If you’ve noticed a new, eye-opening makeup trend on your social media feed, you are not alone. It’s called the “halo eye” and it’s a great alternative to the popular smokey and cut crease styles. The halo eye technique pulls focus to the centre of the eye through the placement of a light or bright shadow surrounded by a dark shadow in the crease and corners. Together, the shadows give the illusion of a rounder eye. It can be created with a variety of colours and textures, so there’s a ton of room for personality to shine through, too!

As with most eye makeup looks, the halo eye does different things for different eyes.

+ Round or almond-shaped eyes look rounder.

+ Up-turned or down-turned eyes will look more level.

+ A halo eye opens up mono-lid eyes, but you can skip using deep shades in the inside corner.

+ Halo eye styles can make close-set eyes look closer together and you should avoid high contrast colours.

+ Generally, halo eyes are not recommended for hooded or protruding eyes – but you can always give it a shot and adapt for your eyes!

Soft or bright and bold, give halo eye styles a try with our new brush duo sets – designed for artistic eye trends like the halo that require blending in tight areas.


Soft Halo
The soft halo is a neutral look that opens the eye with an ethereal shimmer. Warm skin tones glow with a golden/brown combo (see below), while cool complexions shine with a grey/silver or mauve/rose gold palette.

+ Start with an opaque base layer to add depth and prevent eyeshadow from blending together. Sweep a medium brown cream shadow over the mobile lid with your base shadow brush and blend into the crease with your deluxe crease brush. 

+ Take a gold shimmer or metallic powder shadow and press onto the center third of your eyelid with your base shadow brush.

+ Use your shading brush to layer a medium brown powder shadow (or deep brown for more contrast) over the inner and out corner of eyelid. Then, blend out the edges and through the crease with your precision crease brush.

+ Apply a thin gel liner over the lash line with your definer brush.

+ Give your lashes a quick curl to further accentuate the round shape and finish with several coats of mascara.

+ Finally, duplicate colour placement on the lower lash line using your precision smudge brush and the brown and gold powder shadows.


Bold and Bright Halo
While probably not #SFW for most, the bold and bright halo eye is a perfect special occasion and evening look. Create a deep green, blue, or purple eyeshadow with the following steps.

+ Prep the lid with a long-lasting eye primer with your medium shadow brush to keep pigment in place.

+ Run a matte taupe or camel shadow through the crease and over the inner and outer corners of the eyes with your precision crease brush. The precision crease brush makes blending heaving pigmented shadows easier.

+ Select a bright matte shadow (green, blue, purple) and press into the very inside and outside corner with your precision smudge brush. Then, blend again with your precision crease brush.

+ Select a glitter eye shadow in gold, bronze or platinum and press into the centre of eyelid with your shading brush.

+ Duplicate the colour placement on the lower lash line using your precision smudge brush.

+ Finish with a black liquid liner – or skip eyeliner altogether!