Makeup for hooded eyes
The trick to makeup for hooded eyes is placement, not more product: build your shadow and liner slightly higher than feels natural, with your eyes open, so the colour and definition still show when the hood settles down. Map everything while looking straight ahead, keep liner thin, and you’ll lift and open the eye rather than close it in. Here’s how I do it.
Map your eye open, not closed
A hooded eye has a fold of skin that covers part of the moveable lid when you look forward. Anything you place flat on that lid — shadow, a thick line, heavy shimmer — gets hidden under the hood and only shows when you look down.
So I work with the eye open. I look straight into a mirror and find the spot where the hood meets the lid, then place my crease colour just above that line. It feels too high while you’re doing it, but the moment you relax and look ahead, the definition sits exactly where it should. This open-eye mapping is the single most useful habit for hooded eyes, and it’s the same principle I lean on for soft, lifted special-occasion makeup.
Placement that opens the eye
A simple structure does the heavy lifting:
- Transition shade — a soft matte one or two shades deeper than your skin, blended above the natural crease to create a new, visible crease line.
- Outer-corner depth — the deepest shade kept to the outer third in a small “V” or sideways comma, then blended up and out to pull the eye outward and up.
- Lid pop — a light or softly shimmery shade on the centre of the lid catches the light and brings the eye forward.
- Inner corner and brow bone — a touch of light shade lifts both ends and gives an instant open, awake look.
Blend upward and outward, never down toward the lashes — direction is what creates lift.
Liner and lashes that lift
| Step | Do | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Liner | Thin line into the lashes; tightline the upper waterline | Thick liner flat on the lid |
| Wing | Small, lifted, drawn with the eye open | Long or downturned flick |
| Lower lash | Smudge only the outer third | Full dark lower line all the way across |
| Lashes | Curl, then a lengthening mascara or wispy lash | Heavy spider lashes that brush the hood |
A hard curl on the lashes and mascara worked into the roots does as much to open a hooded eye as any shadow. For lower lashes, keep colour to the outer third only — lining the whole bottom drags the eye down and makes it look smaller.
What to avoid
A few habits work against a hooded eye. Heavy shimmer over the entire lid catches in the fold and reads as texture. A thick black line, drawn with the eye shut, vanishes the second you open up. And building too much depth onto the moveable lid just adds weight where you want lightness. Less product placed higher always beats more product placed flat.
With 10+ years behind me and training through Lancome, YSL, Giorgio Armani and Mecca, reading each eye shape is the part I love most — no two hooded eyes are mapped quite the same. As a mobile artist I come to you anywhere across Perth, from Fremantle to the city, so we can perfect the placement in your own light before your event.
