The Ultimate Guide to Bigger and Brighter Eyes

by Lauryn Salzwedel

For anyone not naturally blessed with big bright eyes, there are many tips and tricks you can use to fake a doe-eyed look.  It’s actually very simple, and doesn’t require any major time or product investment.  Just a tweak or two maybe, and you’ll see the world with a whole new view!

Perfect Circle

Dark circles can make your eyes appear smaller. The right concealer can work double—even triple—duty on darkness and discoloration. It can also illuminate the entire eye area and draw attention to eyelashes. Choose a shade that’s slightly lighter and warmer than your skin to brighten and correct any blue or purple tones. Ask a sales associate for help color-matching; yellow undertones neutralize blue/purple so ask for one with a tinge of yellow if that’s a concern.

Curl Your World

You’ll regret never spending that extra 20 seconds to curl your lashes. Curling your lashes can immediately make your eyes appear wider and more open. If someone’s lashes are straight, they can cast a shadow on the eye area.  So always curl your lashes.

Mascara Must

Apply a lengthening formula mascara along the upper and lower lashes to create wide doe eyes. Then, brush a thickening coat over the top for even flirtier, more bat-able lashes.

Lush Lash

To enhance your lashes (notice a trend here?) and frame your eyes, apply a super skinny strip of black liquid liner along the base of your upper lashes. Do a tiny flick at the end just to pull the eye out a bit – just a quick flick of the wrist at the end of your lash line.

Waterline 101

Filling in this area with a dark liner can look sultry paired with smoky, diffused eye shadow, but it can also, make your eyes look about half their size. For a bigger-is-better effect, color the waterline with a flat, white eye pencil to instantly open and brighten them.

Crease it up

Putting a medium brown eye shadow in the crease is always good. To avoid looking like a 90’s TV star, use a fluffy brush to sweep a matte formula in an arc from the outer corners all the way to the centers of the eyes. When you’re applying eye shadow, go all the way up to the extension of your crease. That will help make the most of your real estate, so to speak, which will definitely make your eyes look larger.

Perfect Placement

When you’re learning how to make your eyes look bigger, you have to pay attention to placement. A pearly eye shadow or highlighter dabbed on the centers of the lids, underneath the brow bones, and on the inner corners makes eyes look lifted and awake. Look for warm, rosy cream colors if your skin has pink undertones. Golden shades complement yellow and olive skin. You don’t have to smear your eyelids with white shadow. Rather, use a pencil or a shadow to dot some white against the inner corners of your eyes. That will make the whites look brighter and it will open up your eyes, instantly making you doe-eyed. This is also a well-known quick fix for tired ‘fake-it-till-you-make-it‘ looks!

Don’t Forget to Brow

Groomed arched eyebrows create a flattering frame for the eyes. Anything that accentuates the eyes is going to make them appear larger. Tweeze away stray hairs—cleaning up the areas above and below brows—and then fill in any gaps with an eyebrow pencil. Make sure you always keep your brows trimmed and neatly manicured. They need to complement your facial shape so keep that in mind when you’re shaping. You just want to maximize the space you have. If you’re not sure what a good shape is, ask an expert. Brow waxes are affordable and you don’t have to worry about a thing!

Color Play

If you use two different colors when you’re applying your eye makeup, you can really make your eyes pop. At the same time, try to stick mostly to lighter colors. Make sure your shades complement your coloring, from your eyes to your skin to your hair, but choose hues from the lighter end of the spectrum to make the most of what you’ve got. Cooler tones, like blues, help to make the whites of your eyes appear brighter, which then makes them look bigger as well. Don’t be afraid to play with some blue eyeliner instead of black.  Black can make your eyes look heavier or smaller than they are.  Blue will help to brighten and open up your eyes.

Change-Up

One way to figure out how to make your eyes look bigger is to ignore them altogether. Don’t use any eye shadow, no mascara, and forget the eyeliner. Instead, wear a brightly colored lip stick or gloss. The juxtaposition really does make your eyes look large and in charge.

Photo courtesy of bloglovin.com/blogs/linda-hallberg

Ombre Eyes

When you’re trying to make your eyes bigger, you’re basically trying to make them look like they’re open wider than they are. One great way to make them look like this is an ombre effect. To do this you should use colors from the same family. Put a lighter color at the base of your eyelid and then have it get darker as it gets to the crease. This will help add dimension to your face and open up your eyes.

What are some of your secrets to bigger and brighter eyes?

January 30, 2015

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