10 Ways to Make Eyes Look Bigger

Let’s face it. We can’t all be like Anne Hathaway with large, beautiful doe eyes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try! According to the pros at TIGI Cosmetics, there are plenty of tricks you can use to make your clients’ eyes appear larger. Eat your heart out, Anne!

1. A well-groomed brow will open eyes up like nothing else. The most fastidious makeup artists know the power of the well-kept brow. Make sure they are well groomed, not over-tweezed or under-tweezed. Most professional makeup artists don’t actually wear a lot of makeup, but their brows are religiously well-kept!

2. Use individual eye lash curlers. This is a big insider tip among well-known makeup artists. Individual eye lash curlers look like the size of tweezers, but they have a small, flat but curved area that curl a few lashes at a time. They’re excellent for those unruly corners!

3. Create “eye-lights.” Light up the inner corners of eyes and just above brow bone with a highlighter. Using reflective or lighter tones in these areas will make eyes immediately appear bigger and brighter.

4. Thick around the middle. Apply eyeliner a bit thicker right in the middle of the eye. Make sure the line ‘dissolves’ or gets thinner to the outer corners and then blends in to the eye line. Just that smidge of dimension can make eyes appear bigger.

5. Mind the water line. Using lighter eyeliners or shadows near the white of the eye, or the ‘water line,’ will produce a much brighter, bigger eye. Don’t use powdered shadows in water line, and work with tones in beige, nude and white to open the eyes up.

6. Lighten your load. Using light and shimmery colors on the lid will create a much brighter look!

7. Cover it up. Conceal darker areas under the eyes with a medium tone versus a bright or light concealer. A deeper tone helps reduce blueness associated with ‘bags.’ Just remember, the deep tone should not be darker than the skin tone!

8. Instead of dark, go bright! If you love the drama but feel like black liner makes eyes look smaller, you’re right! Try using a brighter color on the top of the eye line then use black or brown on the bottom (or the other way around). 

9. Use the ball of the eye as a guide. This sounds so obvious, but referring to the eye structure is always a safe bet. Keeping the majority of the color around the natural eye shape will help make sure you don’t ‘close down the lid’ with too many colors.

10. Make lips the focal point. When all else fails, use a diversion tactic. It may seem weird, but this trick—drawing attention away from the eyes—is a perfect concealer of small eyes.