Cosplay Eye Makeup for Beginners: Easy Anime Eye Guide

Cosplay eye makeup can completely transform a character, especially anime and video game characters known for their large, expressive eyes.  In this beginner-friendly guide, I’ll show you how I use eyelid tape, eyeshadow, eyeliner, brow makeup, false lashes, and optional colored contacts to create several different cosplay eye looks.  From soft and natural to bold and dramatic.  You don’t need perfectly symmetrical eyes or professional makeup skills.  Use these techniques as a starting point, adjust them to suit your own eye shape, and have fun experimenting.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products I personally love or alternatives I think would work well for this cosplay. Thank you for supporting Mochi Makeup! ♡

How to Make Uneven Eyelids Look More Even

The first thing I do is check whether my eyelids look even. My left eye naturally has a visible crease, while my right eye is more hooded and hides more of my eyelid. This can make my eye makeup look different on each side and sometimes causes my eyeliner to transfer.

When I want my eyelids to look more even, I use eyelid tape on my right eye to create a more visible crease. I first discovered eyelid tape while staying with a friend in Japan about 12 years ago. I remember watching her remove the tape at the end of the day and being amazed!

Eyelid tape is completely optional—hooded and monolid eyes can look beautiful with cosplay makeup too. However, if you want to create a temporary crease or make your eye makeup look more symmetrical, this is the eyelid tape I use. Apply it to clean, dry skin before applying your eye makeup, and remove it if it feels uncomfortable or irritates your skin.

Eyeshadow

After I put on foundation and the rest of my skin makeup, I am ready to focus in on my eyes.  For more information about how I apply my skin makeup before I do my eyes, check out my article on Cosplay Makeup Essentials.

For the base of my eyeshadow, I usually start with a nude color.  Remember, it is much easier to go darker, than it is to go lighter.  If I am going for a more dramatic look, the base of my eyeshadow will be darker.  I go in the crease of my eyelid and move the product back and forth.  If you want more color, keep applying more, or go for a darker shade.

Once I am happy with the base color of my eyelid, I drag the same color on the bottom of my eyes as well.  In this area, I usually keep the product from the center of my eye outward.  I keep the area closer to my tear duck bare, as I will go in with a different color later.

If I want a more serious/dramatic look, I go in with a dark brown or black and concentrate it on the outer parts of my eye.  Now I go into the inner most part of my eyes with a white eye shadow or what I use is Glitter Liquid Eye Shadow.  I then blend everything every well.  Unless you want visible lines in your makeup, blend, blend, blend.

Eyeliner

Next I go in with a Pencil Eyeliner on my eyes.  For intense eyes, outline your whole eye.  For sweet, natural eyes, only outline your top eyelids and maybe only half of your bottom eyelids.  For any sharp wings or points, I use Liquid Eyeliner for more precision.  If I want to make dots, hearts, and any other shapes around my eye, now is the time.  Have fun with it and get creative!

Eyebrows

I kept my natural eyebrow shape for these photos.  Since my eyebrows are black, when I want to change the color of my eyebrow, I put concealer on them using an eyebrow brush.  I then put makeup powder on them, and cover them with the eyeshadow color I desire.

If I wanted to reshape my eyebrows or go for a very light color, I would have to use a whole different process.  The process would be covering up your real eyebrows and redrawing your new eyebrows.  For this, I first use a glue stick and rub it all over my eyebrows.  I brush my eyebrows upward to get them as flat as possible.  Be sure to clean off the excess glue surrounding your eyebrows.  I let the glue dry and then set them with a setting powder.  I brush off the excess powder, and then I am ready for my full face foundation that will ultimately make me eyebrow-less.  Ta-Da!  You are ready to draw on your new eyebrows.

False Lashes

I recently bought this Cosplay False Lashes Set, and it has a great variety of top and bottom lashes.  Feel free to cut the eyelashes to properly fit your eye size.  I also use these Bottom False Lashes for more adjustability on my end.

When I apply false lashes, I always start application from the inner part of my eye and adjust accordingly outward.  If you are having a lot of trouble with the glue and application process, you may want to look into Arishine Magnetic Eyelashes.  Check out my Honest Review for it as well.

Contacts

Finding vibrant, comfortable contacts for a reasonable price has been a real struggle for me.  I have lighter brown eyes, so the color of the contact is not the the real issue.  What is though, is the comfort of the contact.  The ones I have on now are from Eyecandys, but I cannot recommend them to you because I can only wear them for short periods of time.  In the best case, I can wear them for a few hours but I can feel them in my eye and it is not very comfortable.  In the worse case, they will dry out and literally fall out my eye.

It is good to know the curvature of your eye and the diameter size you are looking for so you are not stuck with something that does not fit.  I once bought colored contacts at Honeycolor and the diameter of their contacts were around 14.5mm which I found to be too large for my eyes.  For me, around 14.0mm is perfect.

And always, always, always be careful about the contacts you put in your eyes.  Be sure the contacts come from a safe, reliable source.  If they do not feel right, take them out right away.  No contact is ever worth damaging your precious eyes over.

I am still on the look out for comfortable and affordable colored contact lens (with prescription).  Once I find a place I like, I will definitely let all of you know.  If there are color contacts that you love, please recommend them to me!

Cosplay Eye Makeup – Final Thoughts

Always remember practice makes perfect.  Cosplay eye makeup can be done a wide variety of ways.  Play around with it and see which makeup styles fit your eyes the best.  Because your eyes are such a sensitive area, always be sure you are using quality products.  If something does not agree with your skin, remove it right away.  Hope you found this post helpful and remember, have fun with it and share your progress with me!