Wean yourself off the black eyeliner and embrace blue makeup instead; once you see the effect on your eyes you won’t regret it…
While we'll always have a place in our heart for the classic combo of black eyeliner and metallic bronze eyeshadow , our heads have been well and truly turned by blue eyeshadow; from ombre sweeps on Dua Lipa's lids (courtesy of Lisa Eldridge) to bold baby blue flicks as worn by influencer Jamie Geneveive and bold washes of blue a'la dancer and actress Maddie Ziegler it's fair to say the icy hue is having a bit of a moment.
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Bonafide professional makeup sensation Lisa Potter-Dixon has long been a convert of blue makeup, telling us: “Blue mascara is my thing. I rock it most days. No, I don’t have an obsession with the 80s, but I do have an obsession with brighter, whiter looking eyes. And that’s exactly what blue mascara does. It’s bold enough to wear alone, and can boost the look of your eye colour with one sweep.”
According to Lisa, blue has an illuminating effect on the eyes – readily apparently in Jamie's bright-eyed look; if you need to nix red-eye or look a bit sleep-deprived, blue can give you an eye-widening jolt back to life with very little effort on your part. If you don't see the bolder blues making their way into your everyday makeup look, here are some ways to work blue into your beauty routine while keeping it modern.
How to wear blue eyeliner
A perk when using a coloured liner is that you needn’t feel the pressure to execute an immaculate cat eye- the fact that you’re adding interest in terms of shade means that keeping things straightforward shape-wise delivers impact in itself. Lisa Potter-Dixon tells it like it is: “Line the lash line. Keep said line simple. No flick required.”
The fact that this kind of liner requires zero acrobatic moves on your part is all the more reason to consider deep blue as a daytime option. Plus the ‘looking less tired’ thing is incentive enough to join the navy, if you catch my drift. For extra intensity, layer it over your usual black liner.
The equipment: Smashbox Always On Gel Eyeliner , £18. This comes on strong, stays that way and is available in a host of grown-up blue hues. To nail navy, try Private.
If cobalt blue is more your thing, make like Rihanna with graphic lines in the bold hue both under and above the eyes.
How to wear blue eyeshadow
Whether diffused or more inky, a shot of midnight blue can make whimsical watercolour shadow look both edgy and elegant and add an ultra eye-popping element to a smokey eye. Make like actress Olivia Munn and try strong colour on the bottom lashline, softened out at the edges, or smoosh a more sheer metallic cream over lids for a low effort makeup update. If you’re feeling brazen embrace a holographic or glitter finish.
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Keep the focus at the centre of lids to make eyes look bigger, and keep glitter close to the lash line for added dazzle when you blink. Makeup artist Tammi Clarke makes blue eye makeup extra mesmerising with a touch of gold in the centre and darker shades at the outer corners.
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The equipment: For a metallic effect, Beauty Bay's Liquid Crystal Eyeshadow in Howlite , £6, is a handy option; it swipes on with zero effort and stays put for hours on end.
How to wear blue mascara
The final frontier in blue eye makeup, blue lashes may initially seem like the ‘blue rinse’ equivalent for eyes, but hold your horses, as dialling down the shade to navy will barely register to onlookers, yet will serve to make your eye colour look richer and your whites more twinkly. The brightest tone you should go for on the daily is royal blue (incidentally Princess Diana was a blue mascara believer), to save yourself from 80s PE teacher connotations- sometimes even Di got lost in the blue.
The equipment: Chanel's Le Volume De Chanel mascara in Blue Night , £28, has a rich but subtle colour payoff that creates a deep blue hue. Morphe just launched their The Big Prime lash primer , £10, which paints the lashes an electric blue which looks shocking to start with, but adds an intriguing depth to your lashes when you add a black mascara on top.