Luxe Loyalty Main
Profile and Settings
Orders
Subscriptions
Contact Us
Natural eye makeup looks are simple to apply and great for daily wear. But a “natural look” need not be synonymous with unpolished or unkempt. Today’s natural eye makeup is modern, polished, and purposefully neutral. Read on for step-by-step instructions on how to perfectly execute natural-looking eye makeup at home.
How To Create Natural Eye Makeup Looks To Wear Everyday
You can achieve a beautiful, earthy, natural-looking eye makeup look by sticking with neutral eyeshadow colors that complement your skin tone. There’s a time and place for a cut crease, smoky eye, and faux lashes. But the natural look works best if you keep it simple. It’s all about enhancing what you’ve already got.
In this makeup tutorial, you’ll find tips for light skin tones, medium skin tones, and darker skin tones. The shades you use may differ, but the techniques will be the same.
First, Prepare Your Skin
Natural eye makeup enhances the natural beauty of your features rather than covering them up. One of the keys to looking polished while wearing natural makeup is to focus on grooming and skincare before you get started.
- Wash, exfoliate and moisturize your skin.
- Even out skin tone with a BB cream or tinted moisturizer.
- Apply concealer and powder if needed.
- Add a bit of flush to your cheeks with a warm-toned bronzer or blush.
- Groom your brows: tweeze, brush, and fill in as necessary.
- Moisturize your lips with lip balm.1
Got all that? Okay, now you’re ready to focus on applying natural-looking eye makeup.
You may have spotted a trend, and it’s this – natural eye makeup looks great paired with natural face makeup. Sure, you could go heavy on the rest of your makeup and light on your eyes. But if you keep everything on the natural side, your look will look balanced and fresh.
Next, Gather Your Tools
You don’t need a ton of specialized makeup brushes for this type of makeup. But you will want to use brushes instead of your finger — it will help you evenly disperse the makeup and create a natural look. Here’s what you need:
- Eyeshadow brushes: A soft, fluffy brush and an eyeshadow crease brush
- Concealer or eyeshadow primer
- A natural eyeshadow palette that goes with your skin tone or a few neutral eye shadow shades
- Dark brown or black liquid eyeliner (optional)
- Dark brown or black mascara2
The Makeup Tutorials
Natural Eye Makeup For Fair Skin
If you have a lighter skin tone, you’ll want to play around with shades that are close to your natural skin color. Shades of peach, eggshell, and taupe can all work. Depending on the natural color of your eyelashes, you may want to avoid black mascara and eyeliner altogether.
Step 1: Apply Primer
Here’s a makeup artist trick that’s becoming more well-known – use eyeshadow primer. Not only does primer help shadow go on smoothly, but it can also help it stay put all day long. This means no more eyeshadow creases or dark circles caused by melting eye makeup.3
Apply a sheer eyeshadow primer. You can also use your everyday concealer for this.
Step 2: Apply A Wash Of Color Over Your Entire Lid
Use a fluffy makeup brush to swipe on a neutral color that’s not too dark and not too light. The softer the brush, the more natural the look.
A shadow that’s 1-2 shades darker than your natural skin color will work well here. To keep it looking natural, stay below the crease of your eye.4,5
Step 3: Add Dimension With A Darker Color In Your Crease
Darker colors can mimic the look of shadows and give your eyes added dimension. Take an eyeshadow brush and blend in a darker eyeshadow into your crease. Be sure you blend well to maintain the natural look.
If you’re using an eyeshadow palette, pick the color that’s one shade darker than the one you used on your lids. Otherwise, grab a slightly darker and still neutral color. Taupe or medium brown should work here.6
Step 4: Use A Lighter Color To Add Highlights
Take a light-colored shimmery eye shadow and dab it on the center of your lid. This acts as a highlight and can make your eyes look brighter. White or cream-colored shadow will work well for fair skin.7
Step 5: Define Your Eyes With Eyeliner
To keep your eyeliner looking natural, try using a brown eyeliner as close to your upper lash line as possible. Leave your lower lash line bare.
You may also choose to skip eyeliner altogether. If you have very light skin, you may find it to be too heavy for an everyday eyeshadow look. Instead of eyeliner, apply a dark brown shadow along the upper lash line with an angled brush.8
Step 6: Finish With Mascara
If your eyelashes are naturally brown or red, reach for a dark brown mascara instead of a black one. Apply a few coats of mascara for a set of lashes that look voluminous, but still natural.
Natural Eye Makeup For Medium Or Olive Skin
If you have an olive or medium skin tone, medium-toned, neutral eyeshadow shades can help you achieve a natural eye makeup look. You’ll have a little more leeway when it comes to selecting colors that work with your skin tone. Caramels, deep tans, and even olive green or gold can work.
Step 1: Start With Eye Primer
Primer deserves a spot in your everyday makeup routine, even if you’re going for a natural-looking makeup look. Regardless of skin tone, this will help your eye shadow application go on smoothly. Dab on a bit of primer before you start.
Step 2: Apply A Warm-Toned Wash Over Your Entire Lid
Earthy, neutral shades, like caramel and burnt sienna, tend to complement olive skin tones well. Cool tones, like ashy pink, beige, and grey can wash the skin out.
To start, pick a warm tone that’s the same shade of your skin or slightly darker, and apply it to your entire eyelid.9
Step 3: Add Color To Your Crease
Define your crease by layering in more of the same color or adding in one that’s slightly darker. Be sure to blend well with a fluffy brush to maintain a low-key eye makeup look.
Step 4: Add Highlights
Dab a small amount of shimmery eye shadow on the center of your eyelid to act as a highlighter. Pick a color that is a few shades lighter than your base color. Gold for light gold tones and avoid whites or beiges as they can look unnatural against your base color.
Step 5: Line Your Upper Lash Line In A Dark Color
Apply a thin line of eyeliner along the upper lash line. For a natural look, use a dark chocolate or black and keep it as close to your lashes as possible. Leave your lower lid unlined.
Step 6: Finish With Mascara
With this skin tone, you likely have black or very dark eyelashes. Curl your lashes and apply a few coats of black mascara to add volume.
Natural Eye Makeup For Deep Skin
People with deeper skin have a broader range of colors they can play with while still maintaining a natural look. If you choose to apply a color, keep all of your shadows within the same color family. For example, various shades of copper can work together, but mixing something like purple with green may be too bold.
Step 1: Prime Your Eyelids
Start your eye makeup routine with an eyeshadow primer. A primer can help keep everything in place and maintain your natural look.
Step 2: Apply An Eyeshadow Base
Pick a middle-toned shade to act as your eyeshadow base. If you want to play with color, consider using something sheer or slightly shimmery and blend well.
If you want to use a matte color, stick to a shade that matches your skin tone or one that is slightly deeper. Deep caramel, chocolate, or dark chocolate shades may work.10
Step 3: Create Dimension With A Richer Color
For contour and definition, try hues of charcoal, rich brown, deep gold, or dark brick eye shadow. Apply this darker color into the crease and blend well.11
To keep a natural look, use a makeup remover to clean up shadow that has spread above your crease toward your brow bone.
Step 4: Add A Lighter Color For Even More Dimension
Dab a small amount of a lighter color in the middle of your eyelid or on the inner corner of your eyes. This will act as a highlighter and make your eyes look more open.
Step 5: Apply Eyeliner
It may seem counterintuitive, but liquid eyeliner can actually look more natural than a powder product. The trick to keeping it natural-looking is to trace your upper lash line as closely as possible. Don’t extend the line past the outer corners of your lashes. Keep your lower lashes unlined.
Step 6: Finish With Mascara
Finish your look off with a few coats of a dark mascara to lengthen your eyelashes and make your eyes pop. Voila, your look is complete.
You Can Pull Off The Natural Look
There’s something satisfying about mastering a signature makeup look that you can wear every day. Natural eye makeup can help elevate your look by enhancing your natural beauty. People may not even know if you are wearing makeup or not, they’ll just know that you look like your beautiful, natural self.
Learn More:
Sources:
1. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/makeup/advice/g2130/how-to-look-good-without-makeup/
2. https://www.allure.com/story/how-to-blend-eyeshadow-tips
3. https://stylecaster.com/beauty/alternate-uses-for-eye-primer/
4. https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/how-to-apply-eyeshadow
5. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/beauty/makeup/a35631/how-to-apply-eye-makeup-guide/
6. https://www.byrdie.com/how-to-apply-eyeshadow-346009
7. https://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/tips/g8507/how-to-apply-eye-shadow-by-eye-shape/
8. https://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/a24433082/best-natural-eye-makeup/
9. https://en.vogue.me/beauty/3-celebrity-makeup-artists-share-best-makeup-tips-olive-skin/
10. https://www.byrdie.com/eye-makeup-for-dark-skin
11. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/g33372747/eyeshadow-for-dark-skin-tones/
