Looking for eye makeup tips you can put into action? Here are 20 pro tips to try right now.

When eye makeup is done right, it can change the look of your whole face.

By enhancing the shape of the eye, making you look professional or dramatic, and adding a pop of color to your look, great eye makeup can make you feel beautiful.

If you don’t consider yourself an eye makeup pro, however, you might be looking for some eye makeup tips to help you get started.

Here’s is a complete, beginner-friendly list.

20 Eye Makeup Tips for Beginners

Regardless of whether you’ve been dabbling in eye makeup for years now, or you’re a proud “Au natural” kind of girl, these eye makeup tips can help you add some variety to your look, once and for all.

1. Figure Out Your Eye Shape

When professionals talk about “eye shape,” you might not know exactly what they mean. The truth is, that everyone has a different eye shape, and knowing what yours is can change the way you apply your eye makeup. Here’s a chart, from bestylish.com, to help you understand what your eye shape is.

2. Get a Cleaner Eyeliner Application

If you’re not an experienced beauty buff, it’s probably natural for you to apply eyeliner while looking straight ahead into the mirror. You’ll get a cleaner line and a better look, though, if you tilt your head up and back, and look down slightly while you draw the line. Not only will you get a cleaner line, but the application will also be faster.

3. Open Your Eyes by Adding Some Highlighter Under the Brow

For a wide-awake look, use a highlighter pencil to blend a line under the arch of the brow. From there, blend it with your finger. You can also highlight the inner corner of the eye to make up for a long night or a lack of sleep, as this will reflect light and open the eye area.

4. Give Yourself an Instant Eye Lift

To give yourself a wide-awake look, add some illuminator above your brow line, following the natural arch of the brow. For best results, choose a cream option and apply it with a small, angled brush. Once you’ve applied it, brush it in with your fingers or an angled makeup sponge. This grabs the light and reflects it, and gives the brow area a lifted, fresh appearance.

5. Change the Way You Apply Eyeliner

Instead of drawing your eyeliner on in a consistent line, dot it along your upper and lower lash line. Once you’ve done this, use a brush to connect them. While drawing a consistent line gives eyeliner a dramatic appearance, dotting it on provides a more muted look that’s ideal for daytime or work.

6. Make Your Eyes Look Bigger with White Eyeliner

If you’ve got small eyes, “change” your eye shape by lining the inside of each lid with white or nude eyeliner. Subtle enough to stand in as your daily look, this tiny trick blends well with virtually any other eye makeup look and helps your face look bright and beautiful all day long.

7. Dress Up Your Crease

Most eye makeup tips tell you to apply a dark, dramatic shade of eyeliner in the crease of your eye. This is ideal for a glamor or smoky eye look. One thing you can do to make your crease look more dramatic, though, is to add your crease shadow just a bit higher than you normally would. Keep the shade like what you’d usually use. A smoky brown or gray is ideal for most eye colors.

8. Start Every Eye Look with a Base Shadow

To “prime” your eye and help any other products you apply stick, start your eye makeup by applying a base shadow that doesn’t include shimmer and matches the lightest areas of your skin. From there, you can layer darker shadows on, play with your eyeliner, or add false lashes for a dramatic look.

9. Use Black Shadow to Create a Smokier Look

Did you know that deepening and dramatizing the color of your eyeshadow is as simple as applying some black shadow underneath? While this won’t work for every shade, it’s ideal for dark colors like green, purple, or blue. To start, use an eyeshadow brush to blend black shadow into the lid. From there, add your color on top and layer for a deeper look. Finish with eyeliner and mascara.

10. Adjust the Depth of Your Shadow with the Pressure of Your Application

Most people think the drama of eye shadow comes down to how much you use, not how much you apply. To make the shadow on your lid pop, use medium pressure as you apply it. To avoid going overboard in your crease or highlighter, use light pressure as you apply shadow to these places.

11. Curl Your Lashes Twice

If you curl your lashes, it’s likely you only do it once. For more drama, you can do two rounds of curling. For the first round, curl your lashes as you normally would, with the curler pressed to the base of the lash line.

From there, hold the curler perpendicular to your face and curl the tips of your lashes. Finish with mascara for an open-eye look. Straightforward and fast, this is an excellent way to make yourself look wide-awake at any time. What’s more, it’s ideal for complimenting any other eye makeup look you intend to do.

12. Let Your Mascara Dry Between Coats

To get the look of falsies without applying them, apply two coats of mascara. The trick is to let the first coat dry completely (for about one minute) before you apply the second layer. This allows the formula to build on itself and open your eyes as much as possible.

13. Use Blue Eyeliner to Counteract Red Eyes

Long night? Perk your eyes up with a blue eyeliner dotted along your upper lash line. This will highlight the white tones in your eye and counteract redness. You can also help your eyes look more open by applying a subtle highlighter shade along your upper lid.

14. Use Bright Eyeliner for a Night Out

Looking for a way to dress up your evening look? Purchase a bright eyeliner color like blue, purple, or green, and sweep it just above your upper lash line. To avoid looking overdone, keep your eyeshadow neutral and the rest of your look muted. Sweep on a few coats of mascara for added drama.

15. Keep Your Eyeliner from Crumbling by Freezing It

If you use an eyeliner pencil, it likely needs sharpening on a regular basis. Before you do it the next time around, freeze the eyeliner stick beforehand. This solidifies the formula and prevents it from crumbling.

16. Add Eye Drops to Your Mascara to Reduce Clumps

Even the best mascara clumps over time. While this is often the result of an old or over-dried tube, you can extend the life of the tube by adding a drop or two of eye drops. This re-hydrates the formula and makes it feel brand new!

17. Heat Your Eyelash Curler Before You Use It

Did you know that a bit of heat will help your eyelash curler produce a better curl? For a dramatic look, blast your curler with a hairdryer for a few seconds before using it. Be sure to test the curler against your skin to make sure it’s not too hot before you clamp your lashes.

18. Use a Business Card to Prevent Mascara Messes

As you apply mascara, hold a business card behind your upper lashes and in front of your brow. This allows your lashes to bend back toward the card and deposit any blotches there, rather than on your skin.

19. Use a Loose Powder to Keep Your Crème Eyeshadow in Place

If your creme eyeshadow migrates throughout the day, use an angled brush to sweep loose, translucent powder under your lower lash line. This creates a barrier against grease and moisture and prevents your liner from bleeding.

20. Repurpose Your Mascara Brushes

If you typically toss out your mascara brushes once the tube is done, rethink your approach. Instead, wash these brushes and use them to apply your brow color or remove the clumps from your mascara. This saves you money on makeup brushes and helps you do your eye makeup in a hurry.

When you do it right, eye makeup can be an excellent tool. For most people, applying it takes lots of time and feels difficult. Fortunately, these twenty eye makeup tips make getting a beautiful eye look easier and faster, so everyone can do it!

If you have any questions, feel free to drop a message in the comments section.

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