Eyeliner for hooded eyes
If your eyeliner vanishes the second you open your eyes — or stamps a mirror-image line onto your lid — you have hooded eyes, and standard liner advice works against you. The fix is placement, not more product. Here's where the wing actually goes, why you draw with your eyes open, and the shapes that lift a hooded lid.
The checklist
Get the look
Why normal liner disappears
First, the anatomy — because once you see it, everything clicks. A hooded eye has an extra fold of brow-bone skin that drapes down over the crease and often over part of the mobile lid. When your eyes are closed you see a full, flat lid and draw a beautiful line on it. Then you open your eyes, the hood folds down, and that line vanishes into the crease — or worse, presses against the fold and stamps a smudged mirror-image onto the skin above. Neither is what you drew.
So the golden rule of hooded-eye liner is one sentence: draw for the eye that's open, not the eye that's closed. Every pro who works with hooded eyes repeats it, because it inverts the instinct. You will draw lines that look too high, too thick, or slightly "wrong" in a downward mirror — and look perfect head-on. Trust the open eye.
The second rule follows from the first: keep the line at the lash line thin. A hooded lid has little visible real estate, and a fat black band eats it, shrinking the eye instead of defining it. Save the drama for the outer corner, where the wing lifts.
Where the wing goes
Sit square to a mirror, eyes open and relaxed, chin level. Gently note where the hood folds down over the outer corner — that fold is your ceiling. The wing must start at or above it so the flick lands on skin that stays visible; a wing born below the fold is a wing you'll never see again.
Angle the flick up and out toward the tail of your brow, following the invisible line from your nostril past your outer corner (the same angle that flatters every eye — it just has to sit higher here). Then connect it back to the lash line with a tapered line: hair-thin at the inner corner, building only as it approaches the wing. The classic advice to "follow your lower lash line up" often points the wing straight into the hood on these eyes — aim for the brow tail instead.
One more: extend the wing a touch longer and flatter than you think. Length reads as lift on a hooded eye and gives the flick somewhere to live outside the fold.
The hooded-eye liner method
Prime, tightline, map with your eyes open, keep the line thin, lift and lock the wing. Do your eyes before your base so any mistakes wipe away clean.
- 01
Prime + tightline
Prime the lid so nothing transfers, then tightline the upper waterline (push a dark pencil into the roots of the upper lashes). This is the single most flattering move for hooded eyes: it defines the lash line and darkens the base of the lashes without using up any lid space, so the eye reads defined even where a lid line would hide.
- 02
Map the wing, eyes open
Looking straight ahead, place a single dot where the wing tip should end — above the fold, angled toward your brow tail. Do both eyes and check the dots are level before you commit. Mapping first is what keeps hooded wings even, since you can't rely on the lid looking the same open vs closed.
- 03
Draw the wing first, then connect
Draw the flick from your dot back toward the outer corner, making a small triangle, and fill it. Only then line the upper lash line — thin — and join it to the base of the wing, thickening just slightly at the outer third.
- 04
Check open, then lock it
Open your eyes and look head-on: the wing should sit clear of the fold and lift up-and-out. Clean the underside with a cotton bud for a crisp edge, set a pencil line with a matching powder shadow so it survives the fold, and finish with a curl and top-lash mascara (skip heavy lower liner, which drags a hooded eye down).
Pro secrets that make it stick
The details makeup artists lean on for hooded eyes — small moves, big difference.
- Long-wear or nothing
- A hooded lid presses and creases against itself all day. Use a waterproof or "tubing" liquid, or a smudge-proof gel — a regular pencil on the lid will transfer within an hour.
- Set the fold
- Sweep a little matte transition shadow just above the fold before liner. It mops up oil and gives the flick a dry, grippy surface so it doesn't stamp upward.
- The tape/card trick
- Hold a small card (or your finger) flat against the outer corner, angled to the brow tail, and draw the wing along it — an instant clean guideline that clears the hood.
- Look down to perfect the tail
- Map and check with eyes open, but do the fiddly sharpening of the very tip looking slightly down — you get steadier control, then re-check open.
- Two thin coats beat one thick one
- Build the line in light passes. Thin-but-opaque reads sharper and lifts more than one heavy stroke that closes the eye.
Hooded-eye liner myths, busted
The rumours that keep people from wearing liner they'd actually love.
- "Hooded eyes can't do winged liner."
- False — they can do it beautifully; the wing just starts higher and aims for the brow tail. Some of the most iconic winged looks (hello, Sophia Loren) are on hooded eyes.
- "You must use liquid liner."
- Not true. A smudge-proof gel or even a pencil set with shadow works — and a soft smoked pencil line is often more flattering on a hooded eye than a stark liquid one.
- "Thicker liner makes the eye bigger."
- The opposite. On a hooded lid, thick liner fills the visible space and shrinks the eye. Thin at the lash line, lift at the corner.
- "Line the whole lower lash line to balance it."
- A fully-lined lower lash line closes a hooded eye in. Smudge only the outer third, and try a nude or light liner on the inner waterline to open it up.
Hooded liner, three ways
Same open-eye placement, three intensities — all drawn to clear the fold.
“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes.”
Colour that lifts a hooded eye
Placement makes a hooded wing show; colour decides whether the whole eye reads bright or heavy. A softer brown, a warm bronze or a colored liner (plum, navy) can open a hooded eye where a flat jet-black line just weighs it down — and which of those lifts *you* depends on your contrast level and eye colour, not a trend.
siOsi reads your undertone, depth and contrast from one selfie, free, and names your season — so your hooded-eye liner is the exact shade and intensity that lifts your eye, instead of guessing at the counter.
Watch it done
A few of our favourite video walk-throughs for this look, from makeup artists on YouTube.
Winged liner for hooded eyes
Alexandra Anele
The easiest winged eyeliner for hooded eyes
Ale Jay
An eyeliner technique for hooded eyes
Slaybyjess
Answered
How do you do eyeliner on hooded eyes?
Draw it with your eyes open so you can see where the liner actually lands over the hood. Prime and tightline the upper waterline for definition, keep the lash-line portion thin, and aim the wing to start at or above where the hood folds, lifting up and out toward the brow tail so it stays visible. Set the line so it doesn't transfer, and keep heavy liner off the lower lash line.
Why does my eyeliner disappear on hooded eyes?
Because the extra fold of brow-bone skin drapes over the crease, so liner drawn on the lid with your eyes closed hides — or transfers to the hood — when you open your eyes. Placing liner based on what shows when your eyes are open, lifting the wing higher than usual, and setting it are what fix it.
How do I stop eyeliner transferring onto my hooded lid?
Prime the lid, use a waterproof/tubing liquid or a smudge-proof gel, set a pencil line with a matching powder shadow, and sweep a little matte shadow above the fold first so the area is dry and grippy. Tightlining also gives definition without a lid line that can transfer.
Should hooded eyes wing eyeliner up or out?
Up and out — angle the wing toward the tail of your brow and start it higher than on a non-hooded eye, so the flick clears the hood and stays visible when your eyes are open. Extend it slightly longer and flatter than feels natural, and keep the lash-line part thin.
Can you do a winged/cat-eye on hooded eyes?
Yes. Winged and cat-eye liner look great on hooded eyes — the wing simply begins higher (at or above the fold) and points toward the brow tail rather than following the lower lash line. Map the tip with a dot while your eyes are open, and build the line thin so it doesn't close the eye.
What kind of eyeliner is best for hooded eyes?
A long-wearing formula that won't transfer against the fold: a waterproof or tubing liquid, or a smudge-proof gel; a pencil works if you set it with shadow. Softer shades (brown, bronze, plum, navy) and a smoked pencil line are often more flattering than a stark, thick black line, which can close the eye in.
Related tutorials
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