All About Hooded Eyes!

Hooded eyes are an eye shape where part or all of the eyelid is covered by the upper part of the eyelid.  When the eyes are open, you see little or no eyelid at all.  This can happen due to aging or it can just be hereditary.  You can be born with a bone structure that causes the upper lid to protrude over the lower lid, which disguises your crease.  I always thought that the eyelid had to be COMPLETELY covered by the upper lid, but this is not true.  It was then that I realized that I too have hooded eyes.  I actually have a combination of two eye shapes.....hooded and upturned/almond.  Below are a list of the most common eye shapes.

Many people who have hooded lids hate them.  Depending on how hooded your lids are, some makeup looks can be harder to pull off.  If you have hooded lids, don't fight them.  Just figure out what looks work best for your lids.  As you can see, there are many beautiful women who have hooded lids.  All you see is their beauty, not their hooded lids.

Hooded lids are often viewed as sexy and mysterious.  That's why they are referred to as "bedroom eyes".  You can see that in Catherine Zeta - Jones' beautiful eyes.  

One trick for flattering a hooded lid is to pluck your brows.  Pluck them into a shape that has an arch, and provides as much lids space as possible.  The more lid space you have, the less hooded the eyes appear.  Just make sure not to pluck your eyebrows super thin.  This will age you.

Another trick to define the eyes and add dimension, line the upper and lower lash line.  

Highlight the brow bone.  By doing so, you draw attention upwards, which gives the appearance of a lifted look.  Hooded lids can make eyes look droopy, depending on how hooded they are.  

When applying shadow, use upward strokes with your brush.  Because there is no visible crease to a hooded lid, you need to create one.  I like to put my darkest shadow in the crease, while blending it up and out toward the outer corner of my eye.  I use small circular motion, while blending up and out.

Highlight your inner corners with a white/ivory shadow, as well as your lids.  This will make your eyes appear more open and awake.  If you do have some lower lid that shows when your eyes are open, the light will reflect off the lid making it appear larger.

Obviously, you aren't going to use all these techniques in all of your looks.  Some will look better than others, depending if you have some lid showing or none at all.  These are just my tips.  You will need to experiment to find out what flatters your eye shape and what your preferences are for eye shadow looks.  If you try something and you aren't sure if you like it, take a close up picture.  Many times pictures reveal to us the truth of how an outfit or makeup look comes off.  At the end of the day when it comes to makeup and fashion, do what makes you feel beautiful and confident.  Experiment to find your best look.  Stop looking at hooded lids as the difficult and dreaded eye shape.  Work with them.  Makeup is about finding techniques that best highlight your features.  

Have fun experimenting!

- XOXO Monique