I tend to just tell eye color, so I sort of agree with you. If I need to get across that a character’s eyes are brown, let’s say, I might do something like this:

Dean’s brown eyes glared out at me, half-hidden by his unruly hair.

or

Brown eyes are supposed to be common, ordinary. I read that something like fifty percent of Americans have brown eyes. But Dean’s eyes are anything but ordinary. Statistics don’t apply to him.

or

Dean had brown eyes and high cheekbones, both framed by a mop of dark, unkempt hair.

or

“Hey, Brown Eyes, bring me another bar of soap,” Renna said. “I want to clean up a bit before we go out.”

or just

Dean and I both have brown eyes.


lmao but these are all so bad and clunky?