Make-up to make you glam in glasses
Wear specs? A new book says you need to choose your cosmetics very carefully
AFter years of experimentation, I can now apply a smoky eye with the best of them and know exactly what foundation suits my face. But the problem comes when I run out of contact lenses and have to wear my glasses, usually reserved for nights in with the TV. Suddenly my carefully applied eye make-up looks a bit wrong.
Fortunately, a new book, everything eyes, by make-up guru Bobbi Brown, gives spec-specific tips for girls who wear glasses. We put them to the test . . .
EYEBROWS
SINCE most people who wear glasses have frames that allow at least the top of their eyebrows to be seen, keeping them neat and well defined is key.
It’s very hard using tweezers to get a sharp line, so if you do want to remove hairs, opt for threading f or a perfectly straight brow.
Bobbi recommends defining brows with a product the same colour as your hair, so your glasses don’t overpower your face. We used a blend of powder and wax — the Smashbox Brow te c h trio (£17, smashbox. co.uk)
— applied with a fine brush to fill i n gaps, tame rogue hairs and give a clean, full line.
UNDER EYES
BOBBI says the glass in your frames can highlight under-eye discolouration and darkness — bad news for anyone who suffers from dark circles or bags.
Look for peach-toned concealers that will neutralise grey or blue and make the area look brighter without bleaching it out. Benefit’s Boi-ing concealer (£ 17.50, benefitcosmetics. co.uk) comes in five shades and hides shadows without looking creased or caked.
EYESHADOW
IF YOU’RE long-sighted, your lenses can magnify your eyes — while if you’re short-sighted, you may find your specs make your eyes look smaller.
either way, you tend not to see as much of the eye socket, so the outline of the eye should be the focus of applying makeup rather than the lid. Bobbi says your eyeshadow shouldn’t compete with your glasses, so it’s best to keep things neutral. a cream shadow will give a bit of a sheen as a counterpoint to the very matte base — we used Maybelline Color tattoo 24hr Cream gel Shadow in Pink gold (£4.99, boots.com).
EYELINER
BOBBI’S golden rule is that eyeliner is key because i t adds definition. and whether your eyes look big or small t hrough y our lenses, a clean sweep of eyeliner won’t leave you looking squinty or bug-eyed. use a liquid liner pen to draw a solid line across the top — Charlotte tilbury’s Quick Fine Line Shodo Pen (£22,
makes charlottetilbury.com) it very easy.
then, to give the tops of the eyes even more definition, use a kohl liner on the top water line, just inside the eyelid. urban decay’s glide-on (£15, debenhams.com) is soft to apply but waterproof and long-lasting.
On the lower water line, just inside the lid, use a liner that will open the eye up — white is too harsh, so look for a metallic cream, a pale gold or a pale metallic pink like By terry’s Kohl in Opaline Flash (£23, spacenk.com). For a cheaper option, seek out avon’s SUPERSHOCK gel eyeliner Pencil (£2, avonshop.co.uk).
LASHES
MOST glasses sit far enough from the eyes so that, even when curled, lashes shouldn’t hit the lenses, so curl them as you normally would, at the base to open up the eye. But when it comes to mascara, rather than going for a lengthening one, look for one that will thicken and give volume instead.
Chanel’s Le Volume de Chanel (£24, houseoffraser.co. uk) makes lashes look thick and full without clumping.
Keep the bottom lashes free of mascara as — like the glasses frame — this can cast shadows under the eye, making it look very dark. and, if your lashes do hit your lenses, Bobbi suggests opting for a waterproof mascara that won’t smudge.
FACE
USE a matte foundation to stop the slide of glasses down your face — try Laura Mercier Oil Free Supreme Foundation (£34, spacenk.com).
to avoid your blusher clashing with the lower part of your glasses, avoid putting colour on the apples of your cheeks and instead contour your face and give it structure.
use a powder blusher to keep your face matte, suck in your cheeks and, working from the outside edge, sweep a bronzer or brownish pink blusher into the hollow — try Mac’s Powder Blush in Cubic (£18, maccosmetics.co.uk).
LIPS
THE old adage says you should pick lips or eyes to emphasise. But although the eye area i s defined with glasses, they can also act as a barrier to your peepers, so you can get away with using a dramatic shade on your lips — we went for Mac’s relentlessly red Lipstick (£15, maccosmet
ics.co.uk) with nars Jungle red Lipliner (£16.50, narscos--