How To Determine Your Eye Shape Once And For All
If you've ever tried to follow an eye makeup tutorial and failed miserably, listen up. It's probably not your skill that is preventing you from rocking the perfect winged liner look, it's more likely you are following a tutorial for an eye shape that simply doesn't match your own!
In the same way face shape impacts your contouring style, determining the shape of your eye is the first step to perfecting your shadow, liner, and mascara application. According to the makeup experts at L'Oreal, "Eyes, like eyebrows, lips, and just about every other part of a person's body, come in many different shapes and sizes. And when you know which shape and size you are, you'll have a much better chance of creating a look that flatters your specific form." Celebrity makeup artist Daniel Chinchilla agrees. He told InStyle, "Catering to your eye shape when you apply eyeshadow and eyeliner will definitely help you enhance your features."
If you're looking at your face and scratching your head in confusion, don't worry, figuring out your eye shape is not as hard as you think. Grab a mirror, and follow along — you'll be rocking that Naked palette like a pro in no time.
There are six basic eye shapes
All eye shapes fall into one of six categories: round eyes, monolid eyes, almond eyes, hooded eyes, upturned eyes, and downturned eyes. L'Oreal recommends that the very first step in determining eye shape is to ask yourself these two basic questions, "Do you have a crease and can you see it?"
According to the pros, if your eyes are open and you can see a visible crease in your lid, and you can see white on the top or bottom of the iris, your eyes are round (via Byrdie). If, when your eyes are open, you don't have a crease where your eyelid meets the skin below your eyebrow, you have monolid eyes (via InStyle).
You have an almond-shaped eye if you have a visible crease, and your iris touches both the upper and lower lid — meaning, you can't see any white above or below your iris when looking directly into a mirror (via L'Oreal).
You have hooded eyes if you have a crease, but that crease is not visible when your eyes are open because it is covered by excess skin. Although you can be born with hooded eyes due to what Chinchilla calls "a heavy brow bone," as you age, many eye shapes can turn hooded due to loss of skin elasticity (via InStyle).
Upturned and downturned eyes are almost self-explanatory. Look at the outermost corner of your eye, if it tips up, you have upturned eyes. If it tips down, you have downturned eyes (via L'Oreal).