Makeup guide for hooded eyes

There are deep set eyes, protruding eyes, upturned eyes — all which are great for displaying your eyeshadow looks. And then there are hooded eyes.

You know you are a hooded-eye person when you have an extra fold of skin that covers the crease of your eyelid, making it appear smaller. Hooded eye lids are easy to identify. It's when you put your favourite eyeshadows on your lids and they magically disappear when you open your eyes wide.

Winged eyeliner is also a challenge for the hooded eye family, a thick line can cover most of the lid.

Young entertainment icons Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Swift both have hooded eyes. Not to mention Renee Zelleweger before her eyelift. Celebrities like them have a team of makeup artists and the finest surgeons to take care of their hooded eye needs, but with the right makeup techniques, even we can make our eyeshadow and liner stand out, sans the cosmetic surgeon.

Use an opaque eyeshadow base

Like your entire face, your eyes too need a proper foundation to build your eyeshadow look. Given your eyes don not pop naturally, you have to cover your lids with a base that gives life to your eyes. Use a base lighter than your skin tone. This highlights your eyes so the colours you apply reach out to the people looking at you. You can use super opaque eyeshadow primers, or even a concealer a shade or two lighter than your skin tone.

Eyeshadow commandments

Although hooded eyes are constrained to give your eyes a peek-a-boo effect, there is definitely a way around it. As the natural panels of the eyes are hidden by the hood, you have to design an illusion.

This is only possible by using two colours of shadows with the exception of transition colours. It's best for hooded eyed people to keep away from smudging a single colour on the lids.

Because the upper part of your lid is the most visible, you want to accentuate it as much as possible. You actually need to create a contour with a darker colour on the upper lid, and a lighter colour on the lid covering your eyeballs.

Highlighting the brow bone is a must for hooded eyes. From far, this method will make your eyes look deceiving.

For any look whether floral, nude, shimmery or smoky, the following simple steps can help give the illusion of lifted eyes.

Before applying the eyeshadows, note that if you apply the colours with the eye closed, it's going to look different when you open them. So try to apply your makeup with your eyes open.

We know that the upper lid is the most visible, so start with that panel first. Create a linear smudge on the upper lid with a warm and dark colour of your choice. Once you feel that the pigment is enough, re-apply the concealer only on the lower lid portion. You can push the concealer a bit to the upper lid to create a wider lower lid creating a cut crease, but do not get too carried away.

The reapplication of the concealer to the lower lid will really make the hidden parts pop. Now you can apply the lighter shade of shadow, or a bright shimmery shadow on your lower lid. The brow bone highlight can be applied before or after, but make sure it's not a powder formula that spreads everywhere.

Slay the wing

Similar to how it's best to apply eyeshadow with the eyes open, you want to do the same for the eyeliner application. Gel liners are best for hooded eyes because kohls or pencils require you to stretch the eyes to an extent.

With hooded eyes, if you stretch the eyelid to apply the liner, it will look very different when you open your eyes and release the stretch. Try to open your eyes half way, or as much as possible. Start by lining only your lash line. When creating the tip, you will notice that your eyes are actually curved downwards, so follow the curve however it goes, and stretch out the line close to the end of your brows.

You almost have to create a swooping motion. You want to keep your eyeliner thin because you do not want to hide all the eyeshadow, however the edges could be bolder.

Falsies

False lashes and circle lenses work perfectly for hooded eyes. False lashes weigh down your lower lid, stretching a little bit of the extra hooded skin, making your eyes appear bigger. However, you do not want lashes too thick as it will cover most of your makeup. And add that in with coloured circle lenses, and you will look like a different person. It sounds like a lot of gear for delicate eyes, but it's the extra mile we have to take to display the rainbow in our hooded eyes.

Photo: Collected