If your makeup tastes are anything like us, you’d prolly be part of the brown-eyes-nude-lips club. Yup, as much as we love that occasional pop of blue all over our lids, unconventional eyeshadow shades are never quite the staple hues that we gravitate towards for everyday wear. Just take a peek into our eyeshadow palettes — you’d realise, very unsurprisingly, that the colours which have hit pans are mostly neutral tones of brown, pink and peach.
What we are noticing on trusty Instagram though, is the sudden rise in popularity of this one particular colour: Emerald. We know, before you frown and shrug off the entry, let us just put it out there that emerald, in general, is indeed one of the scariest colours to work with. The cool-toned green has a tendency to wash out complexions, leaving our skins looking sallow and dull. But when finessed well, emerald can work out to be quite the gem, especially when it’s blended out beautifully all over the lids. Plus, there are so many ways to wear the colour, it’s almost a pity that so fervently shied away from it all the time.
It all sounds a tad bit complicated and gimmicky right now, but trust us — and let us guide you through on how to get started on the emerald eye look:
For the beginners:
The emerald eyeliner
There’s no rush to jump straight into a full-blown emerald eye look, which can be quite daunting, even for us. Wet your toes first with subtle accents of green, such as a dark, forest green eyeliner that we guarantee isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Have on your usual brown look, but with a coloured eyeliner this time. Green goes particularly well with dark brown eyes and a mauve lip — it works, try it!
Go matte
Green itself is already a colour that grabs attention, so if you’re not one to want more eyes on yours — stay away from the shimmers. Just have a dab of emerald right smack in the middle of your lid, above your irises as a highlight shade, and then blend the colour out (like you mean it) with safe neutrals like browns and taupes. This will create a relatively neutral look, with a twist of green.
For the slightly more adventurous:
The emerald lid shade
So, you’ve managed to battle past the curious glances given on the train, because no one else took the liberty of attempting to step out of safe eyeshadow waters. Fret not, you’re doing well. Go the extra mile of having your entire lid covered in emerald, and at this point you can also add in the shimmers too. To tone the look down, go ahead and have your under-eye area coated in a muted burgundy-brown hue. This will balance things out while adding warmth back to your eyes.
Earthy emeralds
This look may be slightly tricky, because we are only going to be utilising just one shade here. But if you can create a full smokey eye with just brown shadows, who said the same can’t be done with green? Select a slightly warmer hued one — think the Poison Ivy kind — and work it like how you’d use a neutral colour. Go in with a light hand when blending your crease shade so the colour looks diffused and subtle. Bring in a glitter or foiled shadow of similar hue for the lids, and you’re good to go.
For the bravest hearts:
Have your entire eye look based on a shimmery emerald colour
If it’s anything that you literally couldn’t care for at all — is what others think of your bold eyeshadow looks. Pile on the shimmer and glitter, in true emerald colour, all over your lids. Amp up the party on your peepers with fun colours along your bottom lash line, such as a sparkly baby blue. Do remember that when going full-on emerald, the rest of your face needs to be sufficiently bronzed up to balance out the very cool-toned colour. Your choice of lipstick should also be one that’s a healthy shade of say, rose, to bring warmth back to your complexion.
