Makeup for blue eyes

This is the most intuitive choice and the least effective one. When the lid carries the same colour as the iris, the eye looks pale beside it — especially if the shadow is the more intense of the two.

If you want a blue shade anyway, it has to be markedly darker than your iris so it does not compete. Usually moving to a warm tone is the simpler answer.

The choice within the warm range depends on your skin undertone as well as your eye colour.

• Copper and bronze — the strongest contrast
• Amber and gold — softer, and better for daytime
• Warm terracotta — the most universal choice
• Deep plum — for evening, with a warm undertone

Blue eyes frequently arrive with fair skin and light brows. That creates a separate problem: the face has low natural contrast, so light makeup barely registers on it.

In that case the brow matters more than the shadow. A brow one shade darker sharpens the whole face more than any eye shadow can.

Pink and red shadows suit blue eyes, but on fair skin they easily create the impression of a tired or irritated eye.

The rule is simple: if you use pink, keep it dusty and cool rather than warm-red, and always pair it with a defined lash line that gives the eye a frame.

For daytime, a warm brown or amber at the lash line is enough. It intensifies the blue while the makeup itself barely reads.

For evening, copper or bronze is added to the outer corner, and the liner becomes brown rather than black — black is often too harsh against fair skin.