try to avoid applying makeup on the lower lash line as it makes the eyes look smaller, highlights fine lines and drags down the whole face. The eyeliner can get smudged from the bottom lash line, clearly showing signs of fatigue, and making you look older.
“Brown eyes are already neutral, so you can really play with color on brown eyes,” says Katie Jane Hughes, who gravitates toward jewel-toned eyeliners–think rich berry tones, deep purples, and emerald greens–and has been loving Glossier's No. 1 Pencil in deep eggplant Rococo recently.
Purple makeup suits brown eyes because of the color contrast that makes brown eyes pop. Purple eye makeup is surprisingly wearable, whether you opt for a sultry violet eyeliner pencil or a quick purple smokey eye.
Wear colors opposite of brown on the color wheel- those would be blues, teals, greens, and purples. If your eyes are hazel instead of deep brown, make them look almost green by wearing green eyeshadow. Yellow is not the best color as it brings out the yellow in some brown eyes.
“You may have heard the trick to apply white pencil eyeliner to your waterline to brighten your eyes and make them look younger. However, this can look unnatural and too retro. Instead, opt for a champagne shade or nude eyeliner on the waterline.
Ditch liquid liners
Thick black lines don't do any woman over 35 any favours as it makes eyes that are already getting smaller with age look even tinier. And the rock-chick look is too harsh for ageing skin tones, so switch to brown or charcoal-grey.
"Always go a shade lighter than your foundation." The lighter tone will cancel out dark discoloration, but be careful not to go too fair.
Neutral and pink colored eye shadows also make you look younger. Neutrals will also complement your everyday look without making you feel that you have over done your makeup, whether you are in the office or college.
Opt for a lighter eyeshadow rather than a dark, smoky shade on your eyelids and around the eyes, like Jenna Dewan Tatum. "Highlighting the corners makes eyes look brighter and fresh," says Ahnert. "Use a light color shadow in matte or shimmer to inner corner, lower lash line in outer corner, and the inner lid."
If your dark brown eyes have even a pinch of a warm, golden undertone, you can count on gold shadow to bring it out and make them sparkle. Purple is your most flattering contrast shade for the lashes; go for ultraviolet to really electrify things, or play it subtle and earthy with a deep eggplant.
Most brown eyes have flecks of golden or yellow pigments, especially when they hit the sunlight. Brown eyes also tend to have a natural sparkle, so gold eyeshadows, such as copper, bronze, rose gold, and shimmery yellow, enhance their golden tones. Use gold eyeshadow for a casual lunch date or sultry evening look.
Eyeshadow for Brown Eyes
Bright Green and Blue - Use brighter shades to give you a pop of color and accentuate your eye color. These types of bright shades look great on all skin tones as well! Try a teal or bright blue. Deep Purples - Shades like plum or eggplant add a bit of drama to brown eyes.