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For starters, people describe this magnificent eye color in many different ways. Some say it looks like hazelnut, while others call it golden or brownish green. One of the reasons why it is so difficult to describe hazel eyes is that the tone itself seems to change, depending on what you use and the type of lighting you are in.
To complicate matters further, although hazel eyes contain shades of green, amber and even blue, these color pigments do not exist in the human eye. So where does this stunning color come from?
What do Hazel Eyes look like
Hazel eyes are actually a mixture of colors, most commonly green and brown. People with hazel eyes are thought to be spontaneous and will rarely back down from a challenge. If more green is present, you may be a bit mischievous. If there is more brown in your eyes, you are more approachable.
What color is Hazel
In eye color, most often hazel refers to a brown–green mix, though it can appear to have flecks of gold, grey or even blue.
Are Hazel Eyes Rare
The amount of each color can vary among different people with hazel eyes, which can cause hazel green eyes or hazel brown eyes.
What Percentage of people have Hazel Eyes
Hazel eyes are fairly rare, and only about 5% of the population has them.
Types of Hazel Eyes
There are 2 main types of hazel eyes: Brown as the dominant color in the iris and those with green as the dominant color. While all hazel eyes will have a combination of green and brown colors, the difference in dominant colors is why hazel eyes can appear either mostly green or mostly brown.
Difference between Green Eyes and Hazel Eyes
A green eye usually has a solid green hue with more or less a single color throughout the iris. A hazel eye, on the other hand, has more going for it than the average green eye. Hazel eyes are multi-coloured, with a shade of green and a characteristic burst of brown or gold radiating outwards from around the pupil.
How to Make Hazel Eyes Look Blue Naturally
- You can make hazel eyes appear more blue without makeup, simply by wearing Royal blue colors.
- Be careful, though, that it is the right shade of coral for your skin tone.
- If you prefer to wear make up, then you can use a blue eye pencil to outline your eyes.
- Navy Blue earrings also pick up the blue in the eyes.
- If you are willing to use a natural henna on your hair, this will also make the blue in your eyes appear more blue.
How are Hazel Eyes formed
Most of us were taught in high school science class that we inherit the color of our parents’ eyes, and that the color brown is dominant and the color blue is recessive (so two parents with blue eyes cannot have a child with brown eyes because neither parent dominates the gene for brown eyes).
Hazelnut eyes often have a mixture of green, brown and amber tones. Their color can be difficult to describe, since ambient lighting and clothing colors can affect your perception of them.
But it turns out that the story is more complicated than that.
More recent research has shown that up to 16 genes (not just one or two) can influence eye color, which makes predicting eye color much more difficult.
Due to the variations in the interaction and expression of multiple genes, it is difficult to say with certainty what color a child’s eyes will be based on the color of his parents’ eyes. For example, we now know that it is possible for two blue-eyed parents to have a child with brown eyes, something that the old model of inheritance of eye color would have considered impossible.
In addition, the color of the eyes can change dramatically in the first years of life; Many white, non-Hispanic babies are born with blue eyes and then develop brown, green or hazel eyes in childhood. This phenomenon has little to do with genetics, but it helps explain where hazelnut eyes come from.
What makes Hazel Eyes
The pigmented structure inside the eye that surrounds the pupil and gives the eyes its color is called iris. The pigment responsible for eye color is called melanin, which also affects the color of the skin.
The reason why many non-Hispanic white babies are born with blue eyes is because they don’t have the total amount of melanin present in their iris at birth. In the first years of life, more melanin often develops in the iris, which causes blue eyes to turn green, hazelnut or brown.
Babies whose eyes change from blue to brown develop significant amounts of melanin. Those who end up with green eyes or hazel eyes develop a little less.
African American hazel eyes
Babies of African American, Hispanic and Asian ethnicities are generally born with dark eyes that remain brown throughout their lives. This is because these people naturally have more melanin in their eyes and skin, compared to non-Hispanic whites.
Light absorption and scattering
Remember, there are no blue, green or hazelnut pigments in the eye. The eyes simply have different amounts of melanin, which is dark brown.
So how can a dark brown pigment create blue, green or hazelnut eyes? This is possible due to two processes:
- Melanin in the iris absorbs different wavelengths of light entering the eye.
- Light is scattered and reflected in the iris, and some wavelengths (colors) are more easily dispersed than others.
Eyes with high concentrations of melanin absorb more light when entering the eye, so it disperses less and is reflected from the iris. The result is a brown eye color.
In eyes with lower concentrations of melanin, less light is absorbed, and more is dispersed and reflects the iris. Since light rays with shorter wavelengths (blue and green light) disperse more easily than light rays with longer wavelengths (red light), eyes with less light-absorbing melanin appear green or hazelnut and eyes with low concentrations of melanin appear blue.
In addition, the distribution of melanin can vary in different parts of the iris, which makes hazel eyes look brown near the pupil and greener on the periphery of the iris.
Hazel Eyes is a work of art
The color of hazelnut eyes is complex and magnificent, since their specific characteristics are determined by many factors, including the amount and distribution of melanin in the iris, how the scattering of light by the iris and pigment molecules affects the color and how the color of the eyes is influenced by the lighting and the color of our clothes and the environment.
In the same way that many strokes of the artist’s brush are needed to produce a masterpiece, hazel eyes involve the dynamics of various elements to create the unique work of art that is represented in all hazel eyes.
If you wear glasses, choose anti-reflective coated lenses to eliminate the distracting reflections on your glasses and allow others to see the beauty of your hazelnut eye color.
Change the color of your eyes to Hazel
If your eyes are not hazelnut, but you have always wanted it, you can do it with colored contact lenses. Actually, they won’t change the color of your eyes, of course, just their appearance.
Contact lenses are available in many colors, so you can choose between several hazelnut tones. But it’s not just about choosing the lens color you want; The natural color of your eyes has a role in determining which lenses you should wear.
If you have very clear eyes, you may be able to use a lens with an “improvement dye.” This lens has a translucent color that reveals a bit of your natural color. It is intended to improve the natural color of your eyes, for example, so that your light blue eyes look more blue, but if your eyes are clear enough, you can achieve the hazelnut you want with an improved dye.
You are more likely to need an “opaque dye.” These lenses are designed to mask your natural color with a solid version of the color you want. They are often used when the color you want to achieve is lighter than your natural color.
A visual health professional can show you various colors and help you make the right choice. Remember that contact lenses are a prescription product and, if you do not wear contact lenses, you will need an eye exam and a prescription before receiving them, even if your lenses do not need any corrective power.
Celebrities with Hazel Eyes
Here is a brief list of some known models and artists with hazel eyes:
Kelly Clarkson, Brooke Shields, Kristen Stewart, Ben Affleck, Jenny Mollen, Olivia Munn, Jason Statham, Tyra Banks, Jeremy Renner, Dianna Agron, Steve Carell, David Beckham, Heidi Klum, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jessica Biel, Jason Bateman, Demi Moore, Rebel Wilson and Angelina Jolie.
And here is a brief list of killers with hazel eyes: Lee Harvey Oswald.
Does having hazel eyes contribute to the fame of these celebrities?
We’re not sure, but you could say that Kelly Clarkson’s song “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” from her Breakaway album, certainly did.