Just like makeup, contact lenses enhance your natural features. Many contact lenses suit what you are looking for when it comes to vibrance and comfort, depending on your goals. If you have dark eyes, chances are you either have brown eyes or very dark brown eyes that are almost black. This guide will cover which colored contact lenses work best for dark eyes, and why.
Types of colored contacts
The iris is the uniquely colored part of the eye that aesthetically comprises colored lines and dots stemming from the pupil. When you look at a colored contact lens, you will notice clear material where the pupil is located to avoid disrupting your vision (by allowing enough light to enter unobstructed through your pupil). Colored contact lenses come in varying tints to help mimic the iris.
Visibility tint
Visibility tint is used in clear contact lenses, utilizing a very light blue or turquoise color. Visibility tint is added to lenses so users can see them while handling the lenses, during insertion, removal, or if the lenses are accidentally dropped. This tint is faint enough that it does not affect your eye color.
Enhancement tint
Enhancement tints are darker than a visibility tint, and designed to enhance your eyes’ natural color, as the name suggests. These lenses are typically better suited for those with lighter-colored eyes to make their eye color more vibrant. This means if you have blue eyes, your eyes will look bluer.
Blending tints
Blending-type tints in colored contact lenses are tints that blend colors gradually with more opaque shades at the outer edges, and less opaque towards the middle of the lens, similar to the image above of the Freshlook Colorblends and Air Optix Colors contacts. Manufacturers created this color-blending tint to help make a more natural-looking eye color.Â
If you are looking for colored contact lenses that will give you a mild and natural-looking difference in the color of your iris, you can consider this type of colored contact lens product. The effect will be a deeper, darker shade of the color you see on the colored contact lenses and is excellent if you want to ease yourself into colored lenses. Gray is a stunning color, especially when featured as a tri-blended colored contact lens on darker eyes.
Opaque tint
Opaque tints are non-transparent tints that will entirely change your eye color. If you have dark eyes and are looking for a total transformation, this is the type of lens for you. These opaque-tinted colored contact lenses usually come in an incredible array of colors, from natural to theatrical. Natural colors may include gray, blue, hazel, green, brown, honey, amethyst, and violet.Â
Unlike color-enhancing contacts, opaque-tinted lenses like Expressions Colors and Freshlook Colors have dense and saturated tints that completely mask your natural eye color, no matter how dark it may be. If you want a look with pale light eyes, you can opt for opaque-tinted colored contact with no limbal ring, giving a more natural color effect. Opaque-tinted colored contacts with limbal rings will make your eyes look larger and change your eye color. These are especially popular in Asia, known as ‘circle lenses.’
On the other hand, theatrical lenses may have interesting special effects, such as cat pupil shapes, or bright colors like red and orange. They make any character come to life, and are great for Halloween, Cosplay, and ComicCon. Please note, a prescription is required for all contact lenses prior to dispensing. If you’re buying theatrical or Halloween lenses from someone who is not requiring a prescription, you are taking a very real risk with your eyesight.
Conclusion
With dark eyes, you can’t go wrong with the most popular colored contact lenses in the market today as long as you know which type you would prefer when it comes to the degree of change and vibrancy of your eye color. You can also browse our selection of opaque theatrical lenses here.