Photo: Jupiterimages/Pixland/Getty Images
Brown-eyed girls can rock any eyeliner color. Brown is a deep, neutral shade that looks sensational, no matter what eyeliner color is used. To highlight your natural brown shade for a sexy, smokey eye, use a brown or black eyeliner. Blue, green and bronze shades brighten brown eyes, adding flecks of hazel and gold. Bright, bold colored eyeliners make the vibrant splash of color on the eyes the main focal point. No matter what color you use, eyeliner is, essentially, a wet makeup product. A dab of eyeshadow is all that's needed to lock in that color for some serious staying power.
Smoke out Brown Eyes
1.
Close your eye. Place your ring finger on the outer corner and gently pull the eyelid straight out to straighten the eye lash line.
2.
Place the tip of the brown or black eyeliner pencil at the inner corner, as close to the upper lash line as possible. Work the eyeliner across the lash line, stopping at the outer corner. The line can be as thin or as thick as you want it, but remember it's going to be smudged, which widens the line.
3.
Open your eye. Follow Steps 2 and 3 on the lower lash line, working from the outer corner to the inner corner. For a super sultry, bedroom eye, gently press your ring finger directly below the lower lash line to expose the inner lash line, known in the makeup world as the water line because too much eyeliner here causes some serious water works.
4.
Work the cotton swap, in a back and forth fashion, across the newly drawn eyeliner line to smudge the liner. This gives the eye a smokey look and remember, you can never smoke brown eyes out too much! Do the same smudging technique on the lower line. Don't even attempt to smoke out the water line; this line is just to wet to handle it.
5.
Add a similarly colored matte eye shadow to a small, angled eye shadow brush. Pat the eye shadow on top of the smokey eyeliner on both the top and bottom lash lines. Even though eyeliner dries, it is still a wet makeup product and prone to smearing, streaking and doing disappearing acts unless an eye shadow is used to seal the eyeliner in place.
Brighten the Brown
1.
Place your ring finger at the outer corner of your eye lid, lightly pulling outwards. With a blue, green or bronze eyeliner, draw a line from the inner corner to the outer corner as close to the lash line as possible. Keep the line thin and light.
2.
Work the eyeliner across the lower lash line, stopping about 1/4 of an inch from the inner corner. Keep this line light and directly on the lash line. Avoid the water line all together. The less eyeliner that's used, the brighter, not to mention more open, your sexy brown eyes will look. No smudging and smoking for this look!
3.
Use an angled eye shadow brush to add a light coat of eye shadow to both eyeliner lines. Choose a color that matches the eyeliner shade as close as possible. Shimmer eye shadows give you a slight sparkle while matte eyeshadows slightly deepen the color.
Hip Hues
1.
Get creative. Use any vibrant color that catches your fancy. Hot pinks, lime greens, sunshine yellows and of course, purple, oranges and reds are what's hip this season. These attention grabbing colors bring the full focus to your eyes, showing off your beautiful browns and highlighting the splash of bold colors.
2.
Line your lash lines with your chosen color eyeliner, as indicated in previous Sections. Part of the fun is lining your eyes in any way you want. Line only the top or bottom lash lines or line them both. Add the eyeliner from corner to corner or only half-way across each lash line. The line can be as thick or as thin as you want. The thicker the line, the more noticeable the colors are.
3.
Use an eye shadow as close to the bold eyeliner color as possible. Add the eye shadow to an angled eye shadow brush and gently pat the eye shadow over the eyeliner lines. Sparkle eye shadows give your brown eyes that extra bang by adding sexy flakes of glitter on top of the eyeliner.
For cat eyes and other dramatic eyeliner styles, try a gel eyeliner and angled eyeliner brush to have complete control over the shape and size of the lines.
Avoid adding eyeliner or eye shadow to the center of the inner corner or anywhere near the tear duct. Besides loads of pain, this lets loose the flood gates and ruins any makeup your have applied.
