10 easy ways to make your eyes look bigger instantly (2024)

When it comes to beauty trends, a wide and fresh doe-eyed appearance will never go out of fashion. While there’s no way to change the size of your peepers – in fact, it’s thought that the eyeballs remain the same size from babyhood onwards – there are plenty of makeup tricks you can use to make your eyes pop.

Here, we run through 10 easy yet effective tricks, whether you want to enhance your small eyes or just cover up your lack of sleep…

Define your brows

Eyebrows are incredibly important to how big your eyes look. By grooming them into the right shape for you, they’ll frame your eyes correctly and help to make them pop. Fill in sparse areas with a wax, like Benefit’s Brow Zings, £26.50, and set in place with Benefit’s Gimme Brow, £20.

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Read: Best eyebrow pencils to define and perfect your brows and the best eyebrow kits for perfect well-groomed brows

Apply white eyeliner in your waterline

Adding a brighter eyeliner into the waterline instantly helps to open up the eyes and make them look more refreshed. Here we used the MAC Technakohl Liner in Snowed In, £14.50.

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Colour correct your lids

Many of us have lids that are a different shade to the rest of our face. Colour correcting your lids will not only help to make your eyes pop, the neutral base will also help to make the colour of any eyeshadow stand out even more.

Prime the lids with Urban Decay’s Primer Potion in Eden, £17, and cover the lids in a concealer, like By Terry’s Terrybly Densiliss Concealer, £44.

Set the concealer with a light powder like Laura Mercier’s Translucent Setting Powder, £29, before you follow up with any eyeshadow.

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Read: Best primers that will keep your makeup in place all day long

Cover up dark circles

To cover up dark circles, it’s best to determine what type of undertones your skin has in this area.

You can then select the corresponding colour corrector using our guide here.

Mine are blue, making a red colour corrector like BECCA Cosmetic’s Backlight Targeted Colour Corrector in Papaya, £21, the perfect shade to neutralise my undereyes.

Once this is blended in, apply a concealer such as Urban Decay’s Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer, £19 on top.

However, make sure the concealer is applied in an upside down triangle - this will highlight the under eye and make sure it’s blended into the face properly.

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Apply colour corrector

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Apply concealer

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Set with powder

MORE: MAKE-UP TRICKS EVERY PERSON WITH HOODED EYES NEEDS TO KNOW

Highlight your inner corners

Apply a dab of highlighter, like theBalm’s Mary Lou Manizer Luminizer, £13.50, or white eyeshadow in the inner corner of your eyes. Not only will this make your eyes appear wider, it’ll also make you look much more refreshed.

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Contour your eyes

Much like your cheekbones, contouring your eyes help to make them stand out and pop. All this requires is blending an eyeshadow into the crease of your eye socket.

For a natural look, opt for warm or cool browns (depending on your undertone), such as Bobbi Brown’s Eye Shadow in Taupe or Sable, £18. Blend this into the crease in windscreen wiper motions with a fluffy blending brush.

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Apply mascara to your bottom lashes

For many, applying mascara to the bottom lashes is often forgotten about or left alone to avoid smudging. However, a slick of mascara to your bottom lashes makes a big difference to help open them up.

Reach for L’Oreal Paris’ False Lash Sculpt Mascara, £9.99, or, if you’re not feeling confident, Clinique’s Bottom Lash Mascara, £14.

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Wing your eyeliner

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If you want to wear eyeliner on your top lash line, create wings on the ends of your eye with a thinly-tipped pen, like Estee Lauder’s Little Black Liner, £22. The wing will help to give an illusion of your eyes pulling out, making them appear longer and larger.

Curl before mascara

Before you apply mascara, it’s important to curl your lashes. Not only will this help to give them a fan-like appearance around the eyes; it will also lengthen the lashes, which you can then build upon with your mascara.

Read: The best mascaras, from lengthening to waterproof

Apply black liner properly

If you have to use black eyeliner, make sure you’re not allowing the product to close up your eyes. To avoid this, apply eyeliner, like Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion, £15.50, on the bottom lash line from the middle up to the outer end. Leave the inner corner bare so that the eyes appear wider.

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MORE: HOW TO DO EYELINER ON HOODED EYES

As well as makeup, there are other products you can use to help give your eyes a refreshing boost.

EYE MASKS

Eye masks not only help to soothe the eyes, but also reduce puffiness and fine lines, making them appear bright and fresh.

Dr Anjali Mahto, Consultant Dermatologist at the Cadogan Clinic, explains, ‘Eye masks are usually gel-like treatments which are formulated with hydrating and plumping ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, caffeine and colloidal gold.’

However, while they do make a difference, Dr Mahto stresses that the fix is temporary; ‘Using an eye mask doesn’t mean you can skip sleep – they’re a quick, temporary fix for puffiness and dark circles.

‘Gel masks are often designed to be cooled or heated and contain ingredients which reduce inflammation and discolouration, such as aloe vera, glycerine, purified water and in some cases essential oils.

'It should be noted that effects are usually temporary and shouldn’t be expected to permanently alleviate puffiness in the long term.’

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EYE CREAM

With tons of eye cream spamming the shelves, it can be difficult to know what ones really live up to their de-puffing and anti-ageing claims.

Dr Mahto explains, ‘Must-have ingredients to look out for in eye creams consist of hyaluronic acid, ceramides, retinol, neuropeptides and vitamins C and E.’

Here, she break down what each one does…

‘Hyaluronic acid draws moisture from the air and can hold up to one thousand times its weight in water, giving the skin its plump appearance.’

‘Ceramides are skin lipids that “hold" skin cells together to help maintain structure and hydration.’

‘Retinol, a vitamin A derivative, stimulates cell turnover and collagen production, helping to strengthen skin and reduce imperfections such as fine lines – make sure you use sparingly, as retinol creams make skin more sun-sensitive and can be drying.

'If your skin is sensitive, you may want to opt for a peptide-packed eye cream instead of a retinol one.’

‘Neuropeptides also stimulate collagen and elastin production, but are gentler on the dermis and improve resilience, tone and texture.

'Finally, key vitamins such as C and E are ingredients to look out for, with vitamin C aiding collagen production and elasticity and vitamin E helping to sooth and protects against wrinkles.’

Take a look at our tried & tested eye creams to find out that suits you.

MORE: 6 MAKEUP ARTISTS REVEAL THEIR FAVOURITE BARGAIN BEAUTY BUYS

(Main image: Getty / Images: Good Housekeeping)

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10 easy ways to make your eyes look bigger instantly (2024)
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