Do You Make These Mistakes When Applying Eye Makeup?

Kristie Leong M.D.
Eye makeup can do a great deal to enhance your overall appearance. It helps to open up your eyes, accent your eye color and give you that gamine, big eyed look that's so attractive. Eye makeup can also detract from your looks if applied incorrectly. It's distressing to see an otherwise pretty face made less attractive by improper eye makeup application. Here are the most common mistakes women make when they apply eye makeup:

Over plucked eyebrows

This is a very common problem with women. They tend to pluck away too much of their eyebrow and fill in the sparseness with eyeliner. This not only gives a very unnatural, harsh look, but the excessive plucking can also destroy hair follicles causing eyebrows to grow back more thinly. If you observe the most desirable faces in the fashion magazines, you'll see that most of the models have thicker eyebrows which tend to give them a more youthful look. Go gently with the tweezers and you'll have a more youthful and natural appearance.

Wrong eye shadow shade

Eye shadow is meant to accentuate the eye and give it depth. Many women choose harsh, shiny shades of eye shadow in light pastel colors which does little too give the eye dimension and can look harsh, particularly under a bright light. A better choice is a deeper shade of eye shadow in a matte tone. This will help to accentuate eye color and give the eyes smoldering depth. If you want to add a touch of color during your eye makeup application, brush on a hint of color lightly over your base matte shade of eye shadow.

Harsh eyeliner

Like eye shadow, eyeliner can really add definition and dimension to the eyes if applied properly. Unfortunately, many women apply a stark, black line under the lower lashes only which gives the eye an unnatural, harsh appearance. If you're going to apply liner to the lower lid, you should apply it to the upper lids to add balance. Avoid using a liquid eyeliner, if possible, since it's much more difficult to control and gives a hard look. Unless you have very dark hair, choose an eyeliner in a shade other than black. Black tends to be too dark for most women. Good choices for most women would be a charcoal gray or dark brown shade.

Misapplication of mascara

Mascara when applied correctly can open up and accentuate the eyes. The biggest mistake women make when they apply mascara is to use a shade that's too dark and allowing it to clump during eye makeup application. To create a more natural look when you apply your eye makeup, choose a brown shade of mascara rather than black. Curl lashes with an eyelash curler and apply a bit of powder to your lashes to prevent clumping. Apply a thin coat of mascara and allow it to dry completely before applying subsequent coats. If you start to notice clumping, use a fine toothed mascara comb to separate your lashes.

Dark under eye circles

No matter how skillful your application of eye makeup may be, dark circles will destroy the pretty look you're aiming for. Learn how to use concealer and foundation to skillfully cover your under eye circles before applying your eye makeup. It will make an enormous difference in the final result.

Published by Kristie Leong M.D. - Featured Contributor in Health & Wellness

I'm a family physician with a strong interest in disease prevention and alternative medicine. I'm particularly interested in how diet plays a role in disease prevention. Hope I can inspire someone to lead a...   View profile

4 Comments

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  • amy brooke. 8/11/2008

    Josienita Borlongan dont worry i had a huge promblem putting mascara cause i have long lashes and they would smear everii time i blinked lol just appy little bit.

  • amy Brooke 8/11/2008

    well i have big brown eyes and thin eyesbrows my mom says that dark colors arent right but im a calmer person so so that makes me look nice i think.

  • Josienita Borlongan 10/8/2007

    I do not know how to apply mascara since I do not use it a lot.It somehow smears on me...so I totally just avoid it ;-)

  • Lisa Riggs 10/1/2007

    Excellent article!!! I am guilty of over plucking :(

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