All About Eyes: Natural Makeup For Pretty Eyes Every Day

By Stacey Siebritz

Organic, natural beauty is perhaps never more important than when it comes to your eyes. They’re not just the windows to your soul; around the eye area is where your skin is at its thinnest, which makes it all the more crucial that you use only the best quality ingredients in your beauty looks.

Using harsh, chemical ingredients can lead to irritation and inflammation, which can in turn lead to premature ageing. Personally, I find that some products even cause my eyes to tear up!

The issue is, some people complain they can’t find a decent mascara or rich eyeshadow shades that are natural. And I admit, it’s not easy. But I’ve tried and tested quite a few products in my time, and here are my  picks of some of the best natural makeup for pretty eyes, every day of the week.

Step 1: Primer

Flawless make up starts with the perfect base. The right primer will blur imperfections, smooth fine lines and plump up the skin, giving you a fresh canvas to work with, and ensuring that your make up stays put all day.

Try: Vapour Stratus Soft Focus Instant Skin Perfector

This is the Swiss Army Knife of primers – this marvellous multitasker is a moisturiser, primer and colour-free foundation all in one, and is made with cruelty-free, organic ingredients and natural mineral pigments. Apply it with your fingertips to perk up your complexion. Learn how to apply primer and more, below.

Step 2: Foundation

Finding the right shade of foundation is key, to even out your skin before beginning work on your eyes.

Try: Alima Pure Satin Matte Foundation

Alima’s Foundation comes in a huge range of shades (45 in total), divided into skin tones: cool, neutral, beige, warm and olive. The formula, which contains only natural ingredients, feels luxurious and easily builds to provide deeper coverage.

Step 3: Under eye concealer

No matter how well you apply your eye make up, the effect will be ruined if you’re suffering from dark circles. Cover them up by picking a creamy formula, drawing a triangle under your eyes and pointing down towards your chin, then blending gently with your ring finger.

Try: RMS Beauty Un-cover Up  

I love this lightweight, all natural concealer that contains skin-soothing ingredients such as coconut oil and rosemary. It will hydrate and heal the skin while covering up blemishes and dark circles, and is available in eight shades, from palest porcelain to a rich, dark tan.

Step 4: Tweeze  

Eyebrows are having a moment right now. They need to be lush, full – and perfectly groomed. That starts with removing any stray hairs from under the arch.

Try: TweezerGuru

The perfect slant and a tight grip make these a popular favourite with beauticians. Really easy to use, no matter how hard you find eyebrow grooming!

Step 5: Eyebrow filler

You only need to look at the likes of Cara Delevigne, Lily Collins or Keira Knightley to know that bold brows can work wonders, framing your face and eyes, and emphasising your natural bone structure.  Use an eyebrow pencil to define your brows and fill in any gaps: use short, feathery strokes and blend through with a brow brush.

Try: Lagona Brow Pencils

These pencils have a creamy formula that makes them easy to blend, and contain organic shea butter and jojoba oil. The pencils themselves are made from sustainably managed forests. Tip: the little brush at the end helps you smudge the pencil to make it look more natural. Use it: the oils from the pencil will blend with your brows to help keep them in place.

Try:  Ere Perez Natural  Brow Pencil  

What’s not to love about Ere Perez? This pencil contains no harsh chemicals, and the coconut oil and vitamin E in the formula will nourish brows in need of some TLC. Plus, it comes with a little brush, too!

Step 6: Eye Shadow

If you have big eyes, make them stand out even more with a bit of shadow! Soft, neutral shades are perfect for daytime, whilst more electric hues and deeper charcoal greys are great for night time.

To save money and time, opt for a multihued palette. There was a time when getting a good quality, varied eye shadow palette meant subjecting yourself to harsh chemicals and artificial ingredients. Thankfully, those days are way behind us, with plenty of brands now offering cruelty-free, natural ingredients that help instead of harm. Try a light wash of colour in taupes, browns or greys for daytime wear, then build up the shadow for the evening.

Try:  Fruit Pigmented Sex Kitten  Palette from 100% Pure

Soft pastel shades for fairer skinned beauties. Tip: the pinkish shades here can do double duty as blush or highlighter.

Try:  Hynt Beauty Suite Eye Shadow Palette

If you’re into deep, mysterious aubergine, this palette is for  you. Comes with four beautiful shades in highly pigmented natural mineral eye shadows infused with coconut for a velvety-rich, nearly cream-like creaseless finish.

 

Step 7: Eyeliner

Some argue that a bit of smudged pencil is the best way to pull off a daytime eyeliner look. But personally, I believe that no eye makeup arsenal would be complete without liquid eyeliner, for day and night (how else could we create a sultry cat-eye flick)? I just thicken the line and extend the cat flick in the evening for more drama – just look at the pics below to see what a big difference that can make!

Try: ZOA MakeUp Liquid Organic Eyeliner

Zoa uses 100 percent natural ingredients to create its wonderfully pigmented formula – just one swipe will leave you with a dark, strong line that glides on easily and can be built up for drama. It’s available in black, brown and silver. The packaging (made from renewable and sustainably harvested bamboo) will look great in your makeup bag too.

Try:  100% Pure Black Tea Long Last Liquid Eye Liner

This is another option which will stay put all day smudge-free.  I love the super fine brush on this; it makes the liner really easy to control.

Try:  Dr Hauschka’s Eye Pencils

Prefer an eyeliner that comes in stick form? Dr Hauschka’s have  a creamy, strongly pigmented formula that is long lasting and waterproof but gentle on sensitive eyes. Still prefer a liquid? Oh, they do those, too!

Step 8: Curler

Curling the lashes is a crucial step to get the most out of your mascara. Choose eyebrow curlers with padding to protect the lashes from breakages and a wide base to make sure that it catches even the shortest lashes.

Try: Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers

These are a classic for a reason, leaving no lash uncurled. On time-poor days, you can even skip mascara after using these.

Step 9: Mascara

Choosing the right natural mascara is crucial, especially for those with sensitive eyes (or contact lens wearers), who have reacted badly to harsher formulas in the past. Apply as close to the root as possible and build up coverage gradually for the most natural results.

Try: 100% Pure’s Fruit Pigmented Ultra Lengthening Mascara

There’s a reason Beautyistas have 100% Pure on their must-have lists again and again. This clump-free formula uses fruit pigments instead of harsh chemical dyes (hence the lovely smell) and glides on easily with its tapered brush. Try the Black Tea for the darkest, most intense shade.

Try:  W3ll People Expressionist Mascara

The ergonomic design of the high tech rubber brush delivers the perfect amount of product to every lash, and the formula is cruelty-free, paraben-free and uses pure mineral pigments.

Step 10: Highlighter

The final step: brighten up! Shine a bit of light on your browbone – put a bit of highlighter just under the outer third, below your eyebrow. Try a dab on the inner corner of your eye, just on the edge of your nose – this will make your eyes look brighter and bigger. Blend well.

Now go out there and shine!

Try: Axiology Intrinsic

It’s sold as a lipstick, but this silvery shimmer works as a highlighter just about anywhere: eyes, brows and lips.

Try:  Vapour Beauty Trick Stick

Prefer a rosier glow? This is a beauty bag must have. It brightens your eyes, polishes your look, and of course is all natural. No wonder it’s become a cult favourite! Learn how to use it, below.