The Curator: Everything to know about the eyemaxxing beauty trend

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If your makeup routine could use a little more colour, TikTok has a trick for that. Enter eyemaxxing, the viral beauty trend that uses basic colour theory and strategic makeup placement to make your natural eye colour look richer, brighter and more defined. The idea is simple: look at your eye colour, find the shade that sits opposite it on the colour wheel, then use those complementary tones in your makeup to create contrast. Blue eyes? Reach for copper and bronze. Green eyes? Try plum, berry or burgundy. Brown and hazel eyes? Purple, mauve and gold can bring out those hidden flecks. While the internet may have given the technique a very TikTok-friendly name, makeup artists have been using colour theory to enhance the eyes for years. Ahead, everything you need to know about eyemaxxing, plus a few makeup picks to help you play with the trend.

Think of eyemaxxing as colour theory for your makeup bag. The trend is all about identifying your natural eye colour and choosing shades that contrast with it, making your irises appear more vibrant without actually changing their colour.

The trick comes down to the colour wheel. Shades opposite each other create contrast, which can make the colours beside them look more intense. That means warm orange, copper and bronze tones can make blue eyes stand out, while purples, plums and berry shades can emphasize green eyes. For brown and hazel eyes, there’s a little more freedom, but mauves, purples, golds and warm metallics can help highlight the different tones in the iris.

And you don’t necessarily need to go all-out with colourful eyeshadow. A swipe of complementary liner, a wash of shadow or even a coordinating blush can bring the same colour-story idea into your look.

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