Make Your Eyes Stand Out in Glasses

 Make the Eyes Behind the Glasses Stand Out

Just because you wear glasses doesn’t mean you have any reason to slack on your eye makeup. On the contrary, wearing glasses gives you a sultry appearance and by adding some fabulous eye makeup can make your eyes stand out even more. Selecting the perfect eye makeup for behind the glasses can make your eyes stand out even more than they would if you weren’t wearing them! Use the following tips to make your eyes the star of the show, whether they’re behind lenses or not!

1. Conceal, conceal, conceal. If you’re going to be wearing glasses, making sure the skin around your glasses is flawless is extremely important. You want the area around your glasses to be brighter, and even in tone, so as to draw attention to your eyes and glasses more so. For the maximum effect, conceal under eyes in a triangle shape, under your brow bone (to create the appearance of an eye lift) and to the outer corner of your eyes instead of the inner corner since your glasses will be covering that area.

Choose a concealer that is about a shade lighter than your skin tone. One mistake that can easily be made is to choose a concealer that is too light, resulting in that area looking harsh and stark against your skin tone. A great concealer to try is Beth Bender Beauty’s Its In The Eyes Concealer, which covers, evens, and brightens the eye area. It’s also a nice creamy formula so it won’t flake or dry.

2. Prime. If you want your eye makeup to stay put, you should consider applying an eyeshadow primer to help your color last and continue to look vibrant throughout the day. Priming your eyelids is especially important for those who have oily-combo skin, as eyeshadow tends to slide off the lids more easily because of oil that builds up. There are many different primers on the market that are available in cream, powder or liquid form, but we recommend using a cream primer if you’re going to be using powder shadows.

3. Highlight. Since you’re wearing glasses you’ll want to wear your eye makeup so that your eyes stand out even through the lenses. One of the ways to do this is to use a highlighter in either a shimmery pink hue (with yellow undertones) or a champagne shimmer and highlight directly under your brow bone and the inner corner of your eyes. As an added step, you should highlight just the tops of your cheekbones with the same highlighter as it brightens up your entire face and lifts the cheek area. You’re going for the dewy and bright look, so you don’t want it to look overly shimmery. To do this, remember to use a light hand when applying and to blend the color out if you think it’s too much shimmer. Try Beth Bender Beauty’s My Secret Weapon in Pink Shimmer. It dries to the perfect dewy finish and gives the skin a radiant glow.

4. Use eyeliner to frame. Yes, technically you have already framed your eyes with glasses, but using eyeliner will double the effect and really draw attention to your eyes. Since you’re wearing glasses, you may want to go feline and try a winged or cat eyeliner look, which will create the appearance of bigger, more elongated eyes. Creating a cat eye look is perfect for when you wear glasses, as some frames tend to make the eyes appear smaller. You can also line your upper and bottom waterline (inside of your lashline) with a beige pencil for an additional sultry effect that really streamlines your liner look and makes it appear even more flawless. For additional staying power, opt for a waterproof liner in a liquid or gel base. Try Beth Bender Beauty’s Gel Eyeliner Frosting for optimal results. ($18.00 bethbenderbeauty.com).

5. Eyeshadow. Don’t be afraid to get a little crazy with your eyeshadow choice, especially if you’re going to be wearing glasses. If you’ve wanted to try a new eyeshadow look or color, the time to do so is when you’re wearing glasses. If it happens that you end up not particularly liking your choice, at least there’s a little coverage over top to block some of the color out. As a rule for daytime stick to more neutral and less harsh colors. Peach tones tend to look great with all eye colors, as does shades of brown.

At night, however, don’t be afraid to reach for the more vibrant colors that you would never usually wear and pair them with a dramatic dark kohl liner in the waterline. A swipe of teal across the eyes can be just the thing to spice up your look. Whereas matte shadows look great for a daytime look, don’t be afraid to add some metallic or shimmer to your nighttime eye makeup routine. A great palette where you can pull colors to create a daytime and a nighttime look is the Hello Gorgeous palette. The palette has a mix of light and dark colors that are sure to create the perfect eyeshadow look for you.

6. Lashes. Even though you’re wearing glasses, your lashes are still ultra important for a finished makeup look. Lashes that are straight or that droop will make your glasses stand out more than your eyes. Always curl your lashes before you apply mascara, and not after.  Make sure your lashes are clean and with your chin up, look down in to the mirror so that you can see your lashes. Starting at the base of your lashes, you want the curler to be against your cheek and avoid lifting the tongs of the curler, since that can pull out your lashes.

Hold your lash curler for about 10 seconds and remember to be gentle and no squeezing. Walk up the curler to the middle of your lashes, holding it for a shorter period of time (about five seconds). Do another short squeeze at the tips. You should always curl lashes in this order because your base is going to push the lashes up and the squeeze in the center is going to make the lashes curl. Since lashes taper finer at the tips you'll want to hold down on them the least.

As an added tip, before curling your lashes, hit the pad of your eyelash curler with a blow dryer on high for just a few seconds. The results are pretty amazing. We like Tweezerman Super Curl Eyelash Curler, which has no metal bars on the sides and designed to be used in this fashion. As for mascara, be sure to choose one that is extra lengthening and volumizing. The goal is to create lashes that are so long they are pressing up against your lenses.