Have you ever walked into a fabric warehouse store—or other warehouse store—and felt overwhelmed by the dizzying array of choices?
Well, the quest for eyeglass frames that look smashing can sometimes feel just as daunting. Not only is there every conceivable frame shape to consider, but there’s also the challenge of finding the right frame color. Choosing a pair of frames that complements your face shape is key (e.g. it’s recommended that those with a round face look for frames that are square or rectangular to contrast with their face shape; those with a square face might wish to consider oval or round frames, etc.). And choosing a frame color that complements your skin undertone is also important. (For help in discovering your skin undertone, scroll down to check out the article below: “7 Tips for Finding Your Skin Undertone Color and Makeup Shades to Look Your Radiant Best”).
But What About Wearing Makeup If You Wear Glasses?
Is it even worth it to wear makeup if you wear glasses? For many of us, our eyes are our best feature, so yes, it’s definitely worth it. And even if your eyes aren’t your best feature, you definitely can make your eyes look bigger and more beautiful behind those frames. It’s just a matter of using a few basic makeup techniques and avoiding a few pitfalls.
In today’s Part 1 of this two-part series, we’ll cover the first group of makeup tips and in an upcoming Part 2 we’ll cover the remaining tips as well as some information on tools that can help you apply makeup. After all, how the heck can you confidently apply makeup if you have to take your glasses off to do it?
Choose a Few Makeup Techniques That Can Make All the Difference
Here are a few makeup techniques to choose from that can help you look your best when wearing glasses:
Are you Near-Sighted or Far-Sighted?
Remember—if you’re near sighted, your lens prescription can have a shrinking effect on your eyes, so you want to do as much as possible to open up your eyes and make them look larger. If you’re far-sighted, your prescription can often magnify your eyes—pulling focus from the rest of your face—so it’s important to “balance” your face makeup. One way to do this is to consider wearing a slightly brighter or bolder lip color.
Use an Eye Shadow Primer
Sometimes your eyes can get warmer when you wear glasses, so it’s important to wear an eye primer to keep your eye makeup from smudging or creasing. Apply it over the entire eye area before using eye shadow. And if you’ll be using a powder eye shadow and you’ve applied a cream or liquid eye primer, very lightly dust a translucent powder onto your lids before applying eye shadow. That way, your shadow will glide on easily and evenly. You may also want to put a thin layer of eye primer under your eyes where your glasses rest to keep that area from getting oily and your glasses from sliding down your nose.
Choosing the Best Eye Shadow Color
Choose an eye shadow color for the lid area that is light and neutral. Dark shades on the lids will magnify dark undertones around the eyes making you look tired. Also use a light, matte color just under the arch of each eyebrow to both lift the eye and make it look more open. Since wearing glasses changes how others perceive the depth and dimension of your eyes, use a darker color in your crease (and slightly above your crease if you have hooded eyes) to add more dimension. (Note: a key to many makeup techniques for women 60+ is to work against gravity by applying eye shadow, liner and blush in an upward sweep).
Makeup is about wearing what makes you feel your best, so you can choose whatever eyeshadow shades you love. But, if you really want to make your eyes stand out—or “pop”—choose an eyeshadow shade for the crease area that is a complementary color (on the color wheel) to your eye color or frame color.
For instance, beige, brown and copper shades can look fabulous on blue eyes; violet or purple can work well for those with green or hazel eyes and brown eyes can rock just about any color!
However, if you have redness around your eyes, you may wish to stay away from shadows with red or purple undertones which can emphasize any redness around your eyes.
Determining the Best Eye Liner Shade
Pick an eyeliner that is a shade or two lighter than your frames so the liner stands out from the frames. Black can sometimes look a little harsh, so consider colors like charcoal grey, navy or burgundy. And if your frames are thicker, consider applying your eyeliner slightly thicker so your glasses don’t overpower your eyes. To make your eyes look larger, think about applying a nude colored liner to your under eye water line. This is especially helpful for those who are near-sighted since the eyeglass prescription for near-sighted people makes the eyes look smaller. Tip: Running a q-tip along your water line to dry off the water line before applying the nude colored liner will help the liner stay on longer.
Use an Eyelash Curler
Not only will using an eyelash curler to curl your lashes prevent them from brushing against your lenses, but lifting your lashes with an eyelash curler will allow more light to reach your eye and will make your eyes look larger. For the best curl, gently move the eyelash curler up your lashes several times and hold the curler on your lashes for 5 seconds each time. This will prevent a crimp in your lashes and give you the very best curl.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of these tips which will be coming soon. We’ll be covering tips on applying foundation and concealer as well as suggestions for brows and mascara. And did you know there are several kinds of specialized makeup glasses? We’ll be diving into that topic as well.
What do you find most difficult about wearing or applying makeup if you wear glasses? What tips do you have that work well for you that you could share?
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