Makeup for hooded eyes
If your crease disappears when your eyes are open — and your liner vanishes with it — you have hooded eyes, and most tutorials weren't written for you. The fix isn't more product, it's different placement. Here's how to put shadow where it actually shows, fake a lifted eye, and draw liner that survives the hood.
The checklist
Get the look
Why normal tutorials fail you
On a hooded eye, the brow bone folds down over the crease, so the lid you see with your eyes closed mostly hides when you open them. Blend a smokey into your natural crease and — poof — it's gone, or worse, it transfers onto the hood as a grey smudge.
The golden rule: do everything with your eyes open. Place shade and liner based on what shows when you're actually looking at the world, not what you see looking down into the mirror.
The "new crease" — place shade above the fold
Instead of your natural socket line, you build a faux crease slightly ABOVE where the hood folds — on the part of the brow bone that stays visible when your eyes are open. That's where depth reads. A soft transition shade there, blended up, tricks the eye into seeing a lifted socket.
Keep the lid itself relatively light or satin. Heavy dark all over a hooded lid closes it in; a touch of shimmer in the center pushes it forward and open.
The lifted hooded-eye method
Every step gets checked with your eyes open. That single habit fixes 90% of hooded-eye frustration.
- 01
Prime and tightline
Prime the lid, then tightline the upper waterline with a dark pencil. On hooded eyes this defines the lashes without eating lid space.
- 02
Build the faux crease
With eyes open, sweep a medium transition shade just above where the hood folds. Blend upward and outward — this is your visible "socket".
- 03
Deepen the outer corner
Pull a slightly darker shade into the outer corner in a lifted little flick toward the brow tail. This is what opens and stretches the eye.
- 04
Light on the lid
Pat a satin or soft shimmer onto the center of the visible lid and the inner corner. Light comes forward — it fights the hood.
- 05
Lift the lashes
Curl hard, mascara the top lashes only (heavy lower-lash mascara drags a hooded eye down). Skip thick under-liner.
What works, on every hooded eye
Hooded eyes come in every ancestry and shade — the technique is the same, only the colors change.
Hooded-eye do's and don'ts
- Do draw with eyes open
- The single most important habit. Place everything where it shows, not where it hides in the fold.
- Do lift outward
- Angle crease and liner up toward the brow tail. Every line should pull the eye up and out.
- Don't over-highlight the brow bone
- A big highlight under the brow can push the hood forward. A little inner-corner light does more.
- Don't line the whole lower lash line dark
- It closes the eye. Smudge only the outer third, or use a lighter shade on the inner waterline to open things up.
Pro tips for hooded eyes
What makeup artists lean on to open a hooded lid.
- Everything gets checked eyes-open
- Place shadow, liner and highlight while looking straight into the mirror — never trust the downward view. This one habit fixes most hooded-eye frustration.
- Matte transition, satin lid
- A matte shade above the fold reads as depth from the front; keep any shimmer to the very centre of the visible lid to push it forward.
- Curl hard, top lashes only
- A strong curl lifts the whole eye. Heavy lower-lash mascara drags a hooded eye down — go light underneath.
- Waterproof or it creases
- A hooded lid folds against itself all day, so use long-wear/tubing formulas and set the fold with a little powder.
Hooded-eye myths, busted
The rumours that hold hooded eyes back.
- "Hooded eyes can't wear shimmer or bold looks."
- They can — placement is everything. Keep shimmer central and depth above the fold and any look works.
- "Highlight the brow bone to open the eye."
- A big brow-bone highlight can push the hood forward. A little inner-corner light does far more.
- "Just do a thicker line."
- Thick liner eats the little visible lid and closes the eye. Lift and thin, don't thicken.
“Beauty is an attitude.”
Colors that lift, matched to you
Placement opens a hooded eye; color decides whether it also looks luminous or heavy. A too-warm or too-muddy transition shade can drag; the right depth and temperature for your coloring keeps it lifted and bright.
siOsi reads your undertone, depth and contrast from one selfie, free, and names your season — so the transition and outer-corner shades you reach for are the ones that make a hooded eye look wide-awake.
Watch it done
A few of our favourite video walk-throughs for this look, from makeup artists on YouTube.
The beginner's guide to hooded eyes
gossmakeupchat
Hooded-eye technique that doubles lid space
Smitha Deepak
Hooded eyes makeup: do's & don'ts
KIKKKAPRO
Answered
How do you apply eye makeup on hooded eyes?
Work with your eyes open and build a "faux crease" just above where the hood folds, rather than in your natural socket. Keep the visible lid light or satin, deepen the outer corner in a lifted flick toward the brow tail, curl your lashes and mascara the top lashes only. The key is placing shadow and liner where they show when your eyes are open.
Where do you put eyeshadow on hooded eyes?
Place your transition and crease shade above the natural fold — on the part of the brow bone still visible with your eyes open — and blend it upward. Keep light or shimmer on the center of the visible lid, and concentrate depth in the outer corner, lifted toward the brow tail.
How do I do eyeliner on hooded eyes so it shows?
Draw it with your eyes open so you can see where the liner lands over the hood, keep the lash-line portion thin, and wing it up higher than usual so the flick stays visible. Tightlining the upper waterline defines the lashes without using up lid space.
What eye makeup should hooded eyes avoid?
Avoid heavy dark shadow across the whole lid (it closes the eye in), a large brow-bone highlight (it can push the hood forward), and thick dark liner along the entire lower lash line. Lift everything outward and keep the lid relatively light instead.
How do I make hooded eyes look bigger?
Curl your lashes and use top-lash mascara, put shimmer on the center of the lid and inner corner to bring it forward, build depth above the fold and in the outer corner, and lift your liner up and out. Choosing shades in your own color season keeps the effect bright rather than muddy.
Related tutorials
Eyeliner for hooded eyes
Place the wing where it shows, draw eyes-open, and lift the lid.
Read the guide→
How to do winged eyeliner
The dots-and-connect method, the right wing angle for your eye shape, and which liner to hold.
Read the guide→
How to apply eyeshadow
The four zones, the brushes that matter, and shades that flatter your eye color.
Read the guide→Find your shades
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