Best eye shadow colors for brown/ hazel eyes

When it comes to eye shadow I love my every day neutral looks. However, I am not afraid of using a little bit of color. Depending on the season, I have a preference for different colors that I feel fit best with my eye color. I have brown eyes with a hint of green in them, which then technically makes my eyes a dark hazel. The green only pops up under certain lighting or in combination with certain colors. Today I am showing you all the colors that are most flattering for bringing out my dark hazel eyes.

In total there are 6 colors that I feel look good on me. Bronze, gold, taupe, teal, navy, purple and olive green are shades that I feel complement or emphasize my eyes best. That doesn’t mean that I refrain from wearing any other shades. I love a bright blue for the summer time and I do not shun lilac, peach, pink, reds and oranges. If you care to see me wear many different shades, definitely click this link, to see what I produced while doing the 30 day make up challenge (which I bailed out on after 18 installments, like this post or leave a comment below if you feel I should finish it). For swatches and possible looks with any of these products, please click the links below.

My favorite color to wear if I want to accentuate the brown of my eyes are bronzy browns. Especially in summer I like to play up the bronze side of the make up specter. Some of my favorite products for creating a bronze eye look are the Maybelline color tattoo in On an On Bronze, NARS Isolde eye shadow duo, and Catrice Hazel the Hoff liquid metal eye pencil. Of course, bronze is a very natural shade that leans very much towards brown, so this is easy to use and I especially like using bronze for a quick and easy one shadow look.

Sticking to the metal inspired colors, I also love me a bit of gold. I wear golds all over the lid most of the time, but I also like wearing it in my inner corners from time to time. If the gold isn’t too bold, I will also wear them in my crease or on its own, but I like a good full on metallic yellow toned gold and prefer them over more antiqued/ muted golds. My favorite gold eye shadows are MAC’s Woodwinked, Urban Decay Blitz from the Vice 1 palette, and the stunning super metallic gold from the Marc Jacobs The Starlet palette.

If I want to bring out the green in my eyes, I like to go for purples as purple is opposite to green on the color wheel and thus accentuates that color. I have in the mood for wearing purples though, which is why I don’t wear them too often. But every time I do, I always feel like I should do it more often. Some of my favorite purples are the purples from the Wet N Wild Petal Pusher palette, Urban Decay Deluxe Palette, and the L’Oreal Infallible eye shadow in Perpetual Purple. I wear purples all over the lid when I want to go all out, but I often wear them as an accent color on my lower lash line.

A shade I prefer over purple and I wear more often is navy blue. It brings out the browns out of my eyes and my favorite time of year for wearing these dark blues is right now: fall and winter time. I like wearing all blue looks, but just like purple, I like using a bit of blue on my lower lash line. My favorite blue shades are the midnight blue in one of my Inglot Freedom System palettes, the dark blue in Dior’s 5 Couleurs in Twilight, and a limited edition Catrice gel eyeliner.

Some colors I know I like on the eye, but when I look at them in the pan I am not sure whether they are for me. Teals and petrols fall into that category. They can look stunning when fused into the right look and go well with purples, taupes and of course any other neutral shade you can think of. Whenever I use a shade like this I know it will draw the attention of any look and thus it is a shade I use with caution unless I feel like pulling out all the stops. Shown here are a shade from another Inglot Freedom System Palette, Evidence from Urban Decay’s 15th Anniversary palette, and a stunning deeper teal from The Balm Balm Voyage palette.

I am not too keen on smokey looks, but when I do I like using dark, olive greens to create the effect. It makes for a softer, more subtle look, but I find it more flattering on myself. Because of the hint of green in my eyes, I find that adding a smokey green to my look brings that out a bit more and makes my eyes look less brown. I use this type of shade all over: from the crease to all over the lid, on the lower lash line or for darkening up the outer V. Olive greens are quite possibly the most versatile shades for me. My favorites? Urban Decay Stash from Vice 2, Catrice Liquid Metal Gold Leaf Me, and MAC Green Smoke.

Finally, my favorite shade in the bunch: taupe. It is of course a very neutral shade, but don’t think it is boring or does nothing. Taupes can be different in tone and thus create different effect based on the undertone it has. Some taupes are brighter, more brown or pull a little purple. I even devoted a complete blog post all to taupe eye shadow colors, which you can check out here if you’re interested. My three favorite taupe shades were also mentioned in that blog post, but it doesn’t hurt to highlight them again here. They are: MAC Satin Taupe, Catrice Under Treasure, and Urban Decay Suspect from Naked 2.

What eye shadows do you like best for your eye color?