How Eye Color Totally Transformed The Way These Celebrities Look

Eye color is such a minor trait, you may not think it would really affect the way someone looks too much. Sure, eye color is something others take note of, but usually only if the hue is quite striking — otherwise it's something that goes largely unnoticed. But as it turns out, it can totally transform the way someone looks, and the following celebrities are proof of that. 

Most stars are known for switching up their looks — dying and/or cutting their hair, trying out a new style when it comes to their clothing, even getting plastic surgery — so it's not exactly surprising that they would be open to playing around with their eye color as well. Some A-listers have tried out colored contacts, and it's always interesting to see when they do. A new color can make someone look like a completely different person, and the results are pretty shocking. Take a look at the celebrities who totally transformed their look by changing their eye color.

Selena Gomez doesn't often change up her signature look very drastically, so it was surprising to see the star looking quite different when she wore colored contacts to an event. In 2015, Gomez's makeup artist Hung Vango posted an Instagram photo of the singer wearing gray/blue contact lenses that left fans pretty shocked. As it turns out, she was wearing them to attend the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

So what made Gomez decide to try them out? She told E! News that she was inspired by Adriana Lima, saying, "I'm a huge fan of hers and I geeked out in front of her today. I wanted to feel like a Victoria's Secret Angel." It appears she may have also tried out blue contacts at another event in 2015 — Vango posted an Instagram photo of Gomez with eyes that looked a lot lighter than her normal dark brown. They definitely give her a different look! 

Paris Hilton has been famous for a long time, but it's quite possible that you've actually never seen the star's natural eye color — she always wears colored contacts. In fact, Hilton wears her blue contacts so often that she actually looks different with her natural brown eyes. You can see them in an Instagram photo she posted from when she was 13-years-old. In most other photos of Hilton, you'll notice her eyes are a light blue or sometimes dark blue, in the case of this Instagram photo. 

So why is she so committed to the blue-eyed look? Hilton hasn't publicly talked about her eye color swap, so we can't be sure. But it might actually be affecting her eye health. In 2007, an anonymous source told Page Six that Hilton's tinted contacts were drying out her eyes, saying, "She's ignoring her doctors' orders to not wear her tinted contacts." Nonetheless, her peepers appear to be going strong! 

Ivanka Trump is another celebrity heiress who is committed to wearing blue contacts to cover up her natural brown eyes. Like Hilton, it's hard to find a photo of Trump without her lighter contact lenses. The blue/green contacts definitely give her a different look. In 2016, Esquire was one of the first outlets to point this out, showing photos of Trump with dark brown eyes compared to photos of her with light blue eyes and others of her with eyes that looked a little more green. 

It also seems like Trump has been playing around with colored contacts for a long time. The Huffington Post has a whole article full of pictures of Trump's eyes — a picture from all the way back in 1998 shows the star with eyes that are definitely not brown, as compared to photos of her darker eyes when she was a child. Trump hasn't spoken about her colored contacts, and although Esquire reached out to her reps about them, it appears they did not get a response. 

Robert Pattinson is one celebrity who didn't just try out colored contacts for fun — instead, he had to wear them for his role as Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies. Since Pattinson played a vampire, he had to look the part, and that included wearing contacts that look amber or red, depending on the light. And, as it turns out, he really did not enjoy wearing them. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pattinson said, "My God, I'll be glad to see the last of those. I actually want to get some kind of plastic explosive. I want to reanimate them into something so I can kill them." He also explained that he had trouble putting them in his eye, saying, "It's so embarrassing for me — after so many years, it's still a process every single morning. Everybody else has figured out how to do it, and then there's two people holding me down because I can't do it myself." At least he's done with that role and doesn't have to wear them ever again! 

Nina Dobrev is known for her dark hair and dark eyes, but she decided to switch things up a bit when she partnered with Alcon Air Optix, a line of colored contacts, in 2014. The star began to show off different eye colors, but her favorite appeared to be a light blue/green color that actually makes her look a little younger. 

And she's definitely not afraid to try out new shades! In an interview with Teen Vogue, she said, "Today, I've worn four different shades of color contacts. What's funny is it doesn't seem like a big change." She added that she was a little hesitant about trying them in the beginning, but added, "So I tried them out and they were really subtle. People can't tell for the most part!" She said that she loves how they make a "bold statement" and that she can also use them to just "enhance a certain eye color," adding, "it's fun!" 

Paris Jackson is one of the few celebrities out there who decided to change up her eye color by going from light blue to darker brown. In fact, Jackson's natural eye color — a light, icy blue — is similar to contacts worn by Jenner and West. So fans were pretty surprised when Jackson showed off a darker eye color in May 2018. Teen Vogue reported that she wore them to attend the Dior Cruise 2019 show in Chantilly, France. Jackson's makeup artist Jo Baker posted a photo on Instagram of Jackson looking notably different with golden brown eyes and a softer makeup look than she normally wears. 

As Baker once revealed to Teen Vogue, Jackson has a rare eye condition that causes her eyes to be as light as they naturally are. Still, the icy blue is usually quite striking, and really stands out. Her darker eye color definitely made her look a little older and more subdued. 

Kylie Jenner is no stranger to changing her physical appearance. She's tried out basically every hair color imaginable, she is constantly going from extensions to wigs to her natural hair length, and she's not afraid to show off some bold makeup looks. Fans are so used to her being a beauty and style chameleon that it's hard for her to do anything shocking anymore. But one of the most surprising transformations Jenner went through was definitely when she wore colored contacts.

Jenner has snapped a few photos of herself wearing colored contacts, and they always make her look like a different person. She usually wears a pair that are super light blue, almost a gray-ish color. The very light shade is a big difference from her natural brown/hazel eyes, and creates a stark contrast to her darker features. So why does she do it? In one Instagram photo, she explained simply, "For fun." Makes sense!

Jenner isn't the only member of her family to play around with different eye colors. Kim Kardashian does the same thing, and has been photographed wearing two different colored contacts before. In one Instagram shot, Kardashian almost looks unrecognizable wearing a pair of very light blue/gray contacts — she almost looks more like Megan Fox than herself! 

Kardashian has also been known to wear amber-colored contacts to some big events in the past. For the 2018 Met Gala, Kardashian showed up in a gold dress with striking amber contacts that really stood out. In a post on her app (via Allure), Kardashian explained that she wanted her "glam" to complement her "'90s-inspired gold Versace dress." She worked with her makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic to come up with her bronze smokey eye and contact combo. She wrote, "We chose honey-colored contacts that weren't too far off from my natural eye color, just a bit brighter. We can sometimes achieve this color when I wear a golden eyeliner and the lighting is right, but I wanted to really go for it on the red carpet."

Kardashian's love for colored contacts may have worn off on her husband — Kanye West has been spotted wearing icy blue contacts a few times. Us Weekly reported that in 2016, he showed up the Manus x Machina Met Gala wearing the contacts, which give a slightly creepy effect, with a crystal-embellished Balmain jacket that almost matched them. It's easy to chalk up the reason why to fashion, but it wasn't the first time West had worn them out. In 2015, Kardashian posted an Instagram photo of West with the contacts on with the caption, "Wolves."

West also wore similar contacts when he appeared on Saturday Night Live's 40th Anniversary Special where he performed his song "Wolves" — that caption suddenly makes a lot of sense! Optometrist Mitch Cassel told People (via Splinter News) that the look was totally intentional, saying: "He just wanted to have his eyes to be more like a wolf — something that would pop and be more identifiable, something different. But he didn't want it to look too artificial."