Mid-Week Beauty Masterclass: Corrective Make-up {Part IIIa - Eyes}

After dealing with Corrective Make-up for face and nose shapes, this last installment deals with Corrective Make-up for the Eyes.   Like faces and noses, eyes come in different shapes and sizes. In fact there are a lot more! In this post, we will see 5 of the most common eye-shapes and next week, we will see the rest.  To make the most of your, apart from applying make-up to make the best of them, you also have to take care of the eyebrows (more information on how to care and shape your brows can be found here).

What shape are your eyes?

Close Set: when the eyes are close together, attention has to be drawn away from the centre of the eyes and therefore the following measures need to be done:
~ have excess brow hair removed over the bridge of the nose (this is best done by a professional).
~ avoid the use of glittery/strong coloured eyeshadows in the inner corners of the eyes.  Instead, use a matte eyeshadow and use dark eyeshadows on the outer corners as well as some highlighter.  Don't forget to use eyeliner and an eyebrow enhancer.  Here's a diagram to help you with eyeshadow application if you have close-set eyes (source):

Wide Set: as opposed to Close Set eyes, people with wide set eyes need to make them appear more closer together, therefore,
~ eyebrows can be drawn in closer by means of a brow pencil; however, take care not to go out beyond the inner corners of the eyes.
~ use a glitter/shimmer eyeshadow to enhance the inner corners and use a matte eyeshadow on the outer corners.
~ eyeliner can also be applied thinly in the inner corners for more definition.  The diagram on the left shows you how you can apply eyeshadow to make close-set eyes appear wider (source)


Also, here are more tips on how to apply mascara and eyeliner to wide-set & close-set eyes (source):

Round and Prominent: with this eye shape, one aims to make the eyes appear less rounded and therefore more elongated and wide.  For this reason,
~ round eyebrows are avoided, a slight curve would be more suited.
~ use a dark eyeshadow colour over the centre of the eyelid.
~ line your peepers just below the lower lashes from the centre towards the outer corner to elongate the eyes, taking care not to meet the upper lid.  You can also apply false individual lashes to the outer corners.

Protuding Eyes: for this eye shape, it is best to apply dark eyeshadows over the entire lid and highlight the brow bone.  An example would be a plum shade over the lid and a light pink to highlight.

Hooded Eyes: the aim here is to reduce the fullness of the skin that hangs on the outer sides of the eyes, therefore:
~ the eyebrows have to be shaped in such a way that they look like there is a slight lift at the outermost corner.
~ glittery eyeshadow or highlighter are best applied here to emphasize the lift as well as underneath the arch of the brow.
~ a dark eyeshadow has to be applied to the area where skin hangs and blend it well with the highlighter.

That's it for today ladies! Next week, we will see the rest of the eye shapes!