Shadows that compliment.

If applied properly, anyone can wear any shade of shadow they desire but there are certain shades that will compliment your eye colour better then others.

The best way to determine which shades to use with your client's or your own eye colour is by referring to a colour wheel. Choose which eye colour you have and then look directly across to see which colour will compliment you, for example; blue is complimented by orange, green is complimented by red, violet by yellow etc. No one has a pure yellow iris so you will have to look a little further into the colour wheel to determine the complimentary colour for eyes such as hazel and brown. Brown eyes usually have a warm tone which can be viewed as having an orange, red or red-orange accent. Hazel eyes tend to have more green or yellow tones to them so you would look at your chart, determine which shade is more prominent and then look at the colour across to determine the complimentary shade. You may also choose shades that are not located directly across but beside the complimentary colour.

Do not feel that since you have blue eyes you must wear orange shades - these are just guidelines and looking for shadows with a tint of orange will be beneficial to bringing out your eyes. Blue eyes look great with shades of brown but if you are looking to have fun with colour then experiment with brighter tones.

Here are some suggestions using shadows from MAC:

Green Eyes:
Sketch, Star Violet, Mythology, Trax, Haux, Seedy Pearl, Coppering.

Blue Eyes:
Rule, Amber Lights, Naked Lunch, Saffron, Bronze, Wedge, Sable, Antiqued.

Hazel Eyes:
Vibrant Grape, Beauty Marked, Satellite Dream, Idol Eyes, Nocturnelle, Fig. 1.

Brown Eyes:
Plumage, Winkle, Contrast, Tilt, Deep Truth, Parfait Amour, Print, Shimmermoss.

There are an abundance of shades you can choose from and don't let the colour wheel stop you from trying out other shades, these were just a few that go hand in hand with the complimentary colours we talked about!