There’s nothing like a stroke of liner in a fun colour for an unexpected beauty moment—and the best eyeliner shades are an easy way to achieve that. But where do you begin with a rainbow spectrum of shades to choose from? While there are no hard-and-fast rules for makeup, referencing the colour wheel is always a good place to start (and perhaps a nostalgic reminder of grade school art class). “Contrasting your eyeliner to enhance your eye colour is an easy trick to bring attention to your eyes,” says Los Angeles-based makeup artist Beau Nelson. Long story short, a complimentary colour creates a strong visual impact.
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Once you’ve determined the colour you want, it’s time to choose your actual liner. Professional makeup artist Anastasia Vavina recommends a pencil over a liquid liner when getting playful. “Pencils allow for more application control than liquid eyeliners. You can stay precise or easily achieve a smoked-out look,” Vavina explains, adding that mistakes can also be easily blended and buffed with creamy pencil formulas. Since we’re not the colour theory masters, we tapped four pros to share their tips and tricks for playing up eye colour—and which of the best eyeliner shades to choose to make your gaze pop.
The best eyeliner shades for brown eyes
“Brown eyes are already neutral, so you can really play with colour on brown eyes,” explains Katie Jane Hughes, who gravitates toward jewel-toned eyeliners for brown-eyed clients (and regularly reaches for Glossier’s eyeliner pencil in the shade Rococo). When in doubt Hughes says to think rich berry tones, deep purples, and emerald greens. For a more subtle approach, consider makeup artist Tasha Reiko Brown’s go-to eye-brightening strategy: A gold eyeliner dabbed on the inner corners. “It catches the warm light of brown eyes [for extra sparkle],” she says.
The best eyeliner shades for blue eyes
Thinking back to the trust colour wheel, Nelson reminds us that the contrasting colour to blue is yellow. Rather than taking that as a literal interpretation, he leans towards more flaxen colours. “Golden browns, bronzes, and coppers all set blue eyes off nicely,” he says. Hughes agrees and leans towards warm hues like rusty orange to make all variations of ocean eyes (as Billie Eilish might say) truly stand out.
The best eyeliner shades for hazel eyes
With tones of green, gold, and brown, hazel eyes are inherently dimensional—and there are many different approaches one can take with eyeliners to emphasize their multifaceted irises. “Purples, pinks, burgundies, and cranberries bring out the green tones in hazel eyes,” says Nelson. For Hughes, a rich teal supplies a cool contrast, while for Brown, taking a tone-on-tone approach with an emerald green “really makes the colours [of Hazel eyes] jump.”
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The best eyeliner shades for green eyes
It’s all about burgundy for green eyes (think: the colour of a glass of red wine). No eyeliner shade can compare to the crimson colour juxtaposed to verdant toned eyes, according Brown. “Bright burgundy…moody burgundy…brown burgundies… all are colour wheel opposites meaning shades of green and red always complement each other,” she explains. “A rich burgundy brings an unexpected pop of colour that’s bold, but wearable.”
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The best eyeliner shades for Grey eyes
It’s true: Less than 3% of the global population has gray eyes, which can be mistaken for blue, but most often appear dark gray, grayish blue, or grayish green. For this rare shade, Nelson recommends royal blues and blue-toned violet shades to bring out their different aspects. Alternatively, “deep, beautiful reds will bring high contrast and make the eyes pop,” says Hughes.
How to choose the best eyeliner shades
Other than classic black and brown eyeliners, there’s a vast breadth of shades to consider to make your eyes pop. Say you’re feeling overwhelmed with picking the right eyeliner shade according to the colour wheel, or perhaps you’re a bit cautious when getting playful with your makeup—professional MUA Anastasia Vavina suggests focusing more on the finish, as metallics and shimmer are popular current beauty trends. “I tend to add more satin or metallic shades of eyeliners for my models and clients to add an instant refreshing effect—this adds an extra bounce of light to your evening makeup look, giving you a sophisticated, sultry eye,” she explains. When in doubt, Vavina notes that burgundy and rich reds look fabulous on all eye colours—and you don’t need much. “I love to add burgundy on my client’s waterline, smudging it a bit, to give a subtle classic smoky eye feel without even using any eyeshadows,” says Vavina.
This article first appeared on vogue.com