Eyeglasses can make an impact on your appearance, and styling your makeup to complement your eyeglass frames all comes down to personal preference. But here are a few trendy tips that can help you look your best.
Lighten up
Some eyeglass frames can cast dark shadows around the eyes in certain light.
To combat this, you can blend a lighter-toned foundation under your eyes and down the center of your nose. This technique, known as contouring, can highlight your eyes.
If you like, you can take this one step further and fully contour your face by bronzing your cheek bones, the top of your forehead and either side of your nose.
Be sure to fully blend the highlighting foundation and bronzer with your natural-colored face makeup.
Contouring your foundation can highlight key features, like the eyes.
Just browsing
Eyebrow styling can largely depend on the size and shape of your eyewear, as well as the thickness and contour of your eyebrows.
However, if you wear big, bold frames you might want to avoid heavy eyebrow makeup.
The same goes for those with naturally light hair or thinner eyebrows. You may not want to fill in your eyebrows with a color that's too dark or make them appear too full.
If you wear smaller, subtle frames, filling in your eyebrows with your natural color can help draw focus to your eyes and enhance your look.
Using an eyebrow pencil, or eyebrow powder and a thin brush, lightly fill in your eyebrows using short, dash-like strokes and following the natural arch of your brow.
If you wear smaller frames or have naturally thin eyebrows, filling them in with a natural color can help attract attention to your eyes.
SEE RELATED: Microblading eyebrows
On the lid
Beauty magazines often advise pairing bold frames with subtle, natural-looking eye makeup. One look at eyeglass frame advertisements will demonstrate that you can go bold with your makeup, too.
Striking cat-eye eyeliner, highly defined eyelashes and pops of eye shadow color are all great ways to play up your eyes. If you're choosing a bright eye shadow color, remember to complement the color of your frames — you don't want them to clash, which can cheapen the look.
Read my lips
As with any makeup look (bespectacled, or not), it can be ideal to highlight either your eyes or your lips, and not overdo both. If you have eye-catching eyeglasses and love dramatic eye shadow, you can skip the bold lip and pair your look with a colorless gloss or slightly tinted lip balm.
Or pass up the dramatic eyes and wear thin eyeliner, mascara and a fun, bright-colored lipstick.
Cleanliness is key
Wearing makeup is fun, but it can also increase your risk for eye irritation or even an eye infection.
Always remove makeup completely before going to bed, including all mascara on both top and bottom eyelids. Also, replace your eye makeup at least every three months.
The following tips are for keeping makeup safe:
- Never share makeup. Always use a new sponge when trying products at a store, and insist that salespeople clean container openings with alcohol before applying to your skin.
- Never add liquid to a product unless the label tells you to do so.
- Throw away makeup if the color changes, or it starts to smell.
- Keep makeup containers closed tightly when not in use.
- Don't use cosmetics if you have an eye infection, such as conjunctivitis (pink eye). Throw away any makeup you were using when you first discovered the problem.
Choose the right eyeglasses
Using eye makeup can be a waste of time if your eyeglass lenses are so full of reflections that no one can see your eyes. Anti-reflective coating could eliminate distracting reflections on your lenses and allow people to see the beauty and expressiveness of your eyes. AR coating could also eliminate reflections in your glasses that can ruin a great photograph.
Even if you routinely wear contact lenses, having a great-looking pair of glasses to wear as an alternative can be a way to add variety to your appearance. Experimenting with frame styles and makeup techniques can help you create the perfect look — whether you're heading to the office or the dance floor!
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