Not everyone is born with the perfect face. If you asked your friends most of them would say they felt their eyes were too close together, too far apart, too squinty or… well you get the picture. (I personally think my eyes are too close together).

Thankfully we live in a day where makeup can do all sorts of optical illusions. Here I list a few simple techniques using eye shadow and eyeliner to create several illusions based on your needs.

To make your eyes look…

closer together. Most eyes look better when the emphasis is on the outer corner of the eye (or the ‘v’). But emphasizing the inner corner will make eyes look closer together.Start by sweeping a light shadow over the whole eye area. Then dust a medium color on the inner half of the eyelid and blend outward to create a natural finish. Next, line from the inner corner of the eye to the middle and then blend outward.

further apart. If your eyes are less than an eyes-width apart, you can create the illusion of being wider set by keeping the inside corners of your eyes light and the outer edges darker. To do this, sweep a concealer one shade lighter than your skin at the inner corner of the lids. Blend well and don’t forget the gray shadowy areas on the side of your nose. Take a matte eyeshadow in a medium-to-dark shade and stroke it outward and slightly upward from the middle part of your lid. the outer half of your lid. Take eyeliner and start the line just a bit in from the inner corner of your eye, tapering the line up and out, just a bit past the outer corner of the eyes.

bigger. The key to making eyes bigger is to focus on light shades. Dark ones will make eyes appear even smaller. Sweep a light shade over lid, then shade the outer corner of the lid and the crease with a darker shade. Line the outer upper and lower lids with eyeliner making sure to taper a bit outside the eye (elongating it). Lastly, a dab of white or cream shadow in the middle of the browbone will make eyes pop. (A word of warning: make sure brows are perfectly plucked, otherwise stray hairs will stand out as if lit by klieg lights).

less droopy. You can lift down-turned eyes with makeup. Apply shadow to the outer corner of the lid, extending color up and out like a feline shape. Add a light highligher color to brow bone and skip the eyeliner — it will only accentuate the ‘droopy’ contour. Apply mascara, concentrating on the inner corner of the eye. Lastly, you can try smudging a silver show on the inner corners of the eyes to help ‘lift’ them.

less deep-set. Those with deep-set eyes have prominent browbones. To downplay browbone, sweep a light or medium-tone shade on lid, then shade in a slightly darker shade above the eye crease. Apply eyeliner from the inside of the eye, making it thicking in the middle of the eye and then tapering it towards the outer part of the lid. Lastly, apply light highlighter shade to browbone.

And lastly, here’s a great eyeshadow and eyeliner trick for Asian eyes… Since the eyelids of Asian women can seem to disappear when the eyes are open, you can add definition by sweeping a medium-toned shade across the lid and browbone. Dust under the brow with a light highlighter shade to accentuate the brow bone and then use a pencil liner to line the upper and lower lash lines. Make sure line is very fine and natural looking.