Although the deep blue eyes of some people such as Elizabeth Taylor can appear purple or violet at certain times, "true" violet-colored eyes occur only due to albinism. Eyes that appear red or violet under certain conditions due to albinism are less than 1 percent of the world's population.
Violet Eyes
This color is most often found in people with albinism. It is said that you cannot truly have violet eyes without albinism. Mix a lack of pigment with the red from light reflecting off of blood vessels in the eyes, and you get this beautiful violet!
The real answer: They were not purple at all, but a vibrant dark blue. Her eyes merely appeared to be purple when exposed to certain lighting, makeup, or clothing (and plenty of retouching of her images, we're sure!).
True purple eyes are exceedingly rare. Less than 1% of the world's population has them, making them rarer than blue, hazel, amber, grey, or green.
The rarest eye color in the world is likely violet or red—and yes, those colors can occur without the help of contacts. Many factors can influence eye color, including genetics and even certain medical conditions.
The second-rarest eye color is hazel, a mixture of brown and green with golden flecks. About 18% of Americans have hazel eyes, compared with about 5% of the world's population. And while violet eyes are a rarity, they're really just a blue hue, with light bouncing off the surroundings and turning the eyes violet.
When broken down by gender, men ranked gray, blue, and green eyes as the most attractive, while women said they were most attracted to green, hazel, and gray eyes. Despite brown eyes ranking at the bottom of our perceived attraction scale, approximately 79% of the world's population sports melanin-rich brown eyes.
Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor's eyes were famous for being stunningly beautiful and distinct. Widely known for having the most striking eyes in Hollywood, Taylor had what appeared to be rare, natural purple irises.
While some people may appear to have irises that are black, they don't technically exist. People with black-colored eyes instead have very dark brown eyes that are almost indistinguishable from the pupil. In fact, brown eyes are even the most common eye color in newborn babies.
Amber eyes: A golden yellow or copper colour occurs due to higher quantities of the pigment lipochrome (yellow pigment) and very little melanin, and are considered very rare. Amber-coloured eyes are most often seen in Asian and South American areas of the world.
Red and violet
Although the deep blue eyes of some people such as Elizabeth Taylor can appear purple or violet at certain times, "true" violet-colored eyes occur only due to albinism. Eyes that appear red or violet under certain conditions due to albinism are less than 1 percent of the world's population.
Permanent changes to eye color can be achieved through iris implant surgery, corneal pigmentation, and laser eye color change. Iris Implant Surgery is a procedure that inserts a prosthetic iris into the eye. It was originally developed to treat iris defects such as albinism and aniridia.
The Global Distribution and Rarity of Grey Eyes
In other parts of the world, they're much less common. For example, in Asia and Africa, grey eyes are rare. In the U.S., you can commonly see them in people of Northern European descent.
What's the rarest eye colour in the world? Green is reported to be the world's rarest eye colour. A 2014 American Academy of Ophthalmology survey found that just 9 per cent of people have green eyes, while 45 per cent have brown eyes, 18 per cent have hazel eyes and 27 per cent have blue eyes.
People with albinism usually have eyes that are very light blue. Rarely, they have pink or red eyes. Without melanin, their irises are clear, which makes blood vessels inside the eye visible. The blood vessels give eyes their pink or red color.
Out of all the unusual eye colours, pink and red are the rarest in the world. According to the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, only one in 20,000 people have albinism. Heterochromia is also rare. This is when one iris or part of it is a different colour to the other iris.
The Rarest Eye Shape
Almond, monolid, downturned, hooded—the list goes on. But the rarest one is up for debate. Beauty is subjective, and opinions can vary drastically. Some people in North America might consider the monolid shape rare, but this is a common sight in East Asia.
How Rare are Amber Eyes? You can can see commonly in the animal kingdom such as birds, wolves, felines, or owls, amber-colored eyes in humans is very rare. Like hazel eyes, just 5% of the world's population has them, making them one of the rarest colors in the world.
From the statistics presented, it is clear that brown hair and eyes are the most common combination globally. Blue eyes are also relatively common, with 8% of people having them worldwide. On the other hand, red hair and blue eyes make up a very small percentage of the population at less than 1%.
Actress, humanitarian and mom, Angelina Jolie's eyes are naturally blue but between red carpets and special award ceremonies like the Oscars, Angelina has been spotted changing up her eye colour to soft blues and even sometimes a striking green to complement her dark hair.
Unbelievable as it may seem, the answer is yes—natural purple eyes do exist. Purple eyes are also commonly referred to as “violet eyes,” as they are typically a light shade. For most people, this striking eye color can only be achieved with the help of colored contacts.
Fun fact: Queen Elizabeth has blue eyes. Second fun fact: Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth for two seasons on The Crown, also has that same shade of sky.
Brown eyes, on the other hand, are the most common eye color, yet respondents to the study found them to be the least attractive. The possibility of altering the color of one's eyes from brown to hazel with the use of safe laser eye color alteration surgery is no longer a pipe dream.
Historically, throughout the ages, blue eyes have been the most desirable. It is a recessive gene and that is why a baby's eyes are typically blue. Because of this, blue eyes are reflective of youth and fertility. Blue eyes also represent innocence and carefree.