How to Do A Professional Eye Look

• Posted on 13 April 2021
• By Elea Wright
• Posted in How to, Professional
• 0

What is a professional eye look? In the wake of women’s increasing presence in the higher echelons of the business world, the often overlooked but extremely fraught ridden question of “Is this eye look professional or nah?” reverberates through the minds and stress dreams of many. Don’t worry though, it’s not as difficult as it seems, but you may need to abandon some of those flamboyant colors depending on your industry.

DO I NEED TO WEAR MAKEUP?

No, you don’t need to wear makeup to work if you don’t want to. Maybe a bit of mascara and foundation over your eyes is your go-to. More power to you lady. However, there are those of us that might want to do a bit more for reasons too numerous to list. If that is you, Here’s an easy, quick guide for you.

STEP 1: FIND YOUR COLORS

What’s your foundation color? If you don’t know this because we have your secret formula somewhere, feel free to ask us via message, email, or phone. However, if you’ve done Skin Twin or only have one color as your foundation, go ahead and look up that color name.

EXAMPLE

My primary foundation shade is Facade. At the very bottom of the page is the foundation code. Mine is Strength 417. Click it. I highlighted it on this image in case you needed extra assistance.

All the colors that show up are my natural skin tone. I’m going to want a light, medium, and deep version of my skin.

EXAMPLE

I like to use Non-Assertive as my all over color as I prefer a bit of a shimmer for that extra lift. Instinctive is my outer ‘v’ color and ‘bone’ aka eye contour color. Clever is my liner color.

It can be helpful to look at the letter after your code. For example, my foundation has an ‘L’ after the code and is an extra-light color, so an all over color that is a little different in color but also with an ‘L’ will look the most natural on me. Some people may be in the ‘m’ or ‘d’ range. You’ll want to look for colors that will have the variety of your natural coloring. Ask us for help if you have difficulty with this part.

NEXT UP

You’ve got your colors, now to apply. The colors are the hardest and most important part of this look. Eye colors with a lot of saturation in a conservative business world are going to have people distracted by things outside of the topic you’re addressing. I sincerely discourage black liner if you are in a conservative business world and have any skin color other than the deepest. Of course, I can’t speak for every situation and rules ARE made to be broken.

STEP 2: PREPARE

Apply your eye primer. Sometimes this can be your foundation, our eye and lip primer, or if you’re blessed with consistent eyelids, nothing at all. You can use your finger for our eye and lip primer application. 

STEP 3: ALL OVER LIGHTEST COLOR

Use ‘Prize Fighter’ and apply your all-over color. We outlined in red the area that you want to try to stick to, but with this natural color, it's okay to not be super perfect.

STEP 4: CONTOUR EYE

Take ‘Prize Fighter’ and apply your medium color in the crease and ‘v’ of your eye. Do not go above your brow bone. You want to apply lightly because the idea is to get that depth without drawing too much attention. I like to make sure you can still see some white on the bristles of Prize Fighter.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

1. If between your eyes is less than an eye length apart, add some drama to the outer ‘v’ with a bit more depth. If not, SKIP
2. If your eyes are further away than an eye length try using a lighter color on the inner ‘v’ of the eye. If not, SKIP
3. If you have hooded eyes, use a lighter color than your skin on the edge that you can see and apply your liner color dry very close to the lash. When you apply with ‘Walk the Line’ act like you are brushing your lash bases to get a really tight line. If not, SKIP

STEP 5: LINER

Next, apply your liner with ‘Walk the Line’ you can either apply dry for a beautiful, natural gradation or use iLine to add a bit more grounding and depth.

STEP 6: BROWS

Use ’So Acute’ to apply your Just Browsing color to your eyebrows. Position the brush so that you start out at a diagonal along your natural brow shape. Start low and move upwards to your brow’s highest point. Once you reach the highest point, angle the brush to where it is aligned with the very top of your brow line and finish towards the end making sure to not press down too hard.

STEP 7: FINISHING UP

Apply mascara to finish the look and admire yourself.

IN CLOSING

That’s it. Feel free to add a pop if you so desire, but I’d use a skin tone shimmer or neutralizing color. We do have some great highlighters that can impart that bit of shimmer without too bold of a statement. Of course, this isn’t the only eye look you can do in a business environment, but it is one that guarantees a really natural professional look without the stress and risk. Look up your Natural eye look here, or learn more about Skin Twin so you can feel naturally stunning as YOU.

If you want to make more of a statement, I like to encourage people to do it on the lips. Finding an enhanced nude lip or bold statement lip is a no-brainer with our ebhues. We can even do custom lip palettes if a few colors intrigue you. Let us know your favorite professional eye and lip combos. Our next blog will be about matching lip colors to blushes, so we might feature your look in it or on our social channels. As always stay colorful and beautiful colorists!