How to Make Your Eyes Look Bigger

By Polly Patton

“I want my eyes to look bigger.”

First, I would like to start out by reminding you that makeup isn’t what makes a woman beautiful. We are beautiful with or without makeup; makeup just helps enhance our natural beauty. If you find yourself getting frustrated with makeup, step back and realize you’re still gorgeous without it. Take the pressure off of yourself to make every little thing perfect.

That said, have you ever seen a celebrity on the red carpet and thought, “Wow! Her eyes are huge and beautiful,” then you see a picture of her without makeup and it looks like her eyes shrunk? This is because her makeup artist knows some simple tricks to make the eyes stand out and look bigger.

1. Highlight the corners. Take a small eyeshadow brush and highlight the corner of your eye with a very light eye shadow. This will make your eyes pop! I suggest MAC’s Pink Freeze. It looks pink, but when it’s applied it doesn’t show up pink. It’s perfect to highlight the corner.
2. Extend! When applying eyeliner, draw it out a little past the corner of your eye. Make sure the tips are turned slightly up rather than down so you don’t look like your eyes are sagging. Make your eyeliner a little thicker than normal and have it get thicker as you get to the outer corner of your eye.
3. Use mascara. I absolutely can’t go without it! I love it! Apply a lot of mascara and, once it has dried, curl your lashes. When you curl the lashes, it opens the eyes. Make sure you purchase new mascara every 3 – 5 months to avoid clumping.
4. Stick with light colors. For the eyelid, I would stick with light colors. They make the eyelid stand out and not look so deep set. Try an eye shadow that looks white.
5. Use a concealer. Apply an under-eye concealer to avoid having dark circles. Dark circles and puffiness around the eye make the eye look sunken and smaller.
6. Emphasize. Take a thin eyeshadow brush and apply a white eyeshadow to the water line under the eye. (The water line is located just above the bottom lashes.) To avoid getting eye shadow in your eye, use your other hand to pull the lower lid down so the water line is accessible. You can use the same shadow as the shadow you apply to the corner of the eye.