Glasses draw attention to your face and your eyes making a big impact on your appearance. Wearing glasses shouldn’t limit your makeup application. Use the following steps to create beautiful looks that work well with glasses and may help you to feel more confident. Read on for my tips on makeup for ladies with glasses…
*there are some affiliate links used in this post
FACE
- For foundation, I prefer a matte liquid foundation or loose mineral foundation. One of my all time favorite mineral foundations is the Laura Mercier Loose Mineral Powder (my shade is Real Sand). Dewy foundation can often leave residue under eyes and the nose areas and cause some creasing. Opt for a yellow corrector for the under eye area to take care of the dark cast caused by the glasses and set with a mineral powder.
- Make sure to use a primer before makeup and a setting spray after makeup application to keep your makeup intact and stop the makeup from moving when you take glasses off or put them back on. I’m a long time fan of MAC Fix+.
- Apply bronzer on your cheekbones, side of the nose and top of the forehead. Use highlighter around the cheekbone and blush on the apple of the cheeks. This will make your face look more contoured.
EYES
- Go for warmer eyeshadow colors. Brown, olive and nude shades are good choices. Urban Decay’s Naked palette would be a recommendation of mine, hands down. A shimmery highlight can be added to the inner corner of eyelid (not glitter). Adding a colored liner to your waterline will make the eyes pop too.
- For eyeliner and mascara, to really make your eyes noticeable through your glasses, use your liner to make a winged or cat-eye look. This will create an illusion of a lifted, more youthful lid. If you can’t do winged liner, then “flick” your liner at the outer edge of the lash line to create a similar look. You’ll also want to use volumizing and lengthening mascara to emphasize your lashes. Before applying you may want to curl your lashes so they don’t hit your lenses. Apply two to three coats of mascara to make lashes really stand out.
BROWS
- Some glasses will cover your eyebrows, while others will frame them. However, if you wear big, bold frames you might want to avoid heavy eyebrow makeup. Make sure they are nicely trimmed and shaped instead. Defined and arched brows are the right trend now. A few of my favorite brow pencils are the MAC brow pencil and the Anastasia Brow Definer.
- The same goes for those with naturally light hair or thinner eyebrows. You don’t want to fill in your eyebrows with a color that’s too dark or make them appear too full.
- If you wear smaller, subtle frames, fill in your eyebrows with your natural color. Using an eyebrow pencil or eyebrow powder and a thin brush, lightly fill in your eyebrows using short, dash-like strokes and follow the natural arch of your brow.
LIPS
- It’s easy for a girl with glasses to get away with a bold lip color but If you have eye-catching eyeglasses and bold eyeshadow on, skip the bold lip and pair your look with a lip gloss or stinted lip balm. If you’re going neutral on the eyes you can go bright and bold with your lips. One of my favorite brands is Nudestix. They carry chunky style pencils in every shade from mattes to gel balms.
Do you wear eyeglasses? If so, tell me if you have any makeup tips for ladies who wear glasses in the comments below.
You can shop for some of the products here without leaving my blog!
My Lucky Bag from Beautylish 2021
20 Cute Makeup Bags Under $20
My Quarantine Beauty Haul
My Makeup Show Favorites
Fantastic tips for people who wear glasses!!
Thanks! I don’t wear mine often but when I do I use these tips. Stacie xo
Excellent tips, Stacie! Although I wear contacts much of the time, I do wear glasses sometimes too. For some reason, I wear less makeup when I’m wearing my glasses (maybe because I wear them around the house or for errands), but I like your rationale for using a bit more!
Allison recently posted…Sephora Play! Beauty Set Go Bag January 2017
Thanks Allison! I tend to wear a bit more with glasses because I feel like I’m wearing a mask when I have them on. Stacie xo
Stacie recently posted…Makeup for Ladies with Glasses
I wear glasses and find it hard to see to do eye makeup it would be easy if I had hinges on each lenses of my glasses
I know the feeling! I use a 10x well lit makeup mirror to apply my eye makeup on days that I wear my glasses. I have seen the type of glasses you talk about, but not really the cutest styles most often. Stacie xo
Stacie recently posted…Makeup for Ladies with Glasses
I love these tips! I wear glasses for close work, but don’t need them otherwise. My mom has very bad vision though, and cannot wear contacts due to the type of issue she has, so I need to show her this. She’s always saying she doesn’t bother with makeup since her glasses cover her eyes anyway. As a makeup addict, I’m always encouraging her to try 🙂
I have worn glasses since I was a young teen. I feel like I can get away with a little more color than most people because of them. I’ve learned where to place my eyeshadow though so as not to make me look clownish. I am very careful when buying glasses and making sure they fit right for my eyebrows which I didn’t have to do when I was younger. Thanks for the tip reminders.
MarciaF recently posted…Fashion Flash news
Whenever I wear my eyeglasses, I just focus on lips and nice foundation. Great tips!!!!
Those are great tips to focus on the face instead. Stacie xo
Stacie recently posted…5 Polish Styles for 2017
I wear glasses and hardly wear makeup with them =( I’m not a fan of my glasses and normally I just don’t want to do anything extra makeup wise when I have them on. Luckily I have contacts lol because makeup is life!
Brooke Pakulski recently posted…Jesse’s Girl Fluid Shadow Swatches + Review
LOL! I agree!! I don’t wear my glasses often, just before bed and of course I don’t have makeup on then. I only wear my glasses during the day when I run out of contacts. Haha! Stacie xo
Stacie recently posted…5 Polish Styles for 2017
Great tips! Thank you for sharing!
Phyrra recently posted…Best Rose Gold Eyeshadows, Lipsticks and Blush
You’re welcome! Stacie xo
Stacie recently posted…5 Polish Styles for 2017
Way back in the day I did a post on makeup for ladies with glasses. I always find these so intriguing and I love how everyone has their own personal spin on things. Thankfully I do not use glasses for everything, only reading, driving and computer work – but thankfully for a good magnified mirror I can do my brows 🙂
Tell me about it! I don’t know what I’d do without the 10x mirror!! Stacie xo
Stacie recently posted…5 Polish Styles for 2017
Great tips! I should have a few of my own as I’ve always worn glasse4s and makeup, but I sort of just do whatever. Although, liquid liner is definitely a great way to bring out your eyes.
Bailey recently posted…Everything You Need For Fabulous Brows | Full Brow
Thanks! I agree that liner is a must with glasses. Stacie xo
Stacie recently posted…5 Polish Styles for 2017
Wow, I feel this is the ultimate make-up guide for people who wear glasses. Detail on every aspect of make-up has been conveyed quite nicely!. Props to you for putting together such a nice guide.
Sasha Brown