Cosmetics Tuesday - Perfecting Eyeshadow Color Choices

One of the things people tell me a lot is that they like the colors of eyeshadow I wear. I love this considering how much I love make-up, but it has taken a while to understand what works best and which colors are just so-so. The first thing I must say is don't get discouraged. With all of the colors available, it is easy to buy blue because you think it will look good only to find it is making your green eyes brownish looking or it washes your skin tone out.

My first tip is to buy a palette. I love palettes because you can play with colors when you are home and determine which colors go well together for smoky eyes or other eyeshadow looks. A couple palettes I love are the Coast Scents pallette and the Manly Make-up Palettes.

Coastal Scents pictured above - $18.95 at Coastal Scent's website.

Manly Make-up pictured above - $27.95 at Manly Make-up's website.

What I like best about these particular palettes is the pigmentation. They are finely pigmented, so the colors roll on just as they look in the palette. The colors are also very rich. Because of this, you only need to use a little bit, which means the colors last a long time. I prefer Manly to Coastal Scents, but both are great and I think it depends on the colors you wish to wear.

The second trick to picking out he right eyeshadow colors is by a simple color wheel reference. To choose the right colors, simply pick your eye color on the wheel and look what is directly across from it. The colors on the other side will be the colors that bring out your eye color. Keep in mind not all color wheels are created equal. I will give you an example. I have green eyes. They are probably an strong candidate for an olive green. If you look at a color wheel, the color directly across is generally purple. Purples do look awesome with green. Another way to bring out your eyes is to wear a variation of the color of eyes you have. Gold, olive green, and forest green also bring out green eyes.

Either method you choose to decide what colors will look best is up to you. However, I personally prefer the palettes. They lead to hours of endless fun choosing color matches. Also, don't be afraid to be adventurous with color, within in reason of course. For the Fourth of July I wore a white shade from my crease to my brow, and then put blue and red on the lid. I used a little bit of tan to blend the red into the crease so that it didn't look totally crazy. It was a really fun look. I also experimented with bright yellow for a short time and got a lot of compliments. I used yellow as the main lid color and added a brown to my crease and a light yellow mixed with an ivory to the brown area. Just remember, bright colors should stay on the lid and more muted colors will be excellent for your crease and up to the brow. Have fun and dare to be different!